"Celebrate; everybody, everybody, celebrate"

A while back, I heard a song playing at a store where the lyrics are essentially nothing but the singer declaring, “Celebrate; everybody, everybody, celebrate” about 50 times or so.  When the song concluded, I actually asked out loud, “What exactly are we celebrating?”  Today I heard the song again; this time there is little doubt what the cause of celebration is: last night the Denver Nuggets became the world champions of basketball for the first time in their nearly five-decade history! 

I want to acknowledge that not everyone is celebrating.  The fans of the Miami Heat are in mourning.  Let me immediately offer my congratulations to Miami on an extremely impressive post-season run.  The Miami Heat actually became the second team in NBA history to go all the way to the Finals as an 8th seed – the 1999 New York Knicks were the only other team to do so.  The Miami Heat were formidable.  Even last night, Game 5, when Denver closed out the series, the Heat played their hearts out.  They actually led 51-44 at halftime.  But in the end, the Nuggets won the wild and wacky game by a score of 94-89.

Here’s an interesting tidbit: until this year, all of the major sports teams in Colorado had at least made it to their respective championship games, just not the Denver Nuggets.  The Colorado Avalanche have actually won all three Stanley Cup appearances they have competed in.  Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos have a whopping eight Super Bowl appearances; they have won three.  Even the hapless Colorado Rockies made it to the World Series in 2007, but lost to the Boston Red Sox.  Every world championship is special – for both the players and the fans.  But there’s something extra-special when a franchise finally gets its very first world championship.

For instance, I was reminiscing about when the Denver Broncos won their first Super Bowl.  I clearly remember exactly where I was when I viewed Denver shock the NFL world by defeating the heavily favored Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl 32.  I’ll never forget hearing Dave Logan – the voice of the Broncos – announce, with considerable emotion in his play-by-play, that the wait was finally over: The Broncos were finally the world champions of football.  Now, behind Finals MVP Nikola Jokic, as well as Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr. and a whole host of other talented, unselfish players, the Denver Nuggets have secured a world championship, perhaps the first of many.

God bless,

Kevin