You can’t appreciate just how seriously sports fans take the game until you see them after a loss. When the Broncos win, Denver fans are jubilant, smiling and drunk with delight. As someone who has played the game, I can attest that no one – not even your mother – will ever praise you as effusively as a fan in the grip of excitement after a big win.
So comprehensive is this praise – covering your talent, intelligence, character, good looks, charm and desirability as a mate – it’s easy for a player to believe that fans actually love him as an individual.
But the truth becomes clearer after a big loss like last week’s defeat in the AFC Championship game. As a player, you discover that it’s not you that the fans love – it’s the uniform.
A week prior to the AFC Championship, Pittsburgh running back Jerome Bettis fumbled at the goal line and nearly cost his team the game. Afterward, Bettis, who is the fifth all-time rusher in NFL history and a beloved member of the Steelers, said that if the team had lost because of his fumble, he would have had to leave Pittsburgh. Bettis laughed, the reporters laughed, and undoubtedly fans watching on TV laughed, but Bettis really wasn’t joking.
Making a mistake that causes your team to lose a big game is about the worst offense a player can commit.
It’s been nine seasons since I last played in the NFL, but this phenomenon is every bit as true for me now as it was then. For the past nine years, I’ve been a co-host on CBS-4’s “Countdown to Kickoff,” a Broncos pre-game show. Each Sunday morning, Steve Atkinson, Gary Miller, Vic Lombardi and I attempt to predict which NFL teams will win that day.
Every Sunday for nine years, I’ve picked the Broncos to win. That’s more than 150 consecutive games. My co-hosts have teased me about this allegiance, calling me a homer and occasionally daring me to pick against Denver when the Broncos are clear underdogs.
The simple truth is that I’m not objective about the Broncos. I’m a former player who still has many friends on the roster and on the coaching staff. I’m vice president of the Broncos Alumni Association, and I still use the pronouns “we” and “us” when I talk about the team. When I speak at schools, charity events and business conferences, I’m introduced as an ex-Bronco, and the more games the team wins in a given season, the more invitations I receive for speaking engagements.
Even this column, which typically covers political, legal and social issues, identifies me as a former Bronco.
So week after week, I’ve picked the Broncos. Just before I made my pick during last weekend’s pre-game show, Miller said, “Reggie Rivers has asked me to tell all of you that he’s picking the Steelers. He just has a feeling.”
We all laughed, and I, thinking that everyone knew he was joking, said, “I don’t have to say a word. Everyone knows who I’m picking.”
I discovered Sunday night that everyone did not know. As I left the stadium, hundreds of upset Broncos fans were still in the parking lot. Someone yelled, “Reggie, how could you pick against us?” The whole crowd turned toward me as if they had found the cause of the loss. It was a very uncomfortable moment.
It’s been an interesting week, because when I write a column that offends people, I receive tons of e-mail but rarely does anyone confront me face-to-face about my opinions. No Broncos fans have sent angry e-mails but dozens of people have walked up to me and asked me why I picked against the team.
So, before I get run out of town, let me set the record straight: I picked the Broncos, as always.
Former Bronco Reggie Rivers (reggierivers2002@yahoo.com) is the host of “Global Agenda” Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. on KBDI-Channel 12. His column appears every Friday.
