September 26, 2025 • 23 mins
After an unexpected summer break, Fandom from Afar returns with renewed energy and a streamlined focus on Denver Nuggets coverage. What started feeling like a chore has been transformed back into a passion project with some exciting changes for the podcast's future.
• Focusing exclusively on solo Nuggets episodes rather than guest interviews
• Redesigned podcast logo to mark this fresh start
• Appearance on "Serbian Corner" podcast helped rekindle enthusiasm for Nuggets talk
• Replay of the first episode showcasing the host's lifelong Nuggets fandom journey
• From Michael Adams to Dikembe Mutombo to working as a Nuggets ball boy
• Carmelo Anthony era through the rise of Nikola Jokić and championship basketball
• Excitement for the upcoming season with training camp starting in San Diego
• Appreciation for modern resources that make being a long-distance fan easier
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brian (00:04):
Alright everyone.
Welcome back to Fandom fromAfar.
We ended up taking quite asummer break from the podcast.
It was unexpected, but I thinknecessary.
I needed a bit of time just torecharge the podcast had ended
up feeling more like a chore,and it should be fun.
(00:28):
Like we're just sitting aroundtalking about the nuggets, and
it just started kind of feelingheavy, like it was something
that I had to do.
And so I took a break, kind ofreevaluated what I wanted the
podcast to be.
Or I was even thinking, do Icontinue with the podcast?
And I am happy to say I havedecided to continue to do the
(00:51):
podcast.
I'm feeling great after justkind of taking a break and
stepping away.
And I'm excited for the season.
So I'm excited to do this forat least one more year and we'll
see where it goes from there.
But definitely going to makesome changes, not only just for
myself, but hopefully for you,the listeners, will enjoy as
well.
I'm just going to focus on thenuggets.
(01:13):
I was trying to balance doingthe nuggets episodes with the
interview episodes, and I lovedthe interview episodes.
I had so much fun talking tofamily and friends just about
their team, or in the example ofthe Hall of Fame episodes, that
was a fun experience that I gotto do with the family.
(01:36):
But those episodes definitelytake a lot more time.
They take planning, editing.
So there's there's a lot thatgoes into each episode, but even
more so when it's with a guest.
And I again I'm just trying tofocus on having fun with the
podcast.
So I think I'm going to focuson just the solo episodes where
(01:59):
I talk about the nuggets andwe'll see where that goes.
I'm I may bring back theinterviews in the future, but
for right now, my plan is tojust do nuggets-focused solo
episodes.
So I hope y'all enjoy those.
I do want to thank each andevery one of my guests that did
one of those interview episodeswith me.
I thought they turned outgreat.
(02:20):
I loved some of the storiesthat I heard, and I think they
were a great part of thepodcast, and this will just be
kind of a new era for thepodcast.
Like I said, part of the reasonI had step away is because I
was feeling kind of burnt out.
But another reason is therejust wasn't a lot going on.
Once free agency passed, theNugg didn't really have any of
(02:42):
our key young guys playing insummer league.
And so there's been kind oflike a dead period.
So I took advantage of that.
I took some time off.
But one thing I did get to dowas I was a guest on another
Nuggets podcast called SerbianCorner, and pretty much just
played some Nuggets trivia withthe host Miroslav.
(03:04):
And it was so much fun.
And it just kind of was part ofpart of what kind of
re-energized me is justremembering, hey, talking about
the Nuggets is fun.
Podcasting should be fun.
And so that's that's my maingoal for this upcoming season is
just to have fun with thepodcast.
I'm excited to be doing it.
(03:24):
I'm looking forward to doingit.
I have some ideas.
You know me, I like to kind ofspin it and and relate the
nuggets to whatever pop culturestuff is going on.
So I think it's going to be agood time, and I hope you enjoy
listening to it as well.
You may notice with thisepisode, I've also kind of
redone the logo for the podcast.
(03:46):
It's kind of part of that justkind of fresh start for fandom
from afar.
