Thursday, January 30, 2014

How Long It's Been: The Denver Broncos Reached a Super Bowl (Or the Atlanta Falcons, For That Matter)

I'll be doing this for their opponents, too -- not just the Seahawks, who are going into the game having never won a title, but for the entire city of Seattle.

It took the Denver Broncos 5 tries to get their 1st Super Bowl win. It took them only 1 more to get their 2nd. Back-to-back Super Bowls didn't erase the memory of their 4 losses, but it did mark them as 1 of 17 teams to win back-to-back NFL Championships... 13 separate teams to have done it... 12 current teams... and 7 teams in the Super Bowl era. (The 1997-98 Denver Broncos prevented the Green Bay Packers from doing it for a 4th time, a 2nd time in the Super Bowl era; only the 2003-04 New England Patriots have done it since.)

But then John Elway retired, and the Broncos hadn't been back since.

Until, upon Elway's recommendation, they signed Peyton Manning, who had been cut by the team for whom he had been the greatest player ever (since their move away from Johnny Unitas' Baltimore, anyway), the Indianapolis Colts, who had seen him miss an entire season with a neck injury and, panicking because of that injury and his age, took Andrew Luck with the 1st pick in the next year's NFL Draft.

It was a good result for the Colts, and Luck has done just fine in his 1st 2 seasons, and has made the Colts relevant again. A title could well be in his future.

It was an even better result for the Broncos, as, this coming Sunday, they will play in the Super Bowl for the 1st time since...

January 31, 1999, Super Bowl XXXIII (33), at the Miami Dolphins' stadium, whatever it was called that year. (I think that stadium has now had more names than the Dolphins have had trips to the Super Bowl, not counting years when they've hosted it.)

The defending champion Broncos, who went 14-2 in the regular season and came from behind at halftime to beat Bill Parcells' New York Jets in the AFC Championship Game, came in as 7 1/2-point favorites over the Atlanta Falcons, who had never reached a Super Bowl before -- and, like the Broncos until now, haven't since. No, not even with Michael Vick as their quarterback. (If you believe in karma, it's not that, unless we can prove he was already involved with dogfighting.)

Ironically, the Falcons' coach was Georgia native Dan Reeves, who had previously coached the Broncos to 3 of their Super Bowl defeats. In fact, as a player with the Dallas Cowboys, as an assistant coach with the Cowboys, and as a head coach, Reeves was involved with 11 NFL Championship Games or Super Bowls, from the 1966 to the 1998 season. That's a record, unless you count 1943 when George Halas, owner, head coach, and former player of the Chicago Bears, was away in the Navy during World War II, then it's 11 for him between 1932 and 1963. (He also played on the Bears when they won the 1921 title, before there were championship games.)

The Eugene Robinson prostitution scandal was a bit of a distraction for the Falcons, and Elway's pass to Rod Smith, which Robinson was unable to stop, was a big reason why the Broncos won, 34-19, making Elway the rare player, in any sport, who won a World Championship in his last game. But the Broncos would have won even without the distraction.

That's 15 years ago, as of tomorrow. How long has it been?

*

Needless to say, neither team has any players left from their 1998-99 season. Elway and Shannon Sharpe have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and cases can also be made for the elections of Terrell Davis, Mark Schlereth and Steve Atwater. (One could also be made for that of Bill Romanowski, but do you really want to see him enshrined?)

None of the Falcons has yet made it, although it's possible that a Hall of Fame career for Jamal Anderson was short-circuited by injury, as has thus far been the case for Davis. The Falcons' Cornelius Bennett (a member of the Buffalo Bills' 4 straight Super Bowl teams) and Jessie Tuggle should also be considered.

UPDATE: Davis has since been elected.

