This isn’t about rating how teams did this year, or a collection of inspiring stories about the men who were drafted (my favorite, D.J. Hayden, taken in the first-round after nearly bleeding to death following a freak injury in November).

This is for the fans – and the would-be fans. I ask the question “what happens now?” for these NFL draft picks. These young men say being drafted is “a dream come true”, the realization of everything they’ve been working for since their Pop Warner days, and makes the sacrifices their families made to get them there worth it.

But as you’ll see (if you keep reading), the most intense and uncertain part of their journey begins once they do get drafted. This can be even more uncertain for those players drafted by teams who have a pretty uncertain future of their own – see Geno Smith, for example.

Here is a glimpse of what life will look like in the coming months for these athletes.

Step 1: Getting To Know You

First of all, no money for the rookie right now. For the newly drafted, the week following is about packing up, leaving home and getting acquainted with the franchise who chose him. For some of the top picks, less than 24 hours after having their name called, they find themselves getting a facility tour, being welcomed by the owner, the coaches, shaking hands with Pro-Bowl players and being interviewed in press conferences. More importantly, they get a copy of the massive team playbook – typically as thick as a phone book, now fitting completely on an iPad, with just as much complex content. This is the most important homework they have ever been assigned.

Step 2: What’s Mini About Mini-Camp?

The weekend post-draft begins a 3-day “Mini-Camp”. It’s hard to imagine an event with players who look like this being called “mini”. Right now, for the rookie, there is still no payout. Mini-camps are geared toward getting the newly drafted acclimated to the NFL playing schemes. It also gives coaches and management a chance to see their new players in action learning plays from the team’s playbook.

Ole Miss offensive lineman, Terrell Brown, 388 pounds, 6-foot-10.

Step 3: The Rubber Meets the Road, Training Camp

Before any rookie sets foot on Training Camp soil, the dirty details of the contract have to be ironed out. Depending on draft position, the management of the organization and who the agent is, this process can be anything from easy-breezy to a nasty tug of war. Assuming this negotiation is complete, now the rookie gets paid and Training Camp starts in July. This is where a spot on the team is won or lost. No, being drafted doesn’t guarantee this young man will be in the game when the season kicks-off. Of the 8 players (on average) drafted by a team, 1.25 will start in their rookie season – that’s just less than 16%.

Step 4: Are You In or Out?

After a summer of grueling workouts and playbook study, the teams’ final rosters are set in August. The fellas drafted in rounds 1-5 are almost guaranteed to make the team – after all, the organization had to invest some cash to get these guys in the door – but, again, 16% chance of actually starting. For the rest – those drafted in rounds 6-7 or picked up undrafted – the odds are slim they’ll see action this year… or ever.

In the end, 62% of the players drafted will actually be signed to an NFL team, according to DraftMetrics.com, but only 30% of them will start for at least three years. And each of those years will be a battle, as 300 new college players fight to make their way into the NFL and make their own dreams come true.

If you thought the job market was tough in your field, imagine yourself competing for your post at this level year in and year out. Of course, the money probably helps a lot. As of 2010, the average rookie salary was $325,000 for a season.

I’m certainly happy for all of the guys picked-up in the draft, and I will be watching to see how they do. But the cynical part of me keeps thinking, “I hope they took the time between snaps to get a degree they could actually use when they need it in 4 years.” On the other hand, having that dream-come-true moment in your life is almost certainly worth figuring out a new future later.

Images via Scout.com & Sports Illustrated

The post Yeah, You Were Drafted, So What Now? appeared first on HelloGiggles.

The ugly truth started to come to light on Nov. 27, 2009 when Woods crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant just outside his Isleworth, CA home , It was 2:30 a.m. and, allegedly, he had been attacked by his wife, Elin, with a golf club.

As more and more salacious details came out, most people – well, women for sure -  could see just why Elin was looking to tee off on Tiger.  In the wake of the scandal, Woods announced he would take an “indefinite leave” from the game of golf.

Now, here we are, 2 ½ years later and Woods is back in top of the golf world. Just last week he took the Number 1 spot away from golfer Rory McIlroy. Woods has even managed to recover a handful of endorsement deals. Not only is he owning the green again, but he will also be bringing in some serious green, too.