So I hope you enjoy the newlogo and obviously the new
episodes as well.
One thing I thought I'd do justfor fun with this little update
episode is after I'm donespeaking here, I'm going to
include the audio from the firstepisode when I talk about my
(04:07):
Nuggets fandom journey.
And I listened to it thismorning.
It was kind of fun to listento.
This this was two years ago,right after the Nuggets had won
the championship.
You could tell I was justexcited to be talking into a
microphone and talking a littlebit too fast, and just didn't
really know what to expect withthe podcast, but it was fun to
(04:28):
listen to my journey again.
And I hope if you guys haven'theard it, you'll enjoy that as
well.
And obviously, so much haschanged in the last two years
with the Nuggets, not only withplayers, but the coach, the
front office, and theexpectations.
So when I recorded that episodetwo years ago, I was thinking
the Nuggets were going to bejust beginning a dynasty, and we
(04:53):
would be contending for thechampionship for years to come.
And obviously, the last twoyears have not worked out that
way.
It's really tough to win achampionship, let alone mini
championships.
And obviously, I've kind oftalked about that in every
episode along the way, but itwas just kind of fun to hear
(05:15):
Brian from two years ago withall this hope of what this
Nuggets team was going to bestill coming off the excitement
of that first championship.
And so I think I'm kind of backto that spot just because the
Nuggets have had such awonderful offseason and there's
amazing expectations for thisupcoming season.
And when it all comes down toit, the Nuggets have the best
(05:38):
player in the world.
So we always have a shot whenJokic is on the team.
So I hope you enjoy the audiothat I'm about to play of the
very first episode of Fandomfrom Befar.
And there will be new episodescoming soon as the Nuggets are
getting ready for training campin San Diego.
I'll go over that.
I'll review the offseason.
And before we know it, theregular season will be starting.
(06:00):
So thanks for listening to thisupdate, everyone.
Enjoy the replay of episodenumber one.
Today I thought I'd uh go overmy nuggets fandom journey for
you, just to kind of give you anidea of where I come from.
The Nuggets are my my numberone team.
I love all my Colorado teams,but the Nuggets are kind of
(06:24):
number one for me.
And it's been an interestingjourney.
For a long time, it was notcool to be a Nuggets fan, so
it's definitely interesting tokind of be at the top of the
mountain now with them justwinning their very first
championship will, which I willtalk about quite a bit in future
(06:47):
episodes.
For a long, long time, theNuggets were kind of a joke, and
it kind of makes thischampionship this year even
better and more satisfyingbecause I watched so many games
where they were the laughingstock of the league.
And if you lived outside ofDenver, you didn't think about
(07:11):
the Nuggets.
In fact, you got them confusedwith the Utah Jazz or the
Indiana Pacers.
When I moved down to Florida,that was that was very common,
actually, is people gettingthose teams confused with the
Nuggets because they're just noton anybody's radar.
They aren't covered on nationalTV until the last couple years.
(07:33):
And yeah, they were just ourour lovable losers, but
obviously that's changed andit's been fun to kind of see
that team turn it around andhopefully we'll kind of be
dominant for the next coupleyears.
So let's start with littleyoung Brian growing up in the
(07:56):
80s.
I don't really remember muchabout the 80s Nuggets.
My very first favorite playerwas Michael Adams, which, if you
are not a diehard Nuggets fanlike me, or if you're half my
age, then you probably havenever heard of Michael Adams.
He was a tiny little pointguard.
(08:16):
I looked it up, he's listed at5'10, which means he was
probably more like 5'8, 5'9, buthe could hit threes, and I just
thought it was so cool thatthis little guy was running
around and scoring so much.
In the 1990 season, he actuallyaveraged 26 and a half points,
which is crazy for someone thatsize to kind of fill it up that
(08:42):
much.
So he's the very first nuggetthat I remember really liking.
