As many of you have seen through my whored out Facebook statuses, I am profiling people who live in the Chicago area and are fans of out of town teams.
Thank you to everyone who has filled out a survey so far. If you're a fan of an out-of-town team and I haven't given you a questionnaire to fill out, please let me know ASAP, as I am looking to profile as many people as possible.
My fifth feature is on the Denver Broncos, the first of two AFC West fans that I found. Randy Whalen is a former work colleague who freelances for the Sun-Times Media Group covering high school sports. He has been a long-time Broncos fan, and I thank him for sharing his thoughts on the Broncos and how he became a fan of them.
Here's a list of other blogs in the out-of-town feature series:
1. Dallas Cowboys
2. Tennessee Titans
3. New Orleans Saints
4. Minnesota Vikings
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| Randy has been a fan of the Broncos for 36 years. |
In 1977, the Broncos were the last team standing in the way of the Raiders advancing to their second consecutive Super Bowl.
"I remember listening to the game on the radio and hoping and maybe even praying that Oakland would lose," Randy said. "The Broncos held on for a 20-17 win and went to the Super Bowl. They captured my imagination because they had never been there before."
Not that he's counting (ok, maybe he is), but Randy has been to a total of 37 Broncos games, which includes preseason, regular season and post-season. Including Denver (where he has attended 25 games), he has attended Broncos games in eight different cities, with Denver sporting a 23-13-1 record in those games.
"The memories would take volumes to go through," Randy said. "The best one was this past January when I was at the Broncos-Steelers Wild Card game where Tebow hit Thomas with the 80-yard TD on the first play of OT - pure joy and euphoria!"
He believes that Peyton Manning (his new favorite player on the Broncos) will make fans forget about Tim Tebow, provided Manning can stay healthy.
When he's not attending a game, Randy watches Broncos games at bars and has no problem following the team in a Chicago market, especially with the Internet and how much coverage the team has been getting this offseason.
Unlike some fans of out-of-town teams, you won't find him rooting against the hometown Bears though.
"I generally hope they win," Randy said, "except when they play one of my favorite teams, usually Denver or Pittsburgh. But I really don't care."
He also doesn't care for B-Bo Knows prediction of a 7-9, out of playoffs prediction for his team. Randy forecasts 11 wins and another AFC West division crown in Denver this season.
He won't say, perhaps out of caution, what the Broncos will do once they make the playoffs.
"The playoffs are wide open," Randy said.
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