The way the story has been told to me by my family: They brought me home from the hospital on Thursday, plopped me in front of the TV for a Broncos game that Sunday, and I've been hooked ever since. Fan is short for fanatical, so I’ve never liked using that word to describe what I feel about this team. It’s devotion, it's passion, it’s heart, it’s peaks, and it’s valleys. Good time. Bad times. Mediocre 8-8 Wade Phillips in-between times, but from the most earnest place in my heart, I love Denver Broncos football. Because this is something intertwined deep to the core of me, I get defensive when I don’t think people are judging the play of the team fairly. It's taken a lot of work to stop at JUST being defensive and not get carried away to the point of being an antagonist. I need to get better at not taking this so personally, and I also need to remind myself that not everyone "fans" the way I do, and that’s ok. But…my fandom is a hyper fixation, if I’m being generous, and borderline compulsive at the worst. I watch and re-watch games multiple times. I was the only 10-year-old with a subscription to the Rocky Mountain News because my mom decided that if I wasn’t going to be good at math, I could be a good reader, plus I could hold on to them for a few days to pour over box scores. I’ve read the concepts of the Bill Walsh West Coast Offense for fun. I was play-charting without even knowing that’s what it was called in middle school so that I could prove my point about a certain tendency to a teacher. I’m reading the Scouting Handbook by Steve Belichick right now (Disclaimer: informative but dense. If you thought Bill had the personality of a wet cat, his dad makes him look like a hippie by comparison). I know that makes me sound conceited or arrogant, a know-it-all or an asshole to some folk. I need to let people have their opinions, good or bad. I love doing this, and I want this to grow even bigger than what it is right now, so browbeating folks is something I need to avoid. And as I said before, it’s not my job to be the fan police, especially when we’re on the same side of the blue and orange fence. Truth is, after all the emotions died down and I finally fell asleep around 3 in the AM, I felt bad for taking a victory lap and for being a bad winner. I hear my mom's voice in my head saying, “Being smart doesn’t give you the right to be mean, Adam Joseph." But I’m also going to say that I’m NOT a Stephen A. I’m NOT Skippy Bayless. I’m not popular enough to be a talking head. I don't throw metaphorical red meat into the void of social media simply to bait people into reacting to me. I am an analyst. I am quiet and shy by nature, but when I have something to say, it comes with the understanding that I have probably poured over the right words for a while. I am always going to be a bit of a smartass. But I don't need to be a bully. I am always down for a good debate, but I don't need to fluster myself to frustration because I need to win every back-and-forth. I need to remember to look at other people's point of view because it will make me a better host AND a better fan.