To top it off, he is “officially” dating (at, last according to Facebook) Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn. She says on her her FB page, “Our relationship evolved from a friendship into something more over these past few months and it has made me very happy”. Ironic, since she was one of many who went “on the record” mocking Woods and the entire ordeal in Feb. 2010.

Tiger certainly has a “type”. Could be Elin…

So, it seems Woods has weathered the storm to find good fortune again. But the fact is, he will forever belong to a class of athletic “heroes” who fell from grace and were exposed for unethical, sometimes repulsive behavior – think Lance Armstrong, Joe Paterno, Michael Vick.

Doug Ferguson of The Telegraph writes, “Woods admitted his battle to re-establish himself amongst the world’s elite had been a tough journey. ‘It was a by-product of hard work, patience and getting back to playing golf tournaments,’ he said.”

How are people supposed to respond to this? Does he expect to hear “good for you”? Or “nice work”? I can tell you, that’s not what he’ll hear from me.

My response: So what. You’re a creep. I don’t care about your “golf recovery” – or even your recovery from “sexual addiction”. How has your family recovered from your betrayal? From the humiliation on a global scale? This wasn’t a one-time-whoops-I screwed-up-I’m-only-human mistake. This was on-going, predatory infidelity.

And I don’t want to hear people talk about the $750M settlement Elin got out of the divorce “making it easier”. I’m sure she is thankful for the life she gets to create for herself and her children with that kind of money. That said, there’s no price you can put on watching your family torn apart. Think of all the famous families with more money than sense that have dissolved into nothing more than sad headlines. Even Forbes magazine has called inherited family fortune a kind of “curse”.

I’m someone who loves being inspired by people who are great at what they do, who strive to reach the tip-top of their potential. I want to believe in what’s truly great about wild, wonderful and talented human beings.

When it comes to Woods though, there’s no inspiration for me. I just can’t see myself ever cheering for him again. In my mind, he just serves as another reminder not to confuse competitive excellence with an excellent human being.

After all, pedestals were never meant for people. I will not put him back on one.

Images courtesy of Huffington Post & UpdatedNews

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So, why not add an element of competition to make your party even more interesting? What would you be willing to wager on your keen ability to pick the winners?

Of course, you can’t bet money. That’s illegal, right? But what about a premium bottle of vino? Or a full-service spa pedicure? Sounds like a party to me! What I’m willing to wager right now is my pride and reputation as I make my picks first – even though I haven’t seen all of these films. I’m not going to tackle every award, but the “Big 6”, plus one for fun.

Best Picture, My Pick: Argo

With Ben Affleck recently winning the Director’s Guild Association (DGA) award for Best Director, there’s a lot of buzz around Argo. I also think that this very serious film about a very serious crisis that happens to be resolved by filmmaking seems like a winner with the Academy.

Best Director, My Pick: Steven Spielberg, Lincoln

Since Mr. Affleck wasn’t nominated in this category, this would be a great way for the Academy to split their votes and honor both men for amazing movies. I just think Argo will take the bigger prize.

Best Actor, My Pick: Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables

This is a “dark horse” pick, for sure. The favorite has to be Daniel Day-Lewis for transforming himself completely into Abraham Lincoln. For me though, Jackman gave such a powerful, emotional performance and somehow, pulled off an impressive vocal performance in the meantime – live, wired without lipsyncing!

Best Actress, My Pick: Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

I know that Jennifer Lawrence has been stealing headlines everywhere for the last 18 months. But, Jessica Chastain manages to carry a heavy movie with power and grace amid an impressive, mostly male cast. That’s what I call “girl power”.

Best Supporting Actor, My Pick: Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook

Like the choices for Best Actor, this category is also very tough. My thinking; Christoph Waltz and Alan Arkin have both taken Oscars home in recent years. This would be an opportunity for the Academy to honor aging, Hollywood royalty, De Niro, for one of his better performances in recent years.

Best Supporting Actress, My Pick: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Though she wasn’t in the movie for many minutes, every one of them was spellbinding. And, I have to make reference back to my Hugh Jackman pick. Giving a heart-wrenching, raw and moving performance while singing one of the most powerful pieces ever written for theater – and doing it well – is an accomplishment beyond my imagination.

Best Song, My Pick: “Skyfall” from Skyfall

This song is perfectly smooth, sultry, smokey and oh-so Bond-ish. What can I say? Adele, you amaze me.

