The continental U.S. has four time zones.
This might come as a surprise to anyone who watches television. Programs are typically scheduled for "8:00 Eastern and Pacific, 7:00 Central," suggesting three possible times you could be watching the OC or the big game, depending on your location.
But the time zone that TV forgot actually does exist. It's not part of the Midwest and it's not the West Coast. It has an attitude (and altitude) all its own, with dramatic landscapes, endless skies and a frontier flare in its cities and towns. It's the Rocky Mountain West, a region that does more than just fill the space between Kansas and California.
As a Colorado resident and avid sports fan, I hope to give readers a glimpse into this region I call home, as well as other portions of the country west of the Mississippi. Through a combination of personal stories, interviews and most of all, sports, this column comes out of thin air to explore the Rocky Mountain region and the perspective that growing up out west gives your typical Tufts senior. Let the adventure begin...
The Mountain West is primarily made up of open space. With vast plains and rugged mountains, human civilizations often seem few and far between. Driving across these massive "square" states, you really come to feel as if you're traveling, Buzz Lightyear style, to infinity and beyond.
And this feeling is not an illusion. The average population density of the region amounts to a grand total of 22 people per square mile. Compare that to New York City where 8.1 million people cram into just 321 square miles. Population density: 25,233. No wonder the west feels about as open as a Store 24.
Despite its incredibly low person-to-land ratio, the region's economic, population and cultural center sits at the foot of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The sprawling Mile High city of Denver has just over 550,000 residents (immediately behind Boston's 569,000 on the largest US cities list) and includes nearly 2.1 million total people in its metro area, a figure also comparable to Boston.
As with most cities this size, Denver plays home to professional sports teams from all four of the major leagues as well as pro soccer, lacrosse and arena football. Its newly refurbished downtown area sports new facilities for each pro organization. Of these venues, the Colorado Rockies' Coors Field was the first to open its doors when fans took in the first pitch of the 1995 season.
Sports fever infects this city like the bird flu in Asian chickens. With the nearby mountains serving as a natural draw for the outdoorsy and athletically-inclined, Denverites attach themselves to the excitement and skill that pro sports bring to their town. Fans flock to the Pepsi Center to watch the Avalanche and Nuggets, come in droves to cheer on the Broncos at Invesco Field at Mile High, and even occasionally take in a Rockies game despite the team's sorry state.
Not to detract from the accomplishments of the Avalanche, who have won two Stanley Cups since their move from Quebec in 1995, or the Nuggets, the current Northwest division frontrunners, but Denver, and arguably the entire Rocky Mountain region from Montana to New Mexico, is devoted to its Broncos. (Sorry Rockies, if you could fire your entire front office and start from scratch, perhaps you would merit a nod like the Avs and Nuggets.)
A popular bumper sticker in Denver reads: "If God isn't a Broncos fan, then why are sunsets orange?" This rhetorical question just about sums up Denver's obsession with its football team. Bronco Mania permeates the city culture from the mayor and governors' offices to suburban neighborhoods and downtown lofts. Though shorter in duration, the love Broncos fans feel for their boys in orange and blue could be compared to Red Sox Nation's affinity for its beloved team.
Since the AFL's Broncos arrived in Denver in 1960, the team and its fans have experienced dominance, heartbreak, embarrassment and one helluva quarterback. From the Orange Crush years of sorbet-orange uniforms and stifling defense, to the most recent loss against the eventual SuperBowl XL champion Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC championship game, Denver fans have stood by their team. Tammy Wynette would be proud.
After lopsided SuperBowl losses in the 1977, 1986, 1987 and 1989 seasons (by a combined score of 163-50), the Broncos finally rewarded their organization and their fans in 1998 when John Elway and Terrell Davis led their team over the Green Bay Packers, 31-24. The team iced the cake for its fans the very next year, bulldozing its competition throughout the regular season and winning it all to end Elway's storied hall-of-fame career.
Though the glory days of Elway, Shannon Sharpe, Ed McCaffrey and Terrell Davis have passed, the Broncos remain in the Denver sports limelight, having made the playoffs for three straight years. Not that playoff appearances matter, though; the Broncos have sold out all of their games since 1970.
Bronco fans form a tight community that lives and dies with its team. The famous Barrel Man (long-time fan Tim McKernan who wears nothing but an orange and blue barrel to all Bronco home games, even in the dead of winter) came out of retirement in 1996 to reclaim his figurehead role in Broncos fandom. He now even has his own bobble head doll, which illustrates that it's not just the team on the field, but the vast network of fans that defines this Denver franchise.
Maybe the thin air and incessant sunshine in Denver make Bronco fans a little goofy, or maybe the city's sports-oriented culture promotes such strong identification with a team. Whether it's Mile High madness or just a result of the environment, the Denver Broncos own this major western city. And the games are on every Sunday from September through December, at 1:00 Mountain Standard Time.
