The Denver Post has made a stand to refer to the new home of the Denver Broncos solely as "New Mile High Stadium." The stadium's actual name, in line with the wonderful age of selling out in which we live, is "Invesco Field at Mile High." Even before I came to Dartmouth from Denver over two years ago, when the stadium's construction was in its infancy, the controversy over naming the stadium filled the papers. The original Mile High Stadium was and will forever remain sacred to the legions of fans who stuck with their beloved Broncos as they went through all their ups and downs, so the Mile High moniker carries special meaning for Denver residents. No one will part with it without a fight, no matter how much money Invesco offers.
Why are people being so stubborn about something so seemingly insignificant in life? Why does a traditionally liberal newspaper like the Denver Post refuse to get with the times and break free of the conservative Mile High mold? Is it just that Denver is so boring that it cannot generate any real news, so its inhabitants must bicker inanely about a silly stadium where some guys play a game for three hours a week?
Sadly, I must admit, I am similarly close-minded. I grew up with the Broncos. My father grew up with the Broncos. Even my grandfather was fiercely committed to the Broncos; he had waited a long time for a professional franchise to grace our fair city when one finally arrived in 1960. Some of my fondest memories of my youth are of sitting in the infamous South Stands giving myself chronic orthopedic problems, cheering because it was fun, it was something to get excited about. I went through excruciating amounts of pain watching The Broncos lose three Super Bowls in a four-year span. I couldn't believe my luck when the team finally won not one but two Super Bowls in a row just a few years ago; my father had been waiting almost forty years for such a thing to happen, and sadly, my grandfather never lived to see the day his beloved Broncos finally won. A new chapter in Broncos lore will open in three weeks when the team plays its first game in its new home on Monday Night Football against the New York Giants (a team I'm sure a greater percentage of you care about).
Why, you ask, is this guy wasting so much time writing about football? After all, there is a sports page. Well, you see, this relates to much more than football. It even relates to Dartmouth, 1,950 miles away from this naming fiasco. It relates to loyalties. It relates to why people are committed to anything at all.
I was arbitrarily born in Denver. I had no control over it. If I had been born in Kansas City or Oakland, I would undoubtedly have very different sentiments about the Broncos. But I will remain a loyal Broncos fan until the day I die. The same can be said for all the rest of you sports fans out there. There is no rhyme or reason to it so don't bother looking for one, it's just how people are. Loyalties stick; that's why the word "loyalty" exists in the first place.
It applies to those oblivious to the sports world, too. Perhaps some of you were accepted by both Dartmouth and Brown, or Cornell or Williams. You came here for some reason, and now just the mention of Brown makes you cringe with disgust since Dartmouth is obviously so much better. And daily you find new reasons to reinforce your love of Dartmouth; lacking any real knowledge about Brown, you only proceed to hate it more. Just as, since I have no experience being a Chiefs fan, I only grow to love the Broncos and hate the Chiefs more each day. I've never even been to Kansas City. No doubt you all have similar loyalties.
It will continue after you graduate and get a job. You will start by begging and pleading for people to hire you. You will tell them how great their company is, and then you will go tell someone else's company how great it is, regardless of how you actually feel. And then one of them will hire you and the other will instantly become your arch nemesis. It's like when one company that shall remain nameless came to recruit a couple weeks ago, and a representative stood up and proceeded to discuss how much better his company is than its "far more inferior" competitor. No doubt if he had originally been hired by that inferior competitor he would be singing a different tune.
People form loyalties in rather arbitrary ways. It all depends on which school accepts you, which job you work, where you live, whether you're in the Aires or the Cords. Everyone has loyalties and commitments. Don't doubt them. Don't question them. Work with them.
People all too often criticize people for what they believe or which activities they do instead of accepting those and working from there. Columns and letters to the editor appear on a fairly regular basis condemning people for forming arbitrary loyalties to a fraternity or sorority. It's true, such loyalties are arbitrary, but once they form they become a loyalty just like everyone else has, whether pro-Greek or anti-Greek, English major or biology major, American or Canadian, Denver resident or Kansas City resident.
I'd like to encourage everyone to stop doubting what other people are committed to; instead, accept them and work from there. Life would be pretty boring without our loyalties. For one thing, Sunday afternoons would be a lot duller.