Now it’s your turn! You’ve got your ballot right here. Kick out some copies for you and your Oscar loving friends and get ready to party. And remember, it’s not a party without the cheese.

Your Oscar Ballot

The post Oscar Party Pick ’Em: And The Winner Is… appeared first on HelloGiggles.

The short version of the story: A star college football player creates a long distance love affair with a wonderful girl who has leukemia. Hours before one of the most important games of his football career, the player’s grandmother dies and then, on the same day, the “love of his life” succumbs to cancer. Yet this hero – a finalist for the 2012 Heisman Trophy and predicted #1 NFL Draft pick – fought through the pain and went on to play the game of his life as Notre Dame beat Michigan State 20-3.

Could Hollywood have scripted it any better? 

Well, there’s your problem right there. It was scripted. There was a grandmother and a football game, but there was no girlfriend with leukemia. The “girl” was nothing more than a hoax. Now, it’s yet to be determined if Te’o was just a naïve numbskull roped in to an elaborate “Cat-fishing” scam, believing he had found a true love that he had never met, or if he was in on the hoax and helped create this sob story to draw more attention to his soon-to-be NFL career. Regardless, his story has been told… and told… and told.

But that’s not the story I am interested in telling, or even exploring. I’d like to write another headline for a young woman who did exist, and really is dead: Lizzy Seeberg.

Lizzy Seeberg was a 19-year-old freshman at Saint Mary’s College, across the street from Notre Dame. She had accused a Notre Dame football player of sexual assault and eight days later, committed suicide.

From Melinda Henneberger, Washington Post: “After Lizzy went to the police, a friend of the player’s sent her a series of texts that frightened her as much as anything that had happened in the player’s dorm room. ‘Don’t do anything you would regret,’ one of them said. ‘Messing with Notre Dame football is a bad idea’.”

At the time of her death, the campus police – who have jurisdiction over all crimes on school property – still had not even interviewed the accused.

Ironically, as the story of Te’o’s fake girlfriend started to unfold, Notre Dame used private investigators to assist Te’o in unraveling the mystery and attempting to prove his innocence.

This is a stunning double standard and the Notre Dame brass should be ashamed of themselves. I could go on to explore the many allegations that the school ignored – and even covered up – abhorrent behavior by players to protect their precious football program. For that matter, I could explore what could be called an epidemic of sexual violence against woman on college campuses, specifically at the hands of athletes. And how about violence against women at the hands of professional athletes?

But something else is bothering me. I wonder how much we – as fans – have to do with the “real news” of all these terrible acts being buried to protect the reputation of the game, and the men who play it?

If you’ve followed the posts I have written for HelloGiggles, you know that I am a die-hard football fan. And with my two favorite teams out of the playoffs, my fanatic attention now turns to the draft and the college talent hoping to make it to the big game. I realize that my appetite for the sport feeds a marketing machine that fuels the news. The media, publishers and reporters know that any good-news headline about the NFL or about college football players will be greedily devoured, which means one thing: revenue.

Fans don’t want to hear the bad news headlines about the men they cheer for week in and week out. We will look for any explanation that turns our gridiron heroes back into one of the good guys.

Erin Gloria Ryan of Jezebel.com explains it this way: “We don’t want to believe that our heroes aren’t worthy of our adoration. We want our conscience clean when we celebrate their victories alongside them.”  She points out the most clichéd excuses we use to explain away these kinds of claims and stories.

“But those charges were dropped!”

“She’s just trying to get money out of him!”

“She just regrets a sexual encounter!”

“She’s just trying to get famous!”

I’m embarrassed to admit that I have not only had these thoughts, but also uttered similar words, when I have heard of these kinds of allegations against both college and NFL players that I liked. I wanted to continue to love the game without guilt.

Therein lies the rub, as they say. Until “we the people” demonstrate that getting to the truth, demanding justice and holding people accountable for their actions are more important to us than “the game”, more important than our fantasy players, than our college pride, nothing will change.

If I tell the truth, I’m not sure that will or could ever happen. But I know, for myself, from now on I will hear and listen to these kinds of reports and accusations much differently.

I am so sorry, Lizzy Seeberg. You deserved to be heard, to be protected, to be vindicated.

After Lizzy’s death, her family raised a memorial fund, which founded The Lizzy Seeberg Volunteer House in Chicago. Please take a minute to see this.

