A day before it will host the Broncos 2012 preseason home opener, Sports Authority Field at Mile High opened its doors to players, coaches and fans for the inaugural Kickoff Luncheon.
The event was attended by every player on the roster and each member of the coaching staff. Vice President of Corporate Communications Jim Saccomano said the presence of every player made Friday afternoon memorable for everyone who attended.
“It’s really cool,” Saccomano said. “In the history of the team there have been different luncheons that have been done by different organizations, or pep rallys. But to have one in which all the coaches and all the players attended, they were all introduced and got to sit among the fans. And the fans of course bought tables, a lot of them by companies, and the Broncos charities got the money for that, which is a great thing. It really was a big event that seemed to go really well and hopefully it’s the beginning of another tradition.”
An hour after their final practice of this year’s training camp, the Broncos hustled over to their home stadium in time to enter the luncheon one by one to the applause from fans of all ages. The players sat at tables with fans who were able to get to meet their favorite players and eat lunch with them. Linebacker Wesley Woodyard said he enjoyed being able to connect with his fans.
“It was a great atmosphere with the fans and stuff,” Woodyard said. “They got a chance to really tell us how they feel about us. You get to chance to really appreciate everything that they go through throughout the season, putting the effort in and cheering for us. It makes us appreciate them a lot more.”
The participants packed the west end of the United Club Level of Sports Authority Field. Before the meal, fans enjoyed several unique opportunities. The two Super Bowl trophies that Denver won in 1998 and 1999 were on display for fans to take pictures with. Former Broncos players Billy Thompson, Karl Mecklenburg and Simon Fletcher were on hand to sign autographs, as were the cheerleaders. Both Miles and Thunder were also there for fans to take pictures photos with.
At the conclusion of the event, several lucky fans walked away with autographed Broncos memorabilia, including helmets signed by quarterback Peyton Manning and Vice President of Football Operations John Elway. The prizes were awarded to winners of both a silent auction and a raffle, with proceeds going to various charities including The Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver.
One of the highlights of the luncheon was a series of fan questions answered by Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway and Head Coach John Fox. The first question Fox answered was about how much the fans help raise the excitement level for the football team.
“I know in practice, training camp can be rough,” Fox said. “It can get a little bit monotonous, a little bit grueling. It’s the dog days. The fans do a great job for our players, and particularly at training camp practice. I can’t speak enough about our fans at our scrimmage that we had at the stadium. It was incredible to have 40,000-plus fans there. Our games are arguably the best home-field advantage in the National Football League.”
In an answer to a question about the difficulty of the Broncos’ schedule, Elway pointed out that no team in the league has it easy.
“Any time you win your division you’re going to get a tough schedule,” Elway said. “I think when you look at the NFL and you look at the margin of error within the NFL, everybody has a tough schedule. Anybody can beat anybody on a given weekend.”
Later, Fox talked about the difficulty of adjusting from the college game to the NFL. But he said he still expects big contributions from his rookie class.
“At the end of the day it’s still (football) and a lot of rookies make a big splash right away,” Fox said. “And we’re counting on our rookies to do the same thing.”
One of the biggest cheers of the afternoon was prompted by a gesture from Elway. When asked about his favorite moment in football history, Elway paused and smiled.
“In football history,” Elway said, hesitating and smiling. “Right there, without a doubt,” he added, pointing at a picture of him in action during one of his Super Bowl victories.
Had a 10 yard offside penalty – nobody said a word.
I think that this luncheon thing is pretty cool. Kudos to Mr. Bowlen and Mr. Elway! nicely done!
Cards are up again 31-24
SoCal, good that you get to see next week then!!! That’s when they’ll play the most
Well I know that Clady WR furious last week. It’ll be interesting to see what they do tomorrow during our game.
WR=was
SoCal, Giants/Jets game is live on NFL Network tomorrow, just saw a preview.
And another turn over by the Cards.
Is it really that awful. Crikey last week the Raiders couldn’t even score.
Raiders recovered fumble at Card 40 – penalty – now they are at the Card 45 – Haha!!!
Field goal – 31-27 Cards
Wow! Well, have a good night DB and have fun tomorrow everyone!!!
Tap Your Cleats Three Times
A Colt becomes a Bronco
Tomorrow night at Mile High
LET’S GO BRONCOS, LET’S GO!!!!!!!
Take care Cat!
Cards are burning the clock and gonna kick a final fieldgoal – they are in range now.
Got another 1st and ran out the clock 27 – 31 final. Raiders lose again. (to the Cards!!!)
BTW – it was good to see John Lynch calling the Titans / Bucs game.
I was able to see the blackout games a little after all the games were over. That Raider game was weird. Some of the calls?
Here you go: Kolb is 3rd and Goal from the 3 yrd line. Raider pressure gets a hold of Kolb’s jersey. So Kolb gets rid of the ball to a tackle. There is a holding penalty against the Cards at the same time. Dennis Allen declines both penalties because he wants the loss of down.
