From Cheers to Jeers to Tears. Unfortunately, the shirt says it all.

You need to know the history of the Tabor/Gdovin/Gardner dedication to the Denver Broncos. Sundays would find my mother shouting obscenities at the television when the Broncos would make a poor play or Charley Johnson, Craig Morton, and later – legend John Elway – were somehow wronged, in her eyes. In those days, you did not have to wonder if the Broncos were playing on a certain day. You merely had to roll the car window down as you turned from Orchard Avenue to North 18th Street and listen. And when Grandma Tabor was in town, you could pretty much get the picture around 16th Street. My mother ate, slept and breathed the Denver Broncos. I will admit it was a tad embarrassing to walk in mom’s living room and come face to face with a ceramic Denver Bronco helmet clock on the wall. A family rift even developed one year when she (with one or both of my younger sisters as apprentices) draped my older brother’s house with orange and blue crepe paper. He was NOT a Denver Bronco fan, and the only person I ever met in our family that wasn’t. When the golden touch of #7 joined the team, the enthusiasm only intensified. Still in elementary school, a very young Jeffry joined his father and brothers on the trip to watch the Broncos vs Arizona Cardinals – and was quite disappointed when Elway ran on to the field amidst the cheers of the Gardner family. Although Elway made a sweeping wave to the fans, it appeared he did not even recognize or acknowledge young Jeffry, leaving my youngest to wonder just how that could be? After all, John would certainly be personally aware of a dedicated Broncos family such as this. At least four times a year, discussion ensues on the historical moment known in National Football League lore as The Drive. Although I could probably recite the play verbatim, I have learned long ago, it is best not to insult Bronco fans by pretending I know or understand the game. If you know of The Drive, then relay it to all around. If you do not, then the shame of the Denver Broncos and the Tabor/Gdovin/Gardner houses be upon you.