Images courtesy of NPR.org, Associated Press & Chicago Tribune

The post The Notre Dame Story That Matters: Lizzy Seeberg appeared first on HelloGiggles.

And it leaves me with the terrible question; as we move into the playoffs, how will I endure those Sundays? How will I pass the time?

I’ve put some thought into this questions and here are my recommendations to help you power through the playoffs.

1. Take up knitting

My mother and other friends who have taken up this quaint hobby insist that it is absolutely therapeutic. “I do it to relax and get away from the real world,” says Katara on About.com.

One of my favorite testimonials, “It lets me watch television without feeling guilty about being idle.” Who knows, may even ease the pain of watching a game while knowing your team is D.O.A.

Talk about easing pain, HelloGiggles’ contributor, Shannon Robb, even wrote about knitting as a way to lessen the stress of moving back in with your parents. Surely it can work some magic for hurting football fans.

2. Bake cupcakes

Cupcakes are the “it” item of the baked goods scene these days. People who show up at parties with cupcakes are immediately adored.

Don’t be intimidated by that oven. Forget Betty Crocker. Let the Internet be your teacher and learn to make your own cupcakes from scratch.

The good news is, with cupcakes being the hottest thing in the kitchen (ok, that was bad, sorry), there are places popping up everywhere selling these delightful treats. Maybe one Sunday you could plan a tour to the cake hotspots.

3. Make Sunday Spa-Day

Don’t waste the money and the time on one Sunday. Spread out the pampering over a few Sundays – and maybe a Monday night.

Just think about it. You can get a mani/pedi one week – your nails could even match your cupcakes! The next week, it’s time for a haircut, don’t you think? Get the best look for your face shape here. Maybe you’ll even get inspired to try on a new color for the New Year.

“But Heather,” you say, “My team was supposed to be GREAT this year. We were in year two with Cam Newton, Superman. It hurts so bad!”

I feel your pain, my friend. In that case, you might want to take the spa-day to another level. Plan a Spa Stay-cation with other friends who either don’t care or can’t bear to watch those divisional play-offs. You can thank HelloGiggler, Michelle Konstantinovsky, for tips on how to do this without breaking the bank.

4. Clean out your closet

Admit it – you have a “standard rotation” of clothes, your most popular outfits, but if you really went through that closet (and those drawers) you’d find bunches of clothing items you haven’t touched in months. Ok, years.

Something about cleaning closets gives you a feelings of new hope, new beginnings, just what you need right now. Don’t know where to start? Start here!

Once you’ve purged, you can take those clothes to a consignment store, donate them to Goodwill, or arrange a friend swap – another chance to fill a Sunday.

5. Just get on the bandwagon 

That’s right; trade your team in for a hotter option. If you’re like me, turning off the football is just not an option. So, don’t feel guilty. It will only be a holiday fling.

Who should you cheer for? Well, it’s a personal preference, but let me give you some factors to consider.

• New England Patriots: After all, as a girl anyway, it’s pretty easy to cheer for Tom Brady – he’s Tom Brady. The franchise has been counted on for some great games for a long time. Not enough? Then let’s say, to be “Patriotic.”

• Houston Texans: The Texans have always been the “other” Texas team. If you are sick of the Dallas Cowboys (and their fans) walking and talking like football royalty with no regard for their actual record, think of how fun it would be to see the Texans take it all the way.

• Atlanta Falcons: As of right now, Atlanta has lost only one game this season and yet no one takes them seriously. The “experts” point to the fact that they haven’t won a playoff game in the last eight years. No one’s buying what they’re selling. If you cheer for them, you are kind of cheering for the playoff  “underdog”.

• San Francisco 49ers: Coached by Jim “Crazy-Eyes” Harbaugh, this historic franchise is back to it’s winning ways. But even better, Coach can be seen here as Screech’s cousin in ‘Saved by The Bell.’ Now, that’s worth a cheer.

As for me, I’m going to bandwagon it like nobody’s business. If you’ve read my other Giggles, you know why I love the Denver Broncos. But it’s really Peyton Manning’s incredible comeback that leaves me cheering. After a very serious neck surgery that many thought would sideline him forever, on Thursday night he extended his franchise record with his 30th touchdown pass on the game’s opening drive, became the fastest quarterback to reach 5,000 career completions and earned his record 12th 10-win season as a starter.

