Miles
Well-known member
- Mar 18, 2019
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Around the World
Jean-Pierre Brunel, a fan living at McMurdo Station in Antarctica
When the game was happening, I was actually in McMurdo. … Over there we get the AFN, which is the Armed Forces Network. Pretty much all my life, I've watched pretty much every Bronco game — in my adult life anyway, I can say. Same for the Avs. But when you're over there, all this goes out the window. Having said that, in the playoffs, the games are on [live]. So I was able to watch that game. …
In Antarctica, McMurdo is on the same time zone as New Zealand, which is one of the first time zones in the world, one of the earliest ones. So they're actually 18 hours ahead of us. When the game was happening at 4:40 or 5 o'clock … at the start of the game on Sunday, it means in McMurdo, it's actually Monday at 10 or 11 o'clock. I remember it being morning, but I didn't care.
My boss … he's a huge Alabama fan. Alabama was playing the very next day, I believe. And he had told us, I'm taking the day off on Tuesday. Bama's playing in the national championship against the LSU Tigers! So I went and told him, I don't really care about college football, but as much as you like Alabama, that's how I feel about the Broncos, and we're playing the Steelers on Monday, so I'm taking the day off Monday! He's like,Yeah, that's fine, man. No problem. So he actually gave me the day off, which was really cool. Over there you work six days a week; you only get Sunday off. …
I remember the first half was so awesome. We were dominating. We were taking it to them. I was having a great time. I was having my early beer and everything, and then the second half hit and I was like, Oh, boy. It was a completely different tone to the game, as far as for us. It was totally different, and then at the end of the game, it was tied, you know? And they were outlining the new rules and it was like, _If you score on your first possession a touchdown, it's game over _and blah, blah, blah.
And I remember there was one other person who was there with me. He had watched the other game before, which I think was the Giants against the Falcons, and I'm pretty sure he was a Giants fan. They had won against the Falcons, and he was the only other one with me in the lounge — because we don't have TVs in our rooms. You've got to go to the lounge; every dormitory has a lounge, and he was there and he was the only one in my dormitory that was watching football that day because everyone else had to work. Maybe he was on the night-shift or maybe he had gotten the day off. I didn't know him, but we got to know each other a little bit. And I remember, I was like, Man, we might just score right away. It's not like I had a feeling, because that would be a lie, but I remember saying something out loud like, If we make a play and we score, it's game over, and I think we can do it! I had no idea it was going to happen on the first play just like that.
I was sitting on the couch leaning forward. And as soon as D.T. caught the ball, I was literally standing and as he was running toward the end zone, I was literally standing on the couch jumping up and down and hootin' and hollerin'. I just couldn't believe what I had seen.
[The other guy in the room], he understood. He probably would have done the same thing if it was his team. I don't remember exactly, but I think this might have been the first time it ever happened in the NFL. …
It was just unbelievable. They say it's The catch heard 'round the world. In my case, that is definitely true. I was at one of the most remote places in the world and I saw it live. It was pretty awesome. …
I know we didn't win the Super Bowl and, whatever, I guess some cynics would say that in the end it amounted to nothing, but I don't know about all that. … It's definitely [in my] top five [plays] for sure.
Michael Silveria, on deployment in the Middle East for the U.S. Navy
Deployment in the United States Navy, months away from your loved ones can be trying; the hours are long. Days blend into weeks, weeks blend into months. Some days, you need a break from the day to day routine.
Football, specifically Denver Broncos football, has always been one of those breaks from life aboard a United States Aircraft Carrier. I have been deployed five times so far in my career and I remember Jan. 8, 2012.
I was deployed on the USS John C. Stennis attached to Strike Fighter Squadron 41 (VFA-41). We were underway somewhere in the waters of the Middle East. I was scheduled to stand watch on this evening as game time was somewhere around 4-5 in the morning. While some watches onboard would have you walking security patrol around the ship away from a TV with working AFN, I had the luxury of being in a location with a working 60" projector screen and a surround-sound system as I was standing the Assistant Squadron Duty Office (ASDO) watch.
I remember one of my pilots in the command came into work early decked out in Steelers workout attire, off shift and ready for the game. Details of the first four quarters of the game are a little fuzzy, but I do remember Denver losing a 10-point lead and in my younger days, I would be vocal with every point and overly confident only to get the same back as the leads dwindled away.
As I was working nights, typically my last meal of the day would be a traditional breakfast, but there was no way I was leaving, as the game was going into overtime. Armed with likely some beef jerky and some form of energy drink, I made a quip that it was Tebow time, and Ben would never see the ball. The Steelers fan came back with, This isn't the SEC. The Steel Curtain has this game.
One play, 80 yards later ... Tebow to Thomas, and the rest is history. So thank you, Demaryius. Thank you (again), Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos, for giving me a great sports moment that I will never forget.
Bryce Parker, a fan living in Australia
For Broncos Country, hearing the words "Denver's going on to New England; they've won it on the first play of overtime!"immediately puts a smile on their face, it capped a triumphant playoff return after a tumultuous period under Josh McDaniels.
For Denver this was a return of the team they were used to, [and] for me, a 16-year old in Australia, it was more than just a measly playoff win. It gave me a distraction in a time where I desperately needed it.
During January of 2012, my grandmother was in the final stages of her life after being diagnosed with a terminal sarcoma. It was a relapse after she had successfully beaten it a year prior.
This time it was not a battle she could win. It had spread to the lungs, and at 76 years of age, there was nothing doctors could do.
Summer in Australia is as stereotypical as it gets — friends, family, beach and sun — but for me that year, it was understandably different because it involved just one thing: hospitals.
Denver wasn't a regular fixture on Australian television, so I wasn't able to watch a lot of "Tebow Mania." Because of this, I relied on the internet for my Broncos coverage, often sitting on the NFL website watching the live scores tick over.
Although my parents didn't really understand my affinity for the NFL, they knew how much it meant to me, so for Christmas they surprised me with my first piece of Broncos merchandise, a white Tim Tebow jersey — a gift I still have nearly 10 years later.
Much to my joy, Tebow had miraculously steered Denver into the playoffs, so the wild-card game was not only the first time I was able to wear the jersey, but it was the first Broncos game I was able to watch on my TV. I couldn't believe it; I was stoked.
I don't remember much from the game itself apart from the Eddie Royal touchdown, Champ Bailey coming close to ending the game with about three minutes remaining and, of course, that overtime touchdown.
But looking back on that day, what stands out to me the most was my parents sitting down trying to learn this sport, which at that stage was very foreign to them.
It's cliché to say sport can be used as a distraction, but for those fleeting minutes after Demaryius Thomas streaked up the tunnel, all the woes and pain were briefly forgotten, replaced with jubilation and happiness.
My grandmother passed away during Super Bowl week, [and before that] I watched the divisional round blowout loss to the Patriots from a palliative care hospital.
Despite being over 8,000 miles from Denver, the Broncos effectively became a part of my family that summer. They provided me with a much-needed escape, albeit for it three hours.
Like many, I cannot explain the magic of 2011 or how the Steelers allowed Ike Taylor to be on the outside without any help underneath but one thing's for sure: The joy the Broncos gave me on that fateful day in January will never be forgotten.