Documenting Denver's Elway Cult.
 

As an amateur anthropologist, I like to read about primitive cultures who worship bizarre things. For example, there are those tribes in the South Pacific that worship World War II airplanes and build their own straw airplanes and stuff. There's the cult near my house that worships the Purple Light of Knowledge. There's that guy in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom who put people in that cage and lowered them into lava and enslaved children. And then, of course, several steps below them on the desirability scale, there are Denver Broncos fans who worship large-toothed former NFL quarterback John Elway.

This is not football fandom. This is way beyond football fandom. This is a bona fide cult that truly believes that he is a half-simian god who forsook the Garden of Eden that is Baltimore to bring to them the glory of several Super Bowl losses and some forfeited draft picks for salary cap cheating.

For the sake of science, I would like to document the evolution of this cult. Therefore, from time to time, I will do a search of our local newspaper to track the number of times that the Elway God is mentioned, and will share the most interesting and the most unique news report about this evil deity.

Report 1: November 20, 2007.

Search reveals:

587 hits for "Elway" in the news
12 hits in "Extras" section
48 results in "Yourhub" section

Most notable news story. Story reports that it is John Elway's birthday, and that six years earlier, he made a hole in one playing golf.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Do you know anyone who owns John Elway brand furniture?

The ESPNZone has "John Elway" easy chairs. I pick my nose and wipe it on the label.

I watched part of the Broncos' game last night. My wife came down, rolled her eyes and then sat down briefly. She watched for a few minutes and then said, "Why are the fans wearing Broncos' jerseys?" I said, "Well, to show support for their team and players, honey." She replied, "Who is #7?" "John Elway," I replied.

"Doesn't he sell cars now, or something?"

On the news yesterday morning, the sports broadcast wrote a special Christmas song about John Elway and sang it on the air for at least the amount of time it took me to find the remote and switch channels.

In today's news, Elway is playing in a golf tournament.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...e-december-27/

I have a question: Do people at Arrowhead still wear the jerseys of former players? I'd guess DT but any others?

Is that before, during or after he saved the dog that fell through the ice on the South Platte while simultaneously coaching his son to be as great a football player as he was?

At some point, I think it's fashionable, though only if every other person in the stadium is not wearing that player. For example, I saw a guy once wearing an Art Still jersey, and I thought that was cool. My wife sported a vintage Deron Cherry at our last game, and I had a DT.

I think the problem is when everyone in the stadium is wearing the jersey of one player who retired ten years ago. I would think it would be disheartening to the Broncos team when every single person in the stands is wearing an Elway jersey as opposed to the jersey of a player who has played in the current century.

I think that a non-pathetic ratio of current to past players should be about 8 to 1. Maybe 7 to 1. I bet Arrowhead is probably in that range. With the Broncos, it's probably closer to 1 to 7.

I wore my #89 Otis Taylor jersey the last time I attended a game.

It would be fun to get a picture of a game from this year to do a quick count.

That would be quite interesting. I'm looking online, but can't find a good crowd scene. A little help, anyone?

Here's one. Only three jerseys are visible, of which one is an Elway.

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/liv...Main090607.jpg

Here's another one. Only two jerseys are visible - both Elway.

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/liv...506art_200.jpg

Perhaps you should start a poll on OrangeMane about what jerseys people own. That could be informative.

Most delicious:

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn...c.php?t=297413

DENVER -- The Broncos jerseys were everywhere Monday afternoon.

Of course, I expected nothing less. This is Denver, site of countless Mile High miracles. The first guy I saw was sporting an old-school Elway jersey, all worn and frayed in its glorious used-to-be sunset orange glory. A nice blast from the past.

Standing right behind him was someone in a Terrell Davis jersey holding an "I need tickets" sign. Three folks were walking past him, up the sidewalk, sporting Ed McCaffery, Al Wilson and Shannon Sharpe digs. Odd, isn't it? Then Karl Mecklenburg, Tom Jackson and Bill Romanowski. Romanowski?

Being completely unscientific here, I'd say that there were three ex-Broncos jerseys for every two current Broncos jerseys in and around Invesco Field at Mile High. Maybe the fans are just stuck in the past. Maybe they just miss the days when Denver was actually a place that was practically impossible for visiting teams to win. It sure seemed as though that mystique was gone last year, when the Broncos were only 4-4 at home. And it definitely seemed like it on Oct. 7, when the struggling Chargers strolled in and slapped the home team 41-3.

Heh. That's funny.

I'll head over to the Mange tonight and post a poll. To be fair and scientific, I'll also post a similar poll here.

The one thing we'll have to think about is usage. Probably many of us have DT jerseys, just like many of them have Elway jerseys. The key is the proportion of past to current players, and which are worn at games.

I don't know about Invesco Field, but I do know that the wearers of Elway to current player jerseys at my local grocery store on game days is easily 5:1. And that's not even counting the reeruns.

My wife owns a Kelly Herndon jersey. Do past players still count when hardly anyone actually owns their jersey?

Just go back to wiping booger the furnature.

Go down to his dealership and spit in car ashtray

They're probably reversable jersies
they're all Michael Vicks on the inside

there are no more mr ed dealerships - they fired him this year. He hasn't owned them for a while - he was just the spokesman for the last several years.

I have a stitched authentic NFL Montana #16 jersey. I've worn it four times in ten years. I'd like to get it autographed by the man himself and then frame it. It's never been washed only dry cleaned.

After severing the tip of index finger with a tablesaw and nearly repeating the act on my thumb with a band saw, my loving son got me a DeBerg Jerzy to wear.

You are the man!

If I was going to wear an old school player's jersey, it would be a tossup between Dawson and Taylor...

I own an Elway jersey from the 75th anniversary season (old uniforms). I didn't buy it though, it was a gift... I don't really care to pay big bucks for jerseys, especially in the era that sees players leave teams so frequently.I buy Broncos hats or sweatshirts, but nothing player specific... if I were to buy one now, it would be an Atwater, Sharpe, Smith or Ed jersey. I just don't like spending the big $ on jerseys, especially since I don't wear them out and about... just on game day.Elway is one of those players that simply doesn't come around too often in this league. I'm sure 10 years from now, you'll still see Gonzo jerseys at Arrowhead.

Hell, you still see idiots wearing Grbac jerseys at Arrowhead.

In somewhat related news, I ran across an article yesterday that said that Favre jerseys are now the best-selling jerseys in NFL history.

http://news.postbulletin.com/newsman...?a=320827&z=22