Team loyalties run deep when Houston plays Denver

Who are you rooting for?

It’s a question I get every time the Houston Texans play the Denver Broncos, which they did in Houston on Dec. 3. Many people in Texas know me as a photographer who has been covering the Texans since 2016. I’m an ardent Texans fan and make no bones about it. But they are my second favorite team. I’m a born and bred, ride ’til I die Denver Broncos fan. I bleed orange and blue.

My interest in the Broncos dates back to the 1977 season when Denver made it’s first trip to the Super Bowl with old number 7 taking the snaps (and I’m not talking about John Elway). Growing up near the Denver metro area, you couldn’t help but be a Broncos fan back then. They were the only show in town and the excitement that season was palpable. The Orange Crush defense, the M&M Connection, Mile High Magic, it was all there.

I didn’t care much for football or any sport up to that season. But I got caught up in the playoff excitement and Super Bowl XII against the Dallas Cowboys became the first NFL game I watched from start to finish. Though Denver lost, that game did two things to me. It made me a Broncos fan for life and a Cowboys hater. I stuck with the Broncos through thick and thin, including three more Super Bowl losses before Denver won Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII. I got to cover both victory parades and celebrations for the paper I worked for. I was also on the team the produced a special section about the new stadium when it was built in 2000-2001.

My family has had season tickets since 1986, and those tickets belonged to my ex-wife’s family from the 1960s until they moved to Minnesota in 1986 and gave the rights to my father. I’ve seen a lot of games over the years.

I was still living in the Denver area in 2002 when the Houston Texans began playing. I took a remote interest in the team because I was impressed that Houston came out of nowhere to upset Los Angeles for an expansion team. I also liked the logo and uniform colors. I loosely followed the Texans in the early years and knew this team would be special when they beat Dallas in their first-ever game.

We moved from Colorado to Texas in 2005 and then to the Houston area three years later. By then I was following both teams pretty closely. Aside from Houston and their divisional opponents, the Broncos are the team I’ve photographed the most. I first got to shoot a game at old Mile High Stadium in 1991 when Denver beat the Phoenix Cardinals. I first photographed the Texans in 2010 in a preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2015 I got to photograph a preseason game when the Broncos came to town.

The next year I received season credentials to cover the Texans and have been doing so every year since then, except 2020 when COVID restricted access. In that time Houston and Denver have played each other five times and I’ve photographed four of those games, including one in Denver. I’ve photographed two quarterbacks as starters for both teams (Case Keenum and Brock Osweiler).

Photographing the NFL is dream come true. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I photographed my first professional game. That was in 1985 when the Denver Gold hosted the New Jersey Generals in the original USFL. I also photographed a game in the World League of American Football in 1991 between the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks and the New York-New Jersey Knights.

I have never taken a minute for granted that I get to spend on the sidelines of professional games. I respect that it is a rare privilege given to only a few photographers. I know it’s a privilege that could be taken away at any time. My gratitude to the Texans for allowing me to do this with four different newspapers is endless, as is my gratitude to the Wharton Journal-Spectator for allowing me to continue doing what I love so much.

It is a thrill to be on the sidelines and close to the action. But I think the part I enjoy the most are the friendships I’ve made over the years. I’ve gotten to know a lot of the fans, along with a lot of the sideline personnel, including security people, game day staff, the mascot TORO, some of the cheerleaders, and so on. I don’t get a lot of interaction with the players, but several of them recognize me and say hi.

Even though the Broncos are cemented in my heart as my favorite team, I’ve never been closer or more involved with a franchise than I have been with the Texans. It’s a fantastic organization and I’m proud to be a part of it in some small way. So yeah, I get it when people want to know which team I’m rooting for whenever Denver and Houston play. It’s a game I can’t lose because one of my favorites is going to win. And while I root for the Broncos, I am most definitely not rooting against the Texans.

DB4L! We are Texans! This is my life and I love it!