At the time, the Patriots, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the New Orleans Saints, the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans franchise, the Rams since they moved to St. Louis (though they had won a title in Los Angeles in 1951), the Baltimore Ravens since they moved from Cleveland, and he Colts since they moved to Indianapolis, had never won a Super Bowl. The Bucs, the Saints, the Ravens, the Oilers/Titans, the Colts since they moved to Indianapolis, the Carolina Panthers, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Cardinals since they moved to Arizona (though they had won titles in Chicago in 1925 and 1947) had never even been in one. In each of those cases, that is no longer true.

The Cleveland Browns were still on hiatus, between Art Modell moving them to Baltimore and the arrival of their expansion team. Houston was also on hiatus, between Bud Adams moving the Oilers to Tennessee and the expansion Texans arriving.

Half of the NFL's teams, 16 out of 32 (if you count the San Francisco 49ers, whose Levi's Stadium will open this coming fall), have since replaced the stadiums in which they played the 1998-99 season.

NFL trailblazers Sammy Baugh, Marion Motley and Johnny Unitas were still alive. Don Hutson, Sid Luckman and Doak Walker had died within the past 2 years.

Peyton Manning had just finished his rookie season with the Colts. Tom Brady was a backup quarterback at the University of Michigan, Drew Brees the starter at Purdue University, Ben Roethlisberger at Miami University of Ohio, and the aforementioned Michael Vick had just led Virginia Tech into the National Championship game, losing to Florida State. Troy Polamalu was a freshman at the University of Southern California.

Eli Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Larry Fitzgerald were in high school. Mark Sanchez and Adrian Peterson were in junior high school. Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck were in elementary school. Johnny Manziel had just turned 7; Jameis Winston, 5. 

Tom Coughlin of the Giants was the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Rex Ryan of the Jets was defensive line coach for the Ravens. Terry Collins of the Mets was the manager of the team then known as the Anaheim Angels. Mike Woodson of the Knicks was an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks, John Tortorella of the Rangers with the team then known as the Phoenix Coyotes. Jack Capuano of the Islanders was coaching the minor-league Pee Dee Pride in South Carolina, Peter DeBoer the Plymouth Whalers in Massachusetts. Jason Kidd of the Nets was playing for the Phoenix Suns. Joe Girardi had lost his job as the Yankees' starting catcher to Jorge Posada.

In addition to the Broncos, defending World Champions were the Yankees (coming off their 125-50 season), the Chicago Bulls (who haven't won one since), and the Detroit Red Wings. The Heavyweight Championship of the World was divided between Evander Holyfield (WBA & IBF) and Lennox Lewis (WBC).

Since the Broncos and Falcons last appeared in a Super Bowl, the Olympic Games have been held in Australia, America, Greece, Italy, China, Canada and Great Britain, and are about to be held in Russia. The World Cup has since been held in Japan, Korea, Germany and South Africa, and is about to be held in Brazil.

The President of the United States was Bill Clinton, and he was in the middle of his impeachment trial in the Senate. He would be acquitted by majority vote on both counts, as there was no admissible evidence that he had committed any crimes. Former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, their wives, and the widow of Lyndon Johnson, were still alive. (The Bushes and the Carters still are.) George W. Bush had just been re-elected Governor of Texas, and was preparing his 1st run for the Presidency. Barack Obama was in the State Senate in Illinois.

The Governor of New York was George Pataki, of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman. Newly sworn in as Governors of the States involved in the Super Bowl in question were Bill Owens of Colorado and Nathan Deal of Georgia. Rudy Giuliani was Mayor of New York, Wellington Webb of Denver, and Bill Campbell of Atlanta.

Current Governor Andrew Cuomo was U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development, with Bill de Blasio as one of his assistants. Chris Christie was back in private law practice after having lost a bid for re-election to the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

Five Justices then on the U.S. Supreme Court are still on it now: Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. The idea that same-sex marriage would soon be legal in 1 State, let alone many or even all 50, was a bit ridiculous, as even "civil unions" were having trouble passing.

