This is for all of Colorado.
The Nuggets’ national championship has brought us together, again.
In unity, hundreds of thousands of people descended on downtown Denver to watch the five stars who led the team and their teammates, coaches, team owners, and support staff parade through the city center in celebration.
This moment is for all the fans rich and poor, west and east of the divide, rural and suburban who watched the drama unfold in Denver as the unassuming superhero Nikola Jokic led a team of talent and class, of drive and passion to finally bring home the Larry O’Brien trophy.
The ride through throngs of fans – both those new to the bandwagon and those seasoned veterans of Nuggets lore – is also thanks to too many great and memorable players and coaches to name them all here, players like Thompson, English, ‘Melo, Camby, Chauncey, Van Exel, T.R. Dunn, Fat Lever, K-Mart, Issel …
And this moment is thanks to so many thrills that were etched in the memory of Nuggets’ faithful like David Thompson scoring 73 points in a game in 1978 against the Pistons or 1994 Dikembe Mutombo sprawled out crying on the floor in Seattle after the No. 8 Nuggets came back from a 2-0 series deficit to defeat the No. 1 Supersonics in the first round.
The Nuggets bring a shared history of disappointment and joy, cheap and abundant tickets to pass a pleasant day in the city, and now, finally, national prestige and respect.
And to be honest, Colorado can use a bit of unity around our capital city at the moment. Denver needs a bit of a boost from its post-COVID stagnation. Thursday the light rails and buses were full to the brim of people returning downtown to celebrate. The games have packed the bars and restaurants downtown as those without tickets to the main event sought proximity to Ball Arena.
Our divisions cannot be so great if something as simple as basketball can bring us back together in shared celebration. Coloradans should keep this in mind as the animosity of the 2024 political season ramps up.
We also owe a debt of gratitude to the Nuggets ownership who invested heavily in a team that had never won before because they believed in an underdog, and took a chance on Jokic when no one else could see the raw potential in his sheer athleticism and superior court awareness and selflessness. He was a good player drafted in the second round, made MVP by those who believed and invested in him.
And Denver is a good city that can be made great again by those who believe and invest — those like Stan Kroenke who owns the Nuggets and is investing in the River Mile project to bring thousands of new condos to downtown Denver surrounding Ball Arena and taking over the existing Elitch Gardens land; those like Rob Walton and his ownership team who purchased the Denver Broncos and have begun talks of a new or remodeled stadium that could help revitalize the historic Mile High lands owned by taxpayers and anchoring a historically downtrodden community Sun Valley.
We all want Kroenke and Xfinity to reach a deal to allow those who can’t afford the now in-demand tickets to watch the games.
Yes, the Nuggets’ victory is for all of Colorado and a bustling, vibrant urban core is for all of Colorado too, whether it’s to watch the Avalanche make another bid at the Stanley Cup or the Rockies, well, play on a beautiful bluebird day, or to catch dinner and a play at the Denver Arts Center or simply to walk the 16th Street Mall and window shop for some Nuggets gear.
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