Sacco Sez: Minicamp, Mother's Day ... and inclement weather

Miles

Well-known member
Mar 18, 2019
2,455
0
hhi8l2njdvlsopha4war


This weekend brings a confluence of traditions to the Denver Broncos, as the team's rookie minicamp comes to a close.


Traditionally, for the Broncos and many other National Football League teams, this has been the week on the schedule when the rookies — both draftees and free agents — make their first official working trip to the their new home for minicamp.


Of course, this also happens to be Mother's Day weekend.


And anyone who likes to plant flowers in Colorado is familiar with the adage that says, Do not plant before Mother's Day.


For it seems like every year, without fail, the weather gets nice, the players fly into Denver ... and it snows.


Horticulturists around the city wind up bringing their pots of plants into the house to prevent them from freezing, and I cannot count the years — and decades — of watching coaches and players dodge snowflakes getting their field work in.


Even though springtime weather has returned just a few days since the snowfall earlier this week, it still reminds me of how that has typically happened during rookie minicamp in my years with the Broncos.


I vividly remember former Head Coach Mike Shanahan permanently rescheduling one of his minicamp dates to the month of June, noting, "Whatever weekend I choose in May, it snows."


Of course, this is coincidental and tied to the variable spring weather in the Rockies, but it seems in my family to be an absolute truth.


On Mother's Day, my wife fixes a big family dinner, I am not present to help because I am at minicamp, and the camp is hit by inclement weather.


It's more an irritation than anything that actually prevents football from happening, but it seems like something we can count on every year.


In fact, most fans likely are unfamiliar with the fact that Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, without argument the greatest Bronco ever, did not throw his first passes wearing orange in Denver at all, due to inclement springtime weather.


It was May of 1983, and the Broncos had completed the trade bringing John to Denver one week after that year's draft.


The date for his first minicamp arrived, and so did a snowstorm.
 
Top