I remember my dad took me toget his autograph one time, and
I just thought it was thecoolest thing that he we wasn't
much bigger than me, and I wasonly nine years old at the time,
and he was just killing it outthere on the court.
So Michael Adams kind ofstarted it all out for me.
(09:05):
Truthfully, don't remember muchabout those teams besides
Michael Adams.
Like I said, they were notgood.
The 90s themselves pretty muchwere not good, but there was a
little little blurb in therewhere the Nuggets kind of put
put some talent together, andthey of course had that famous
(09:27):
upset of the Seattle Supersonicsin '94.
The the iconic image of Matumbolaying on the ground hugging
the ball.
That was just one of thecoolest things.
I I was right at the right agewhere that meant the world to me
just because I was obsessedwith the Nuggets.
So I was right around 13 then,and I just thought the guys on
(09:50):
the team were so cool.
It was Matumbo, Lafonso Ellis,Bryant Stith.
We had Reggie Williams, RobertPack, and Mark Macon.
So it was a fun team.
Obviously, I was a kid.
I didn't I didn't I didn't knowany better.
I just thought they wereawesome no matter what.
But the fact that they were thefirst eight-seed to defeat a
(10:11):
one-seed making history, it wasjust so cool.
That kind of that hooked me.
I I I was in it for life atthat point.
Like that was just so fun towatch those games and just to
pull off the upset like that wasreally memorable.
After that, injuries toLafonso, Matombo ended up
leaving.
It it got dark quick.
(10:33):
We had a few 500 seasons, andthen by the end of it, we were
almost breaking records for thefewest number of wins in a
season.
And actually, my sister and Ibecame Nuggets ball boys or ball
kids at for the 97-98 seasonand the 98-99 season.
(10:57):
So I got to see some of thosehistorically bad teams every
night, and I got to see them upclose because being a ball boy
was awesome.
Like I I look back on thatfondly, but man, looking looking
at the teams, they were bad.
In the 97-98, my first seasonas a as a ball kid, they won 11
(11:21):
whole games.
It's probably I I I can't evenimagine how they won that many.
But the following season theyreally improved up to a big 14
wins.
So in my ball boy career, I gotto see a total of 25 nuggets
victories.
So I would say I'm I'm I'm goodluck.
(11:46):
Being a ball boy, there therewere so many fun things that
that happened, but it was kindof funny looking back on it
because part of our perk ofbeing a ball boy, we were given
tickets to the game, andobviously they were terrible.
So the ticket office would giveme as many as I wanted, and I
couldn't give them away.
(12:06):
Like, like I said, it was notcool to be a Nuggets fan.
So I had free tickets ready andavailable, and I don't think
people took me up on them veryoften at all.
So my how things have changed.
It was fun to be in the arena,kind of be around the players.
We we were corporate ball kids,so we weren't the locker room
(12:29):
guys that were there behind thescenes helping out in the locker
room.
We were more on the court, kindof getting things set up before
the game, helping out with thetimeout activities or the
halftime activities.
Big part of our job was blowingup those long skinny balloons
to hand out to fans to distractthe players while they're
shooting free throws.
(12:50):
So we would sit in the backhallway and just blow those up,
and then we'd have a few thingsto do during the game, but other
than that, we were pretty muchgetting to watch the game, and
so it was so fun.
That that was when I firstrealized that NBA players are
just built different.
Like the worst player on those11 and 14 team or 14 win teams,
(13:15):
they would warm up before thegame and I would rebound for
them sometimes, and they can'teven get on the court for those
terrible teams, and they're justdraining every shot.
Like they were amazingbasketball players.
It's just a whole nother level.
Like it it that's it hit mehard because obviously me
(13:36):
playing around with my friendsjust on driveways or in little
rec league games and everything.
I thought I was decent, but ohmy goodness, these guys were
they're they're I can't believethey're the same species as us.
It was it was really fun.
After the couple years of beingthe ball boy, the team really
kind of transitioned.
Some of the guys that were onthe team when I was a ball boy,
(14:00):
Danny Fortson, I really liked.