I won’t tell you where the officials spot the ball but where is that ball down? Is it where the tackle catches the ball? Where the tackle is tackled? Or do you have a better answer? The refs did?
Where the receiver is tackled. My guess though! Whatever! People get shot after Raiders games. Thank God that doesn’t happen in Broncos Country! But I will never ever go to a Broncos game there, Qualccolm I have no problem going to been there, but I won’t go to Oakland!!!
OR Arizona apparently. Crikey! http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/08/18/parking-lot-shooting-occurs-at-raiders-cardinals-game/
Cat have a great time and safe travels to you and yours. Lets go kick some Bronco-Tail!! HaHa!!
Good Morning Broncos Country!
Nice event for the players & fans and the community, Jim!
Former Broncos DT Marcus Thomas signed a one year deal on Thursday, (08/16/12), with the NY Giants.
Good morning strand & cat !!!
It’s gameday !!!!!!!!!
Royal I saw that. Wished him luck on twitter and told him we’d see him @ the Manning Bowl @ the end of the season! LOL
Game day!!! Orange Crush!!
What’s up guys?!?!?! What are y’all doing before the game?
Nice message to Thomas, cat..lol!
Having some coffee, got a few things to do today around the house, then get ready to watch the Broncos this evening!
Sounds time consuming. I have to wait two hours yet to go on the road and I’m going nuts! Woke up at 7 cause I was too excited!
Good Morning Gang!
Can’t wait for the game tonight! Gonna be awesome…….I hope we slaughter the seachickens!
OC…….we should try and set up a jam session via skype or google talk or something. We can bang out some riffs and get this song rolling. And we can figure out how to send media files so both of us can be playing on the song. Looking forward to it bro….
Drave safe cat……..not too heavy on the gas pedal now…….I know your’re anxious to get there but we don’t need any super troopers pulling you over! hahaha
And good morning to you strand and rbf1!
GO BRONCOS!
Have a great day everyone and I’ll check in with you all later tonight!
GAMEDAY BABY YEAH!!!!!!
No worries!!! Cruise control is a good invention!
Ha!
Have a good game everyone!
Morning Royal. Its game day bro!
Always good to see you Kod. See you tonight perhaps. I might not be home until after the game. Enjoy!
GAME DAY!! Man can’t wait to see the Orange and Blue at home in Mile High!!
Oh, so we`re wearing our Orange tonight. I almost forgot. HaHa!! I have 1 old Orange jersey, good ole #84 Shannon Sharpe. I know what I`m wearing tonight. LOL
i will be wearing my orange Von Miller jersey i bought last year…… think i am going to get a Wolfe jersey this year i am a defensive guy after all ha
Our D is going to be killer this year. I think we might be up by 17 to 21 points quite a bit this year by half time, especially at home. There will be some close games no doubt, but there`s going to be some blowouts. Our D will make sure of it behind Peyton Manning at the helm on the O side.
I went back and read some of last nights posts. I missed some Rockin n Rollin with Sec and OC. Man, what a bummer.
If anyone is wondering you can watch the game on line, and if you dont want to buy it, ill give you the password and username lol it works on any computer. I have a 24 inch monitor so its like its on tv cant wait counting minutes ILMSDBFBaby
Millertime2, before the game starts, gotta celebrate with a Double Double, Animal Style. HaHa, made you ponder on the idea. LOL! j/k
LOL, Rt on strand, I got a job driving again I have a dedicated pheonix run from fontana ca, I havent been able to get on lately. Its 52cents a mile, getting 200 bucks for one way 400 turnaround, I do 3 a wk. But guess what I had for the first time, but have always heard other people from the midwest talk about it. Have you ever heard of WHATA BURGER it was ok , but dont think it can top In N out thou.
Whata Burgers are all over Texas, so yes, I`ve had them. There pretty good. Nothing tops IN N OUT, no comparison. LOL
Need a big W tonight. I have a lot of Seahawk fan friends so it’s always a pleasure to beat up on them.
No worries, 3rdgen, its only preseason. But for bragging rights a WIN would be ideal.
I just want to come away from this game unscathed by any injuries. Thats my biggest concern.
I didn’t know Whata Burger started out in Texas. strand..interesting. I know they’re all over New Mexico & Arizona as well.
I don`t know if they started out in Texas, but they are all over the Texas map. LOL
Mike Klis at DP states 5 goals for the Broncos this evening…..
http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_21340771/five-goals-broncos-their-game-against-seahawks
oh ok… lol! Just looked them up and it’s true. They started out of Corpus Christi Tx back in 1950. This burger joint can be found in the follow states… FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, OK, NM, and AZ.
Wow, they are all over.
Yeah, mainly South, Southeast & Southwest states.