It started as a whisper, a thought, a glimmer of hope. So many times you have had your heart broken, So many times you thought you could have picked a better team to pour your soul into. Then something changed, something galvanized your resolve to stay the course with the team you love so much. Your defiance to defend the team you love went to the next level and while you were being consumed with frustration and anger something amazing started to happen....
Growing up in Brighton, Colorado, basketball was my first love as a sport to play, I fell in love with the Nuggets at an early age, particularly the early 90s Nuggets. I remember getting made fun of for liking the Nuggets as a child and as a adult, I also got made fun of as a kid which only made my affinity for the Nuggets even stronger. The highs and lows of being a Nuggets fan are bittersweet at best, the highest for me being Mutombo clutching the ball above his chest laying on the floor in Game 5 in Seattle with such joy it made you feel that anything was possible. The lowest being Kobe Bryant flying like an airplane in Game 6 of the WCF of 2009 in Denver, I know its just a game but I was depressed for two weeks after this loss to the Lakers.
Denver is considered a flyover city in national media coverage circles, the irony of this for Nuggets fans is that in a flyover city the Nuggets are an afterthought. You have to defend your Nuggets fandom to not only the rest of the Country but a also to other people in Denver. I love all things Denver and all Denver sports teams, however I never understood the venom directed at Nuggets fans from Broncos fans for liking a fellow Denver team. The Brain Shaw era following the Nuggets WCF run in 2009 was very tough and I continued to defend the Nuggets and held out hope for something special.
Sometimes as a fan you lose perspective of what sports should bring to a persons life and more importantly that persons community. The Denver Nuggets are Denver a small flyover city built on miners sweat, a "cow-town " that wont ever be LA or New York. I became obsessed with this Denver against the world mentality that I missed the bigger picture of the Denver Nuggets uniting misfits across the globe. This made me realize that we as sports fans are way more alike than we are different. Where else can a young boy in Serbia and a young girl in Melbourne cheer for a scrappy group of underdogs.
In life its always more about the journey than the destination, I am a Denver Nuggets fan and the Denver Nuggets will always be woven into the fabric of my soul for reasons sports related and others related to teaching me about life. I am thankful to be a Denver Nuggets fan and I will be the first to tell you I am a Nuggets fan(most Nuggets fans will also do the same). I will always root for the underdog and the long-shot, Nuggets fans hold your head high you are a scrappy, defiant, loyal group.
The whisper started almost two years ago of a slow Serbian center that would keep defying expectations, a thought of a young core potentially contending one day in a talented Western Conference. A glimmer of hope with a six game winning streak at the end of 2017-18 season. Something Special This Way Comes Nuggets fans, no matter the outcome enjoy the journey! More importantly know that you have a crazy group of misfits wanting the Nuggets to win just a badly as you do! GO NUGGETS!!!!
