Chevy gave me two tickets to see the Broncos play the Kansas City Chiefs at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium on January 1st. I am part of their Chevy Socialite program. I am so thankful to the Chevy people for giving us the tickets. It was my first time to see a Broncos game live since (ahem) the early 1990s.

I think I just dated myself.

I brought my 10-year-old daughter, partially because my dear husband has no interest in sports and also because I have very fond memories of being about 10 years old and seeing my first Broncos game at the real Mile High Stadium.

When I was growing up, my grandmother had season tickets and had gone for years. There was nothing more important than her family, except the Broncos. No family Sunday dinners to celebrate anything IF they landed on a Broncos Sunday. On away Broncos Sundays, we would schedule our family dinner around kickoff time.

When I was old enough,

she took me along to see a game. We rode the Broncos shuttle from the South High School parking lot. Dressed in orange and blue from head to toe, armed with my camera, we walked into the stadium. I remember being awe struck by the mere size of the stadium and thousands of people.

I loved the Rocky Mountain Thunder as the fans stomped their feet on the metal floors to rumble for the Broncos.

Going to a live game was an absolute treat for me. The fans, the energy, the Broncos, the Broncos band, the TV cameras, Thunder the Horse, the flyovers. It was all so incredibly cool.

And then I saw him. Number 3. Rich Karlis. The Kicker. It was love at first sight. His little bare foot out there in the cold, kicking with all his heart. I got to meet him and get his autograph. He told me I looked like Karl Mecklenburg’s wife. So crazy, since I was around 13 at the time. I was just mature for my age.

I had grown up with the Broncos. Not only was my grandmother a fan, but my dad also loved the team. The game echoed from the family room each and every Sunday in the fall. I couldn’t make it through an entire game, but would sit down on the couch during the fourth quarter. In a Broncos game, you were almost always guaranteed excitement in the last 15 minutes of the game.

When I was in high school, I was on the flag team. Geek Squad. But that geek squad gave me more experiences than anything else. We did a few halftime shows for the Broncos. Heaven!

We even did the halftime show for the 1989 AFC Championship, when the Denver Broncos beat the Cleveland Browns 37 – 21 to go to the Super Bowl. We sat in the band bleachers in the dirt on the southwest side. The seats were terrible, but I was there. I saw John Elway lead the Broncos to the Super Bowl. Again.

A few years later, when I worked for 9News, the NBC Affiliate in Denver, I was honored to run graphics for a few of the preseason games. I helped to build and create all of the graphics and then traveled with the team to do a few games on the road, in South Carolina, Nashville and San Francisco. We stayed at the same hotel as the Broncos. I loved going to the lobby when they arrived to watch them all stream in. I also did some home games. I can’t tell you how cool (yes I keep using that word) it was to sit in the control room truck, and run the graphics for the game. I knew every player, every number and all of their stats. I was a roving Broncos encyclopedia.

One of the years that I worked on the preseason games, was the year the Broncos won the Super Bowl against the Green Bay Packers. I was in the news control room when they won and part of the celebrating and rioting post-game coverage that night.

After I moved on from TV news and had children, my Broncos love took a vacation. John Elway retired, Mike Shanahan was fired. The Broncos weren’t as exciting as they had been in my childhood and young adult years.

I was so excited when Chevy gave me the tickets and I could share the Broncos and my football knowledge with my 10-year-old daughter. We rode the Broncos shuttle. So easy, so inexpensive, I highly recommend it.

We had Club Level seats. They were great. We could go inside and sit by a Broncos fireplace when chilly. We also were able to visit my friend Barb from Mom Off Track in her lush box seats. We loved it. I teared up as the Broncos took the field. Even though I could only name Tim Tebow and Champ Bailey, and who is the coach now? We still had fun watching all of the game activities.

It was probably one of the worst games I had ever seen. The Broncos lost 7-3. They didn’t even score a touchdown. But my daughter and I didn’t really mind. Even if it was only for one game, we were there and part of it all. My daughter now claims she is a Broncos fan, but live games are better than games on TV.

I thought to myself, “I really need to tell Dad about this. How I was able to share this with my daughter.”

Then I remembered I couldn’t tell him. I looked up at the orange and blue sky above us and realized he knew. He was smiling down on us, watching his beloved Broncos with my grandfather and grandmother.

Whatever you may think about Tim Tebow and today’s Broncos, no matter how they finish in the playoffs, I am thankful for them. They have brought back my Broncos fever. No matter what, I will always bleed orange and blue.

Go Broncos! Here’s hoping you will beat the Patriots this weekend.