A Moving Conversion To Broncos Fan Felt Disloyal

I was ripe for conversion to a Denver Bronco fan from young die hard Dallas Cowboy man.

I just felt like a traitor at first. Any fan who has ever gone through a loyalty change can have their football loving heart ripped apart.

Growing up in Texas, I bled blue and silver Cowboys, but in the last few years before I first left Dallas, I was getting tired of fans who took for granted going the playoffs about 25 years in a row. I started to envy other NFL cities with fans who were more rabid about their teams. We didn't have anything like, "Here we go Steelers, here we go! Boom Boom!"

Actually, the first place I moved between Dallas and Denver was Chicago. I was in culture shock, and I never liked the Bears anyway. I wasn't going to start then. In 1984, Bears fans were lukewarm, then the next year the whole town turned band-wagoneers. I turned a bit the opposite. I mean I knew how much fun it was for Chicagoans in 1985, but in 1986, I heard a lot of, "Da Bears suck!" On the radio, I got sick of playing that "Superbowl Shuffle" record every 75 minutes all season long. 

After three years in the Windy Chill City, I liked the Mile High City. I liked watching Elway every week. Somehow I fell in love with the Broncos. I just felt guilty about it. I couldn't have two favorite teams. (Now I laugh at this age of fantasy football, pulling for players from all over the NFL. I still refuse to get involved in that.)

Fortunately in opposite conferences, Broncos and Cowboys didn't play each other again until after something happened that helped break the tie. I'll always remember fondly the era of "America's Team." The Cowboys had such class, until Jerry Jones became owner, and fired my hero, Tom Landry. That was just the first straw, but I felt better about switching my number one from Big D to High D. That was two and a half decades ago, and I'm never again switching teams. 

Ever since I've said, "I think it's okay to change allegiance once in a lifetime."