He was kind of an undersizedpower forward from University of
Cincinnati.
I just liked him because he wastough.
Like I said, he he wasn'treally huge, but he was thick
and he was strong and he hecould rebound like crazy.
But I always really liked him.
Bobby Jackson was a young pointguard on our team.
(14:22):
He he went on to be pretty goodfor teams like the Kings.
I think he he did really wellfor them.
But yeah, there wasn't a ton oftalent.
Like none of the players didmuch that I'm gonna be sitting
around talking to my grandkidsabout, but it was just really
fun.
Like, even like I said, when wewould rebound for them, just
kind of making small talk orjust kind of being a part of
(14:45):
their warm-up routine was reallyfun for for a 16-17-year-old
kid.
That that was that was thedream.
So in the late 90s, it was allabout Sports Center.
I would watch Sports Center somany times, it was kind of
ridiculous.
But it was just fun because ifyou got to see the new
highlights or you had yourfavorite anchors, back then it
(15:07):
was Dan Patrick and KeithOlbermann were were kind of the
the lead guys, and I justthought they were so funny.
But I I loved Craig Kilborne,Stuart Scott, those guys, it
they just kind of it madewatching the highlights fun.
And obviously, we didn't reallyhave the highlights on internet
or anything, so it was justSports Center all the time in my
(15:28):
house, and so obviously thenuggets were not on there a ton,
but it was still fun to watchthe the big guys then, like just
to see what's going on aroundthe league and memorize those
box scores and argue over who'sbetter with your friends.
So it was all about sportscenter back then during the the
(15:48):
late 90s, early 2000s.
We got Carmelo, things werelooking good.
His rookie year, I still tothis day will argue that he just
in his rookie year was betterthan LeBron.
He should have won rookie ofthe year, but obviously LeBron
(16:09):
was the chosen one, and it waskind of already decided by all
the media outlets that he wasgoing to be rookie of the year
because he was the new face ofthe franchise or not of the
franchise of the the league.
And obviously that has turnedout to be true, but man, that
rookie year, Carmelo, he he wasbetter.
He he he was the true rookie ofthe year.
(16:30):
But Carmelo, he led us to theplayoffs, a lot of first round
exits, just some really funmoments.
He he was great.
We we had some good teams, buthe just couldn't quite get us to
the hump.
We we we made it to the WesternConference Finals and lost to
the Lakers, and then he and hisfamily decided that they wanted
(16:54):
to become moguls and move to NewYork.
So he was not my favoriteperson there for a while, but
it's all good.
Bas basketball hate isdifferent than than real hate.
Now that he's retired, I canlook back and appreciate what he
did for Denver and kind of putus on the map.
Because, like I said, we werenot even a real basketball team
(17:16):
in the eyes of the majority ofthe country before Carmelo came,
and he made us relevant foreight, ten years, and so he he's
a great nugget, and Iappreciate that.
After Carmelo left, we did getlucky.
Masai, our general manager, hedid a great job in the trade
(17:37):
with the Knicks.
He kind of held out, eventhough it was obvious that
Carmelo wanted to go to theKnicks, he held out.
We got draft picks, we gotswaps, we got Galinari, Wilson
Chandler, like we we got decenta decent return for Carmelo,
considering the fact thateveryone knew he wanted to go to
(17:59):
New York, but he didn't want towait.
He wanted to be traded, hedidn't want to finish out the
season and then go.
So it actually worked outpretty awesome that that we were
able to put together a teamkind of on the fly, and the
following year they kind ofcaught fire.
I know I think they wonsomething like 20 out of 21 home
(18:21):
games at one point.
They set the franchise recordfor 57 wins that year, and I
think they could have done somedamage in the playoffs, except
for Reed and Galinari got hurtone of them right before the
season ended, and the other onein like the very first playoff
game.
And so obviously we were wewere done at that point, but it
(18:45):
was still a really fun year.