However you decide to cope with your disappointment, have faith that we will get through this difficult time of year together. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. Well, I may not be able to think of anything aside from what I’ve said already, but I’ll try.

Image courtesy of Post Gazette

The post 5 Things To Do Now That Your Team Won’t Make The Playoffs appeared first on HelloGiggles.

The American goalkeeper has been blocking shots for the United States women’s national soccer team since 2000. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist. In 2009, she was named Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) Goal Keeper of the Year. In 2011, she was awarded the FIFA Women’s World Cup Golden Glove award, the Bronze Ball prize and the All-Star Team award.

In her college days at University of Washington, Solo was moved to the goalkeeper position and became the team’s all-time leader in shutouts, saves, and goals-against average. She was a four-time All-Pac-10  selection and a three-time NSCAA All-American.

After the 2012 London Olympics, she published her autobiography Solo: A Memoir of Hope. The autobiography debuted at No. 3 on the New York Times hardcover non-fiction best seller list, the highest ever for a soccer book.

By the way, Solo is beautiful and charismatic.  In 2011, she posed nude (but artistically) for The Body Issue of ESPN The Magazine, and later that year competed on “Dancing With the Stars”. She made it to the final round before being eliminated.

What an inspiration, right? You would imagine that this gal could have any fella she wanted, right? Perhaps a fellow athlete and star: fit, fabulous and talented.

Well, she is now a married woman– and he was a professional athlete – but I don’t see “happily ever after” in her future.

This past Tuesday, Solo married former NFL tight end, Jerramy Stevens.  The wedding — coming after just two months of dating — was confirmed by Sportsradio 950AM and 102.9FM host Dave Mahler and attended by her teammate, U.S. National goalie Jillian Loyden. The couple’s nuptials took place just hours after Stevens was released from police custody pending an investigation into a suspected assault against Solo during a drunken bash at their home in the wee hours of the morning one day earlier.

Surprised? No one should be…at least, not about Stevens being accused of assault. This guy has a serious rap sheet dating back to 1998 that includes assault, rape charges, DUIs and reckless driving with a crash landing into a nursing home. After his last drug related arrest in October 2010, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sent the player packing. He is not in the NFL anymore.

The charges filed for this domestic scuffle with Solo last week were dropped. The judge determined there was not enough evidence to hold Stevens.

Mrs. Solo-Stevens, what gives? Are you a junkie for “bad boys”? Are you trying to get even with your parents for some childhood grudge? Are you pregnant?

Maybe it speaks to an epidemic that extends beyond the person of Hope Solo – women who don’t know their own worth.

Think of how many lovely, wonderful and talented women you know who have settled into a relationship – or into bed – with a man who clearly “doesn’t deserve her.” I can look in my own life to see so many examples, and if you watch any television this “theme” screams out at you.

What’s the source of this female condition: Is it the constant feminine objectification in the media that diminishes self-image? Is the plague of “daddy issues” as a result of broken families to blame? Is it the core cave-woman instinct to attach to the most testosterone-loaded man in the room at play here?

I can’t even pretend to come up with “the answer” to explain this epidemic. (Yes, I’m calling it an epidemic. Epidemic as defined by Webster’s, “affecting or tending to affect a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time.”)

I don’t stand in judgment. When I was dating, I made my share of bad choices: the routinely jobless boy, the pot-smoking apathetic, the DUI-suspended license guy, the “oh- we-aren’t-divorced-yet” liar, the ex-girlfriend-chest-tattoo free-loader. Ah, memories.

I was lucky to come out of the tunnel to the other side in one piece with a wonderful man in my life. But my heart hurts and leaves me worried for my fellow members of the fairer sex.

It seems that the feminist movement may not have delivered what our fore-mothers intended, equality at the level of value and worth alongside men. To me, value is not just what shows up on a paycheck, or being considered for a job or position of power. It’s about being respected, being heard, being appreciated for all the gifts and talents you bring to the table – or the game. So many of the women I know don’t seem to expect that – or fight for it – for themselves.

My prediction: This marriage will last 6 months, tops. I hope for Hope’s sake, that I am right.

Images courtesy of Reuters & Top News Today

The post Odds Are, Hope Should Have Stayed Solo appeared first on HelloGiggles.

