For a few reasons I decided to start watching football this year - amongst them being the desire for the camaraderie and to be tied to my friends in Denver - which is where I was living the last 2 years. So... naturally, I started watching the Broncos. Call me a band-wagon jumper if you will but I truly had no idea how well they were doing prior to selecting that team, I simply wanted a good Denver connection.
It was a fun season to watch Peyton Manning - whom I had heard of prior to this year, but really didn't know much about - break records left and right, see the longest field goal kicked by Matt Prater, and discover the beautiful,
talented Wes Welker.
I've been traveling the majority of the football season but made a point to watch all of the games - so I've now explored a variety of sports bars and found that Buffalo Wild Wings will usually be a reliable fallback if I can't find anywhere else to go. Today I walked half a mile and watched at a sports bar on the nearby street.
I was surprised to look around and see an abundance of Chargers fans and felt a bit lonely with no other obvious Broncos fans in sight. Soon enough, however, I heard a nearby table of women cheering for the Broncos and I felt the feeling of instant friendship seep in.
The game got close during the 4th Quarter, at which point I was a little stressed, and I heard a Chargers fan say, "I told you they were a 4th Quarter team!" As much as I didn't want to believe his hypothesis and wanted to continue to watch the Broncos win, I still felt a little nervous about the outcome as it approached a one touchdown game in the last 5 minutes.
I ordered another drink and reminded myself that the Broncos had been winning the rest of the game, so it only made sense that they continue to win at that moment. And they did. They kept the score at 24-17 and the game ended with a Broncos Victory!
I left the bar feeling elated, exchanged some high fives with the other Broncos fans, to which the Chargers fans told us to "take that high five elsewhere!" And was on my way.
I almost couldn't wait to talk to some friends about the game - even if they didn't watch it - so I'm fairly confident that the Broncos winning contributes to my happiness.
...I imagine this also has to do with the stress and relief from said stress in any sports situation. It's weird how invested we can get.
I've been traveling the majority of the football season but made a point to watch all of the games - so I've now explored a variety of sports bars and found that Buffalo Wild Wings will usually be a reliable fallback if I can't find anywhere else to go. Today I walked half a mile and watched at a sports bar on the nearby street.
I was surprised to look around and see an abundance of Chargers fans and felt a bit lonely with no other obvious Broncos fans in sight. Soon enough, however, I heard a nearby table of women cheering for the Broncos and I felt the feeling of instant friendship seep in.
The game got close during the 4th Quarter, at which point I was a little stressed, and I heard a Chargers fan say, "I told you they were a 4th Quarter team!" As much as I didn't want to believe his hypothesis and wanted to continue to watch the Broncos win, I still felt a little nervous about the outcome as it approached a one touchdown game in the last 5 minutes.
I ordered another drink and reminded myself that the Broncos had been winning the rest of the game, so it only made sense that they continue to win at that moment. And they did. They kept the score at 24-17 and the game ended with a Broncos Victory!
I left the bar feeling elated, exchanged some high fives with the other Broncos fans, to which the Chargers fans told us to "take that high five elsewhere!" And was on my way.
I almost couldn't wait to talk to some friends about the game - even if they didn't watch it - so I'm fairly confident that the Broncos winning contributes to my happiness.
...I imagine this also has to do with the stress and relief from said stress in any sports situation. It's weird how invested we can get.
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