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By Emmanuel Williams

I grew up next to the Mile High Stadium, as it was known in my 90’s youth. The earliest memory I have of my Denver Broncos is a close up shot of John Elway in dark navy blue jersey, pads, chin strap, and… the yellowest teeth I’ve ever seen on TV. I don’t recall how successful that season was or who we played that day, but I am sure that we had just won.

I wasn’t an official fan just yet.

I didn’t even follow the NFL until I was alone in my first apartment in my early 20’s. The first time I needed something worth watching on a slow Sunday.

Two years at the place and I got the swing of how to entertain guests. And the bar, being just a block away on Denver’s west side of Colfax at the edge of the city’s boundary with Lakewood, CO, meant plenty of Broncos games for me and my friends.

I remember thinking that Tim Tebow was probably saving himself for marriage, and that maybe if he had gotten laid once in a while we might come up with a win instead of so many prayers for them.

By now I had heard of and seen plenty of games featuring the Manning quarterback brothers. An anomaly alone as perhaps the only two brothers being the starting quarterbacks for separate NFL teams. I believe I may have only seen one game where Eli Manning’s Giants faced off against Peyton Manning’s Colts. But the sibling rivalry echoed the rivalry between my own older brother and I, the only boys of our father.

We have a third brother, but of course, by another father, and there is little competition with him. Especially since he has always spent most of his life in California with his dad.

But even though I’m a total Peyton, I have the arm and the adaptability, and instead of being a total Eli, Michael is more of a linebacker who likes to beat up quarterbacks who look like his long absent father.

Constantly.

Not too vengefully, and at karaoke nights at the bar, I would sing and at times end up, due to my singing voice alone of course, in bed with women my bro had hit on but come away unlucky. Something to do with his approach.

After a while, I realized it wasn’t my voice but a difference in our character that made the difference.

Brotherhood.

Peyton ended up signing with the Broncos (in a very expensive contract) and the bar became… electric.

Our after parties became legendary, often, and messy. It was then that I called myself “Manny Fiasco” and the parties themselves, “fiascos”.

The Denver Broncos were so good to me and my apartment (The Fiasco Pad) that that same year I had finally found a girlfriend (switched to a one-woman policy) I bought bottles of liquor as presents at Christmas for my family (the ones who would often visit fiascos), my closest friends, my girlfriend, and especially her father. Who, when I was brought to his home to meet him, handed me a can of Budweiser within 10 minutes of us getting to know each other.

It is an honor to impress such a man.

That holiday season, I became an official fan of the Denver Broncos.

Then we won the Super Bowl.

Then I lost my apartment and moved in with her, only for it to end very unfortunately and I became homeless for the second time in my life. I spent time in jail, months, and came out far more homeless and for a very long time. I still followed the Broncos but I started experiencing other fans from another perspective.

Every time there was a home game, a sea of orange would flood the downtown and surrounding area, and the 16th Street Mall (a mile-long outdoor mall and the biggest shopping center in Denver), which I had made my home whilst down on my luck. It would lift my spirits to share trains, sidewalks, and cafes with a community I know belonged to even if I didn’t quite ‘belong’ anywhere.

Eventually my youngest sister serving in Japan for the US Marines would come home and settle into an apartment which she immediately opened up to family. I started staying with her but had neglected my mental health medication after losing so many backpacks on the streets and so suffered long, and extremely painful and confusing episodes of psychosis.

She checked me into a clinic so I could be helped. An act I will always honor her for. It restored my sanity.

So I stayed with my sister off and on, had a child with a girl from the streets who is shockingly crazier than I am. A child which we lost to the system since we couldn’t support it. Eventually my sister got a house where I still live, though I was happy when I was finally able to afford another apartment for a year lease, which I could not keep for the sake of my safety and sobriety. Gratefully I left on good terms, and I returned to my sister right away.

Nevertheless the more stable I became, the more I could follow my Denver Broncos every Sunday. We’ve been up and down as a team, as a community, but always united in orange.

From debacle quarterbacks like Russel Wilson, to star receivers like Von Miller, Demaryius Thomas (RIP), Emmanuel Sanders (a big favorite). I’ve had jersey’s of Elway, a jersey/tee of Demaryius, Shannon Sharpe, Peyton Manning, and Von Miller. My current one is special as hell. Its Javonte Williams, a play on my last name and the number 33, the age Christ (Emmanuel, meaning God is with us) lived to.

We the fans have been notoriously tough on team executives, and like any fans, tough on the QB primary duo between our quarterback and his go-to receiver. 

This year is no different. I don’t know how Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph created such a high caliber, veritable horsepack of a defense this year, because we lead the league in sacks right now and it’s glorious!

QB Bo Nix is reliant on both Courtland Sutton (primary) and Marvin Mims Jr. (second) where the glue is still drying, I would say.

I don’t want to mention my slew of feelings about Head Coach Sean Payton except to say that we ought not run the ball more than pass it, and I will leave it at that.

Between Cornerback Pat Surtain II (PS2,) and Defensive End Zach Allen (a truly effective beast), you can expect the ‘boys will be putting on one hell of a show for the rest of the 2025 season.

With today’s win over the Giants and the Chargers’ loss to the Colts, we are now the top team in the AFC West.

Come on folks, let’s go Broncos!!!