Mile High Stadium

In their last nine trips to Mile High Stadium, the Chargers have recorded one--that's one--victory. "One win," recalled cornerback Gill Byrd, "and the most improbable scenario." The quarterback was Tom Flick. The motivation was a story about the Vietnam veteran with no legs who took four days to complete the New York Marathon. The Chargers were coming off a defeat to Kansas City in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. The Chargers were 1-8, the Broncos 8-1. The Chargers were 14-point underdogs.

In existence a mere 10 years, the Colorado Rockies are already pining for the good old days. The Rockies had the sort of promising start that no one expected: record crowds from the first day and a postseason berth in the franchise's third season. Since then, however, the Rockies have flamed out, becoming a consistent also-ran and a puzzling disappointment.

Let's see, on Monday of Super Bowl week, we'll have Broncomania Day at Sea World, and on Tuesday the wearers of the orange and blue can hie themselves to the veranda of the Hotel Del Coronado to throw down some pina coladas in honor of John Elway. There'll be something to do every glorious Southern California day, right up until game time at Jack Murphy Stadium, where the Denver Broncos are sure to finally prevail.

The Denver Post plans to call the Denver Broncos' new home "Mile High stadium" instead of its official name, Invesco Field at Mile High. "The community at large thinks of this as Mile High, new Mile High or the new stadium," Editor Glenn Guzzo said in Wednesday's editions. "In this case, the community's terminology is familiar, positive and clear."

The Denver Post plans to call the Denver Broncos' new home "Mile High stadium" instead of its official name, Invesco Field at Mile High. "The community at large thinks of this as Mile High, new Mile High or the new stadium," Editor Glenn Guzzo said in Wednesday's editions. "In this case, the community's terminology is familiar, positive and clear."

With one more rung to climb on the ladder leading to the Super Bowl, four of pro football's top teams will meet Sunday. In the morning, CBS will carry the Minnesota Vikings-Washington Redskins NFC championship from RFK Stadium at 9:30 a.m. (2)(8), with Pat Summerall and John Madden reporting. At 1 p.m., NBC will televise the AFC championship between the Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos from Mile High Stadium on (4)(36)(39). Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen will be in the broadcast booth.

Being a Broncos fan isn't the joy ride that it used to be. Rabid supporters of the two-time defending Super Bowl champions used to take pride in wearing their blue and orange game-day regalia and marching grandly into the home stadium wearing plastic horse heads. Now--as the team struggles with an 0-3 record and recovers from the retirement of demigod quarterback John Elway--the Broncos are derisively referred to as the Donkeys.

Win or lose, the fans of Denver will most likely witness John Elway's final game in Mile High Stadium next Sunday in the AFC championship game. Elway, who has yet to make a final decision on whether he will retire or play another year, met recently with owner Pat Bowlen and indicated once again he is leaning heavily toward retirement. "He was said it was 90%," Bowlen said, "but that was better than the 99.9% he had said earlier."

John Elway put his arm over Brian Bosworth's mouth Sunday. After a week of words from Bosworth, Seattle's brash rookie linebacker who vowed to hit the Denver quarterback as hard as he could every chance he got, Elway responded with one of the best games of his career. Bosworth did get his shots at Elway--two violent collisions in the first half that sent the quarterback crashing to the ground.

Anticipating that the Broncos would be playing in the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 26, Denver Post columnist Woody Paige recently scouted the city and its famous restaurants. "The Broncos just need to defeat Bye this weekend and a couple of bye-byes the next two weeks," he wrote. "It doesn't matter who the Broncos take on at Mile High Stadium. "Their only concern should be which team--Dallas, San Francisco or Green Bay--they will play in the Super Bowl."

One day after the Giants' meltdown, quarterback Kerry Collins disclosed he separated his right shoulder during the third quarter. "I wasn't coming out, though," Collins said Monday. Collins said Sam Adams, one of the Ravens' 300-pound plus defensive linemen, fell on him with his "full weight," causing the injury. After the game, teammate Michael Strahan walked up to Collins and gave him a hug. It was a thank you from the defensive end for getting the team to the Super Bowl.

If this was goodbye, then the Denver Broncos did it in style. The Broncos scored on six consecutive possessions in a 38-9 victory over the San Francisco 49ers Saturday in what could have been their final game in Mile High Stadium. The playoff-bound Broncos (11-5) stayed in contention for the AFC West championship. If Oakland (11-4) loses to Carolina (7-8) today, Denver wins the division title and is assured of a home playoff game. If Oakland wins, Denver is a wild card and plays on the road.

Being a Broncos fan isn't the joy ride that it used to be. Rabid supporters of the two-time defending Super Bowl champions used to take pride in wearing their blue and orange game-day regalia and marching grandly into the home stadium wearing plastic horse heads. Now--as the team struggles with an 0-3 record and recovers from the retirement of demigod quarterback John Elway--the Broncos are derisively referred to as the Donkeys.

Such sweet sorrow, indeed. Parting with his fans for probably the final time, heading to the Super Bowl for a fifth, John Elway bade farewell Sunday to a stadium that shook with glee and ached with sadness. There were cheers, sighs, chants, groans. There was a frightful start, a breathtaking middle, a perfect ending. Finally, there was the swaggering quarterback himself, leaning over to hug his wife from the postgame awards podium. Softly crying. "It was surreal," said Janet Elway.

Bill Parcells was nothing special while working in Colorado. Parcells, now considered a giant in professional coaching, went 3-8 as head coach of the Air Force Academy in 1978, quit to become linebackers coach with the New York Giants, but then quit again only a few weeks after joining the Giants. He said he wanted to spend more time with his family, so he returned to Denver and worked for the real-estate division of the Gates Rubber Co.

They have sold out Mile High Stadium 231 consecutive times, packed orange to orange, stomping their feet and raising the specter for the uninitiated that at any moment the whole structure might collapse. It is wild, it is intimidating, but at no time in all its glorious existence might it be louder than for today's AFC championship game--most likely the last opportunity for the people of Denver to yell for John Elway.

It's Denver, Coors Field, the mile-high stadium where, baseball pundits say, all hitting records eventually will be broken because of the thin air. Hideo Nomo is on the mound for the Dodgers in a division race that might make even a grizzled veteran choke under the pressure. Bottom of the ninth and in the stands the faithful of the Colorado Rockies rise to cheer--not their team but the opposing pitcher, who, it turns out, is three outs away from a no-hitter, the first ever at Coors Field.

John Elway, improving his record at Mile High Stadium to 60-16, threw two touchdown passes as the Denver Broncos beat the Seattle Seahawks, 28-17, Sunday. Robert Delpino ran for two touchdowns as the Broncos (4-3) raised their record against the Seahawks at Mile High to 13-3. It was Denver's 20th win in its last 23 home games. The Broncos, who had lost their previous two, started slowly for the third straight week as Seattle (4-4) took a 7-0 first-quarter lead.

He has always been the single-minded competitor, Stanford-educated to talk about anything, but stubborn, defiant and resolved to focus on the next play, the next football game while everyone else wants to know if he will be playing his final game in Mile High Stadium on Sunday. Maybe the final game of his career anywhere. "I have blocked it out--don't know," Elway says. "Next question."

Win or lose, the fans of Denver will most likely witness John Elway's final game in Mile High Stadium next Sunday in the AFC championship game. Elway, who has yet to make a final decision on whether he will retire or play another year, met recently with owner Pat Bowlen and indicated once again he is leaning heavily toward retirement. "He was said it was 90%," Bowlen said, "but that was better than the 99.9% he had said earlier."