More Champions!

Well, I'd say it's been a pretty good sports year for me.  In November, the Royals did the unthinkable and won the World Series.  That was amazing, because they hadn't won it since before I knew baseball existed, and with the Cubs being my other team, they haven't won it in 108 years.  So that was just a bit before my time.  In other sports, I've been more fortunate.  Since I realize sports existed in about 1988, my favorite pro soccer team (Sporting Kansas City, formerly the Kansas City Wizards) has won the MLS Cup twice, my favorite pro football team (the Denver Broncos) has won the Super Bowl twice (thank you, Elway!), my favorite hockey team (the Penguins) has won the Stanley Cup three times (thank you, Lemieux and Crosby!), and my favorite pro basketball team has won the NBA Championship six times (thank you, MJ!).  So I'd say I've experienced way more championships than the average sports fan would get for their favorite teams.

That said, today I had a chance to add to that list, with the Broncos playing the Panthers in Super Bowl 50.  Two years ago the Broncos juggernaut offense was stuffed by the Seahawks dominant defense, so I had to watch my team lose.  This year the Broncos had the stellar defense, and they were up against Cam Newton's powerful Carolina offense.  But... there was one small thing working in Denver's favor: Peyton Manning.  For as amazing as Peyton was two years ago, last year he slowed down before being injured toward the end of the season.  This season he started off healthy, but played poorly culminating in a disastrous performance in Week 10 against the Chiefs.  It turns out he was injured and sat at most of the rest of the season while his foot healed, while Brock Osweiler held down the fort, and the team continued to win.  But in Week 17, Manning was healed but didn't start. The Broncos and Osweiler were struggling in the game, and Head Coach Gary Kubiak made the decision to bring in Manning, to the ecstatic cheers of the entire stadium (and fans like me at home), and Manning led them to a comeback win.  After the game, Kubiak announced that Manning would start for the Broncos in the playoffs.

The postseason march started with a win over the injury-riddled Steelers, which set up an epic matchup between Manning and Brady, in what everyone assumed would be the final of their many battles, for the right to go to the Super Bowl.  The Broncos, playing in Denver, edged the Pats 20-18 to punch their ticket to Santa Clara.

That brought us to today.  As is usually the case, the kids can't stay up until the end, but they watched some of it with me before they went to bed, as you can see here.  Also notable about our setup today was that our refrigerator had failed this week and needed to be fixed, so it was moved off the new hardwood floors, leaving it in an odd spot, but one that made it easy for me to get drinks out of it!  But the game itself went as I expected and hoped it would, with Peyton doing just enough on offense, and the defense doing what they do best in flummoxing opposing offenses, and Cam and the boys couldn't do much, leaving my Denver Broncos as Super Bowl 50 Champions!  It was a storybook finish for the season and almost certainly for Peyton Manning's career, as he will likely retire after the season, having broken the all-time passing yards and passing touchdown records along the way.

It's a glorious day any time your team wins a championship, and today is no different.  But pairing it with the Royals recent title makes it all the sweeter.  I'm one happy guy today!