They just they were a group ofguys that played well together,
they played fast and won a bunchof games, but they the injuries
hurt Galinari, Ty Lawson hadsome off field or off-court
issues, and then we brought inwhat was supposed to be the next
(19:07):
great coach in Brian Shaw, andthe team just fell apart so
quickly.
He just it seems like hecouldn't relate to the players
and and looks like it washeading down some some dark days
again.
So that takes us up to 2014.
And like I said, I'm I'm alifer.
This is this has been myNuggets fandom and not very many
(19:31):
bright moments, but got it,gotta stay with them.
They're they're your team, gotit, gotta love the the highs and
the lows.
2014, obviously, we draft ayoung kid named Nikola Jokic who
changed everything.
He second-round pick out of outof Serbia.
The story's well known, andwe're gonna talk plenty about
Jokic on this podcast, so I'mnot gonna go into too much
(19:53):
detail.
But Jokic comes over a yearlater.
We have Michael Malone now asthe coach, he sees something in
him.
He tries to play Jokic andNurkic at the same time, then he
realizes Jokic is way better.
Nurkic pouts and cries his wayout of town, and we add Jamal
Murray, so now the foundation isstarting to form.
(20:16):
MPJ comes, then guys like GaryHarris, Will Barton, Paul
Milsap, who is the mostimportant free agent signing
probably in Nuggets history, ifunless Bruce Brown is pretty
important to our championshipteam.
So either Paul or Bruce formost important free agent
(20:37):
signing, but they're not hugenames, but they totally changed
who the Nuggets were.
Paul taught the young guys howto be professionals, he made
them play some defense, and Ithink he represents a huge
stepping stone in the Nuggetsbecoming the champions that that
uh they won this year.
(20:58):
Then obviously everything's puton hold with Jamal and PJ
getting hurt, and then Jokicdecides to become the best
basketball player in the world,win two MVPs and a championship.
I'm sure I'm gonna go over moredetails in many of those eras.
(21:20):
I love talking about theNuggets, so I'll I'll do some
deep dives back into some ofthose previous teams.
I of course have to talk aboutthe championship run and what
that team was last year and whathopefully they're gonna be
again this year.
I will say it's been nice lastcouple years, just with
(21:41):
different companies comingalong, technology obviously, to
be able to follow the Nuggets,the Broncos, all my Colorado
teams, either through socialmedia or a wonderful company
that I love so much is uh DNVR.
They have awesome coverage ofall the Colorado teams.
So it's been great followingthem and just being able to be
(22:07):
part of the fandom again.
Whereas when I first moved downto Florida, I had to depend on
ESPN or back then it was FoxSports One or places like that
to talk about the teams.
And if they did, it was maybeone highlight here or one
comment there, like it wasn'tmuch, and so just how it is
(22:29):
nowadays is just so so muchbetter, and it's just so much
more fun to be a fan with theoptions that we have now.
But it'll be fun to talk tothese other fans and see how how
they grew up with their fansand how they have changed their
fandom living far away, or howoften they go back to that city
(22:53):
to go to a game, or just to howoften do they interact with
their friends or family thatthey still have in those cities.
So so I hope you'll enjoy theconversations that I'm gonna
have with these fans.
I hope you'll discover thingsand tools and resources that can
make you a better fan to followyour team.
And yeah, I just love talkingabout sports and just how it can
(23:16):
bring people together.
So I really appreciate youjoining me for this first
episode of Fandom from Afar.
And that was the first episodeof Fandom from Afar.
I appreciate listening.
And like I said, the Nuggetswill be back in just a few days
to start training camp, and sowill Fandom from Afar for the
(23:37):
third season and hopefullyanother championship season.
Thanks for listening, everyone.
Alright everyone.
Welcome back to Fandom fromAfar.
We ended up taking quite asummer break from the podcast.
It was unexpected, but I thinknecessary.
I needed a bit of time just torecharge the podcast had ended
up feeling more like a chore,and it should be fun.