There were still surviving veterans of World War I, the Mexican Revolution, the Pancho Villa Expedition, the Buffalo Soldiers, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Easter Rising and the March On Rome. There were still living survivors of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, the 1914 Ludlow Massacre, the builders of the Panama Canal, and the disasters that befell the General Slocum in 1904, the Titanic in 1912, the Lusitania and the Eastland in 1915, and the Britannic in 1916.

Northern Ireland peacemakers John Hume and David Trimble were the holders of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Pope was John Paul II. The current Pope, Francis, then Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was Archbishop of Buenos Aires -- not yet a Cardinal.

The Prime Minister of Canada was Jean Chretien. The monarch of Great Britain was Queen Elizabeth II (that hasn't changed), but the Prime Minister was Tony Blair. There have since been 3 Presidents of the United States, 3 Prime Ministers of Britain, and 3 Popes.

London club Arsenal were the holders of the Premier League title and the FA Cup (a.k.a. they had "done The Double"), but Manchester United were on their way to winning both and the European Champions League (the only time an English club has done the "European Treble"), coming from behind in stoppage time to beat German giants Bayern Munich, a highly symbolic victory considering the 1958 Munich Air Disaster that killed 8 Man United players and injured 2 others so badly that they never played again. The current holders of the Champions League's trophy, the European Cup, were Spain's Real Madrid, having beaten Italy's Juventus. France, led by Zinedine Zidane and also featuring a young Thierry Henry, had recently won the World Cup, defeating Brazil on home soil in the Final.

Major novels of 1999 included Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, Timeline by Michael Crichton, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding, The Testament by John Grisham, Chocolat by Joanne Harris, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Boston Red Sox fan Stephen King, Harry Potter and the Prison of Azkaban (the 3rd book in the series) by J.K. Rowling, and Hannibal (chronologically, the most recent book in the series) by Thomas Harris. George R.R. Martin was working on A Storm of Swords (the 3rd book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series).

The films The Thin Red Line and She's All That premiered in January 1999, while the Mel Gibson film Payback premiered the week after that Super Bowl. Star Trek: Insurrection had premiered the month before, while Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough with Pierce Brosnan were on their way, but none of these would do its franchise much critical good.

The attempts to bring Superman and Batman back to the big screen were failing, and so the last men to play them remained Dean Cain (a Superman on TV) and George "This is why Superman works alone" Clooney, respectively. Paul McGann, in a one-shot deal, was the most recent man to play The Doctor.

Major TV shows that debuted in the 1998-99 season included Sports Night, Will & Grace, The King of Queens, Felicity, Becker, MTV's Total Request Live, and some shows that weren't set in New York City, like The Sopranos (okay, it was in North Jersey, and some of it happened in New York), Farscape (which didn't even take place on this planet), V.I.P. (which frequently seemed like it was on another planet), The Hughleys, Charmed, the disastrous The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, and cartoons like Batman Beyond, The Powerpuff Girls, Jay Jay the Jet Plane, The Wild Thornberrys, Rolie Polie Olie, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Family Guy, Futurama, SpongeBob SquarePants, and the U.S. premiere of Pokémon.

No one had yet heard of Robert Langdon, Master Chief, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Rick Grimes, Lisbeth Salander, Bella Swan, Don Draper, Katniss Everdeen, Walter White or Richard Castle.

Kourtney Kardashian was 19 years old, Kim 18, Khloe 14, Rob 11, Kendall 3 and Kylie 1. Of the Modern Family kids, Sarah Hyland was 8, and Ariel Winter, Rico Rodriguez and Nolan Gould were all less than a year old. From Game of Thrones: Richard Madden, Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington were 12, Rose Leslie was 11, Jack Gleeson was 6, Sophie Turner was 2 and Maisie Williams was 9 months old. Mark Harmon was starring on Chicago Hope, and Nathan Fillion was on Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place.

Britney Spears released her debut album, ...Baby One More Time, including the title track, which was now the Number 1 song in the country. Eminem's debut would follow the next month. Rod Stewart and Rachel Hunter split up. A&M Records and the German industrial band KMFDM disbanded. (Sadly, their initials did not stand for "Kill Mother-Fucking Depeche Mode. It stood for "Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid," German for "No pity for the majority.")

