Orange Heart

"...are we still friends?" a friend asked me after the Broncos fell (were squashed, obliterated, etc.) to the Seahawks. Said friend lives in Seahawk Country, see, and I, as anyone who knows me knows, am very much a Bronco girl. My heart is orange, orange, orange.

Why in the world would we not be friends? Because "your" team defeated "my" team in a single game?

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This was the first Super Bowl where I got to experience my local team in the event coupled with tweets from friends all over the world. Friends who had Very Staunch Opinions and were not afraid to express them. These opinions seemed to fall into two categories:

Category the first: Seattle RAWKS. #GOHAWKS

Category the second: Wow football is amaze ridiculous and you are all equally foolish for finding enjoyment in it and ahahaha what I'm doing tonight is a billion times better than you watching football.

But then, there arrived a third category.

Category the third: Seattle RAWKS and much zomg how did Denver get here because Denver SUXORS and I hope they die in a fire.

Really? Denver had a fantastic season. You cannot say they did not deserve to be in the game. Sure, it would have been better had they shown up to play, but guess what, the Broncos team contains humans, and humans have crap days. Denver had an awesome season--record breaking, even. And the last game went much as the preseason game with Seattle did (was that 40-10? Very similar score, anyhow.): when you keep Manning off the field, you win. When you don't allow Manning to do what he does, you win.

Let's also revisit category two. This one surprised me most of all. I would not have expected it from any of the people who posted it, either, because we are, by and large, science fiction fans and hardcore geeks, people who are routinely told that what we are doing is ridiculous. And you're going to turn around and do that to another set of fans?

What does that gain you in the end? Love what you freaking love, let everyone else love what they freaking love, and move on. Someone's enjoyment of football does not impact your life in the least bit. If it muddles up your social media streams, there are tools with which you can silence that chatter. But telling someone they are ridiculous and worthless for enjoying a sporting event baffles me.

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"...are we still friends?"

Of course and always and absolutely because you dive into things with all your heart, and are a fan, and respect other fans, and know how sucky it is to be on the losing side of a thing. Both teams couldn't win, surely everyone knew that going in. Denver had an amazing season and dropped the ball in the final game (see what I did there?).

How does this game impact your life? Beyond the enjoyment of the moment, it probably doesn't. It is entertainment. It doesn't change deadlines, it doesn't change the climate, it doesn't change the fact that you really need to fix the gate latch when winter eases. It might change your relationship with your family in ways you don't anticipate--my sister in law is a freaking gem for sending me pictures of niece and nephew dressed in Broncos gear.

But on the whole, it's entertainment.

I cannot wait for next season.