(00:28):
Like we're just sitting aroundtalking about the nuggets, and
it just started kind of feelingheavy, like it was something
that I had to do.
And so I took a break, kind ofreevaluated what I wanted the
podcast to be.
Or I was even thinking, do Icontinue with the podcast?
And I am happy to say I havedecided to continue to do the
(00:51):
podcast.
I'm feeling great after justkind of taking a break and
stepping away.
And I'm excited for the season.
So I'm excited to do this forat least one more year and we'll
see where it goes from there.
But definitely going to makesome changes, not only just for
myself, but hopefully for you,the listeners, will enjoy as
well.
I'm just going to focus on thenuggets.
(01:13):
I was trying to balance doingthe nuggets episodes with the
interview episodes, and I lovedthe interview episodes.
I had so much fun talking tofamily and friends just about
their team, or in the example ofthe Hall of Fame episodes, that
was a fun experience that I gotto do with the family.
(01:36):
But those episodes definitelytake a lot more time.
They take planning, editing.
So there's there's a lot thatgoes into each episode, but even
more so when it's with a guest.
And I again I'm just trying tofocus on having fun with the
podcast.
So I think I'm going to focuson just the solo episodes where
(01:59):
I talk about the nuggets andwe'll see where that goes.
I'm I may bring back theinterviews in the future, but
for right now, my plan is tojust do nuggets-focused solo
episodes.
So I hope y'all enjoy those.
I do want to thank each andevery one of my guests that did
one of those interview episodeswith me.
I thought they turned outgreat.
(02:20):
I loved some of the storiesthat I heard, and I think they
were a great part of thepodcast, and this will just be
kind of a new era for thepodcast.
Like I said, part of the reasonI had step away is because I
was feeling kind of burnt out.
But another reason is therejust wasn't a lot going on.
Once free agency passed, theNugg didn't really have any of
(02:42):
our key young guys playing insummer league.
And so there's been kind oflike a dead period.
So I took advantage of that.
I took some time off.
But one thing I did get to dowas I was a guest on another
Nuggets podcast called SerbianCorner, and pretty much just
played some Nuggets trivia withthe host Miroslav.
(03:04):
And it was so much fun.
And it just kind of was part ofpart of what kind of
re-energized me is justremembering, hey, talking about
the Nuggets is fun.
Podcasting should be fun.
And so that's that's my maingoal for this upcoming season is
just to have fun with thepodcast.
I'm excited to be doing it.
(03:24):
I'm looking forward to doingit.
I have some ideas.
You know me, I like to kind ofspin it and and relate the
nuggets to whatever pop culturestuff is going on.
So I think it's going to be agood time, and I hope you enjoy
listening to it as well.
You may notice with thisepisode, I've also kind of
redone the logo for the podcast.
(03:46):
It's kind of part of that justkind of fresh start for fandom
from afar.
So I hope you enjoy the newlogo and obviously the new
episodes as well.
One thing I thought I'd do justfor fun with this little update
episode is after I'm donespeaking here, I'm going to
include the audio from the firstepisode when I talk about my
(04:07):
Nuggets fandom journey.
And I listened to it thismorning.
It was kind of fun to listento.
This this was two years ago,right after the Nuggets had won
the championship.
You could tell I was justexcited to be talking into a
microphone and talking a littlebit too fast, and just didn't
really know what to expect withthe podcast, but it was fun to
(04:28):
listen to my journey again.
And I hope if you guys haven'theard it, you'll enjoy that as
well.
And obviously, so much haschanged in the last two years
with the Nuggets, not only withplayers, but the coach, the
front office, and theexpectations.
So when I recorded that episodetwo years ago, I was thinking
the Nuggets were going to bejust beginning a dynasty, and we
(04:53):
would be contending for thechampionship for years to come.
And obviously, the last twoyears have not worked out that
way.
It's really tough to win achampionship, let alone mini
championships.
