For the first 16-plus years of my career as a journalist, I covered sports.
Starting with high school football games in Northern Virginia in 1979 and finishing with a CIF high school football championship game in Thousand Oaks, California, in 1995, I covered just about every major sport at every level. I covered a Super Bowl, a World Series, two NCAA Final Fours and a lot more.
Heck, I ever covered something called Soccer Bowl ’80 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., the championship game of a league that no longer exists.
If I were to make a list of special places I covered sports, RFK Stadium would be on that list, largely for Washington Redskins games I covered there in 1980 and ’81. But there are two places that stood out and would be at the top of my list, one in Colorado and one in California.
One still exists, the other no longer does.
When I moved to Colorado in late October of 1986, my life was in something of a shambles. My employer in St. Louis had gone bankrupt once, came back two months later and folded for good in October. My car died for good the day I was leaving, so I abandoned it and spent my first four months in Colorado riding the city buses.
But things got straightened out and I probably had my two most enjoyable years of my entire career in Greeley. It was the closest I ever was to being my own boss. I was sports editor of the Tribune, an excellent small paper, and I helped turn a good sports section into an excellent one.
And I discovered a wonderful sports palace — Denver’s original Mile High Stadium.
If I remember correctly, it held about 76,000 fans and was sold out for every Broncos game. The stands were a sea of orange and blue, and it was truly thrilling to be able to stand on the sidelines for the last two minutes and watch the amazing John Elway lead yet another comeback.
I was there for the end of the ’86 season and all of ’87, two years that ended with Denver playing in the Super Bowl.
In more than 65 years as a sports fan, I have seen all-time greats in many sports. Guys named Mantle and Mays, Jordan and Abdul-Jabbar, Jurgensen and Montana to name just a few. But my favorite ever, the one who will always stand out in my mind, is Elway.
He wasn’t the greatest ever, but he led a so-so franchise to five Super Bowls and won two of them. The most incredible thing he did was win championships in his last two seasons — and then walk away from the game. If you watch the video, which came out on Denver television my first fall in the state, you’ll see three people each saying “WE LOVE HIM” — the mayor of Denver, the governor of Colorado and the first Mrs. Elway.
I was never a big memorabilia collector in my days covering sports, but after I retired I started buying things. I have six autographed jerseys. The prize is a Bobby Thomson game-used jersey from 1951, but I’ve also got a Johnny Bench, a Tom Seaver, a Juan Soto and a Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
And one that isn’t baseball.
For all that, though, there is one place I covered sports that meant more to me than Mile High, and it earned the same song as Elway. Although it wasn’t a parody, it was the real thing.
My professional goal had always been to be a baseball writer covering a major-league team. I never quite got the full deal, covering spring training and going on road trips, but for two seasons — 1990 and 1991 — I covered the home schedule of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
And Dodger Stadium meant even more to me than Mile High, something I wouldn’t have believed could happen. For all the eastern fans who rave about Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium or Wrigley Field, I’ve been in all three and they come up short of the park they call Blue Heaven.
It has been 13 years since my last visit to Dodger Stadium, probably more than the 150th game I saw there.
It’s one a handful of places on Earth that I truly love. There’s London, Paris, San Francisco and Crestline, Ohio. There’s the Piazza San Marco in Venice. There’s anywhere my wife and children are.
And there’s Mile High Stadium and Blue Heaven.
I am a very lucky man.