Most heroic, perhaps, was the creation of his foundation, The Lance Armstrong Foundation – now known as Livestrong. The purpose: “to identify the issues faced by cancer survivors in order to comprehensively improve quality of life for members of the global cancer community.”

Since it’s inception in 1997, Livestrong has raised more than $470 million dollars for the fight against cancer, and 81% of the funds went directly to support programs and services for survivors. The foundation raised cancer awareness, hope and more than $325 million from the sale of those brilliant yellow bracelets. Here’s the question: Can good deeds cement the title “hero,” even if the hero is revealed to be – in reality – a determined, but flawed and unethical human being?

In August, Armstrong announced that after more than 10 years of battle, he would stop fighting the charges of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), claiming that he systematically used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career and was instrumental in the organized doping of his tour-winning teammates.

Armstrong said, via the New York Times, “There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, ‘Enough is enough,’ For me, that time is now.” He went on to say that contesting the charges was taking too high a toll on himself, his family and the work of his foundation.

It turns out that giving up the fight meant giving up the hardware and saying a bitter goodbye to all his lucrative sponsorships.

He was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from the sport – his sport – for life, and Tour de France officials are looking to demand repayment of his tour winnings. All nine of Armstrong’s sponsors have dropped him to protect their brands. Barry Petchesky, from Deadspin, says “Everyone’s falling in line behind Nike, whose sudden reach for the moral high ground doesn’t deserve anyone’s praise, but who is the biggest freaking marketing juggernaut in the world.”

It would seem the highest cost of Armstrong’s fall from grace would have to be stepping down as the Chairman of Livestrong.

In a statement posted on Livestrong’s website, he said, “I have had the great honor of serving as this foundation’s chairman for the last five years and its mission and success are my top priorities. Today therefore, to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship. It has been a great privilege to help grow it from a dream into an organization that today has served 2.5 million people and helped spur a cultural shift in how the world views cancer survivors.  This organization, its mission and its supporters are incredibly dear to my heart.”

The post Is Lance Armstrong Still A Hero? appeared first on HelloGiggles.

I end up recording three to four games a week, the ones most important to me: one of my favorite teams is playing, or it’s one of the week’s most competitive matchups. And once those games have kicked off on Thursday, Sunday and Monday, I’m ignoring Facebook, Twitter and most news outlets to avoid “spoilers”. I’m also texting clear instruction to friends and relatives that they better not text me any news, cheers or jeers that could tip off the outcome of these games.

I did keep myself out of the fantasy leagues this year – somehow. I was trying to avoid feeding my preoccupation with football during the week to try and get more done this fall in real life. Frankly, I regret it. I miss that personal stake in those games. I won’t make that mistake next year.

This week, as I was making my pre-game plans and preparations, I thought, “How did this all start? This passion for a ‘boys’ game?” No one in my family played football. I only ever dated a boy that played football once – my freshman year of high school.

The question was rewarded with a warm memory.

There I am, 6 years old, at home in Colorado. I am sitting at the dining room table with my mom and dad and the Rocky Mountain News. It’s the Sunday paper, open to the sports section with the upcoming NFL Sunday games schedule. Around the edge of the page is a border, pictures of the helmets of each team in the league. My mom and dad are encouraging me to match up which helmet belongs to what team.

That was so much fun, and I was a really good guesser, too. At least, that’s what my mom tells me.

Then another memory: John Elway was drafted by the Baltimore Colts (yep, they used to be in Baltimore, but that’s a whole other story….) and traded to the Denver Broncos. Now, besides being a great city, Denver has some of the most passionate football fans in the nation, my family especially. I was only 9 but I remember the heated discourse between my mom, my dad, my grandpa and my uncles – I think one of my aunts even piped up – about this Elway guy. Was he the real deal? Was this the man to return Denver to “Orange Crush” glory?

John Elway actually made a permanent mark in our family’s history when he autographed a pizza box for my uncle at a place just a couple miles away from our house. It’s a story that gets told again and again – sometimes embellished – during family gatherings.

Then there was my 11^th birthday, Dec. 30^th, 1984.

In his second year, Elway had led the Broncos to the AFC Divisional Playoffs. The whole family was there and cake and presents were set to follow the game. I even had on my favorite Orange Crush t-shirt, like a true fan. It was about to be one of the best days of my young life.

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