For most of us, "Selena" still meant Quintanilla-Perez; "Demi" meant Moore; and "Kylie" meant Minogue. Christina Aguilera had debuted thanks to her song in the Disney cartoon Mulan, but the English-speaking world had not yet heard of Shakira, and Pink, Destiny's Child and Alicia Keys had yet to debut. Katy Perry was in high school. Lady Gaga was 12 years old, Rihanna 10, Taylor Swift 9, Louis Tomlinson 7, Zayn Malik 6; Ariana Grande, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Harry Styles 5; and Justin Bieber 4. He wasn't yet a "Boyfriend," he was barely past being a "Baby."

Inflation was such that what $1.00 bought then, $1.42 would buy now. A U.S. postage stamp cost 33 cents, and a New York Subway ride $1.50. The average price of a gallon of gas was $1.22, a cup of coffee $1.90, a McDonald's meal (Big Mac, fries, shake) $5.69, a movie ticket $5.09, a new car $20,686, and a new house $189,100. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the preceding Friday at 9,358.82.

At that point, the leading home video game system was the original Sony PlayStation. We did have the Internet, but not yet Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. Nor the iPod, iPhone or iPad.

Mobile phones were now quite common, but they were still the flip-open kind, bringing to mind the communicators on the original Star Trek series -- except that show took place 300 years in the future, and the new "mobiles" were smaller. This was around the time that cellular phones began to be called "cell phones" more often, and were already becoming, in some cases, so annoying that New York Daily News writer Pete Hamill described them in his column as "yell phones."

A movie released the next year, Frequency, had a storyline where a 1999 New York police detective found his father's old ham radio set (sort of like the Internet for the middle of the 20th Century), and, through a sci-fi phenomenon, is able to talk to his father, a New York fireman in 1969, and warn him of his impending death in a fire. The Mets' '69 World Series win becomes a major plot point in the film.

Remembering his best friend complaining about not buying stock in Yahoo! when it was cheap, he uses the ham set to tell the 7-year-old version of that best friend to remember the word "Yahoo!" When (spoiler alert) the movie's happy ending happens, the cop is shown hitting a baseball that breaks the headlight of the best friend's car -- a Mercedes with a New York license plate reading YAHOO1. 

In early 1999, in addition to President Clinton's enemies embarrassing themselves more than him with the impeachment process, America's economy was booming like never before -- and, sadly, like never since. The single European currency went into effect. An earthquake killed over 1,000 people in the South American nation of Colombia.

Four days after Super Bowl XXXIII, Amadou Diallo, an unarmed black immigrant in The Bronx, was shot at 41 times, hit 19 times, by 4 New York cops. All of them were acquitted in a criminal trial. They should have all gone to prison, at the very least for criminally negligent homicide. None of them so much as lost their jobs for being lousy marksmen -- after all, they didn't just hit him 19 times, they missed him 23 times

In early 1999, King Hussein of Jordan, and Iris Murdoch, and Star Trek doctor DeForest Kelley died. There are not, as yet, very many famous people who were born in 1999, who would be turning 15 this year. Among them are Cameron Boyce and Karan Brar of the Disney Channel series Jessie, and singer Madison Beer. Elle Fanning (Dakota's sister) and Steve Irwin's daughter Bindi were born the year before.

January 31, 1999. The Denver Broncos beat the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl. Neither has been back to the game since.

Now, the Broncos are back. The Falcons? Well, they were a dismal 4-12 this season, but the season before, they got all the way to the NFC Championship Game. So, who knows?

UPDATE: The Broncos lost to the Seattle Seahawks. Two years later, they returned to the Super Bowl, and beat the Carolina Panthers. The next year, the Falcons got back -- and wished they hadn't, performing by far the biggest choke-job in Super Bowl history against the New England Patriots.