Sometimes you just gotta believe

Sometimes you just gotta believe. Some people would claim yesterday's win by the Denver Broncos as miraculous. As the underdogs in everyone's minds except for those that mattered - the players - few really expected the Broncos to beat the favored Mr. Brady and Patriots. Of course, all the hype was about the Manning/Brady showdown but yesterday's game and yesterday's win was so not about the two quarterbacks. With apologies to the pundits, I'm sure Peyton would give 100% credit to the rest of the team and actually believe what he was saying.

Doretha, who I work with in HR, and who is far wiser than I, always proclaims that the Broncos simply need to score 1 more point than whichever team they are facing. And yesterday proved her right once again. Though the final score reflects a two point difference, the game was truly determined by one point - a missed point after attempt in the first half. The rest of the game would revolve around the Patriots trying to recover from that one botched play.

After the game was over and the final agonizing seconds had ticked off the clock a reporter asked one of the Broncos players in the locker room if a week ago he had believed that they would be where they were now - Champions of the AFC and headed for Superbowl 50. Though the reporter clearly expected a different response the player without the least hesitation said that yes, absolutely, without any doubt, he believed they would win the game. And it wasn't just some canned response, some sports metaphor being spouted. It was clear that he, and the rest of the team, truly believed in themselves and in each other and that they could win. And that's the real story about yesterday's game that celebrates a team that never gave up. As another Broncos player put it, every play in a game matters, and you gotta believe that every member of the Patriots organization has now learned that lesson the hard way.

I'm pretty sure the Broncos will again be rated as underdogs going into the big game two weeks from now. And that's probably as it should be. But in the end it doesn't matter. Let the players fight it out on the field  and until proven otherwise, you gotta believe in orange and blue. Congratulations to the 2015 AFC Champion Denver Broncos.

As I get older and realize more and more how little I really know it surprises me the lessons I still need to learn. As simple as it is, sometimes you just gotta believe.