And obviously, I've kind oftalked about that in every
episode along the way, but itwas just kind of fun to hear
(05:15):
Brian from two years ago withall this hope of what this
Nuggets team was going to bestill coming off the excitement
of that first championship.
And so I think I'm kind of backto that spot just because the
Nuggets have had such awonderful offseason and there's
amazing expectations for thisupcoming season.
And when it all comes down toit, the Nuggets have the best
(05:38):
player in the world.
So we always have a shot whenJokic is on the team.
So I hope you enjoy the audiothat I'm about to play of the
very first episode of Fandomfrom Befar.
And there will be new episodescoming soon as the Nuggets are
getting ready for training campin San Diego.
I'll go over that.
I'll review the offseason.
And before we know it, theregular season will be starting.
(06:00):
So thanks for listening to thisupdate, everyone.
Enjoy the replay of episodenumber one.
Today I thought I'd uh go overmy nuggets fandom journey for
you, just to kind of give you anidea of where I come from.
The Nuggets are my my numberone team.
I love all my Colorado teams,but the Nuggets are kind of
(06:24):
number one for me.
And it's been an interestingjourney.
For a long time, it was notcool to be a Nuggets fan, so
it's definitely interesting tokind of be at the top of the
mountain now with them justwinning their very first
championship will, which I willtalk about quite a bit in future
(06:47):
episodes.
For a long, long time, theNuggets were kind of a joke, and
it kind of makes thischampionship this year even
better and more satisfyingbecause I watched so many games
where they were the laughingstock of the league.
And if you lived outside ofDenver, you didn't think about
(07:11):
the Nuggets.
In fact, you got them confusedwith the Utah Jazz or the
Indiana Pacers.
When I moved down to Florida,that was that was very common,
actually, is people gettingthose teams confused with the
Nuggets because they're just noton anybody's radar.
They aren't covered on nationalTV until the last couple years.
(07:33):
And yeah, they were just ourour lovable losers, but
obviously that's changed andit's been fun to kind of see
that team turn it around andhopefully we'll kind of be
dominant for the next coupleyears.
So let's start with littleyoung Brian growing up in the
(07:56):
80s.
I don't really remember muchabout the 80s Nuggets.
My very first favorite playerwas Michael Adams, which, if you
are not a diehard Nuggets fanlike me, or if you're half my
age, then you probably havenever heard of Michael Adams.
He was a tiny little pointguard.
(08:16):
I looked it up, he's listed at5'10, which means he was
probably more like 5'8, 5'9, buthe could hit threes, and I just
thought it was so cool thatthis little guy was running
around and scoring so much.
In the 1990 season, he actuallyaveraged 26 and a half points,
which is crazy for someone thatsize to kind of fill it up that
(08:42):
much.
So he's the very first nuggetthat I remember really liking.
I remember my dad took me toget his autograph one time, and
I just thought it was thecoolest thing that he we wasn't
much bigger than me, and I wasonly nine years old at the time,
and he was just killing it outthere on the court.
So Michael Adams kind ofstarted it all out for me.
(09:05):
Truthfully, don't remember muchabout those teams besides
Michael Adams.
Like I said, they were notgood.
The 90s themselves pretty muchwere not good, but there was a
little little blurb in therewhere the Nuggets kind of put
put some talent together, andthey of course had that famous
(09:27):
upset of the Seattle Supersonicsin '94.
The the iconic image of Matumbolaying on the ground hugging
the ball.
That was just one of thecoolest things.
I I was right at the right agewhere that meant the world to me
just because I was obsessedwith the Nuggets.
So I was right around 13 then,and I just thought the guys on
(09:50):
the team were so cool.
It was Matumbo, Lafonso Ellis,Bryant Stith.
We had Reggie Williams, RobertPack, and Mark Macon.
So it was a fun team.
Obviously, I was a kid.
I didn't I didn't I didn't knowany better.
I just thought they wereawesome no matter what.
But the fact that they were thefirst eight-seed to defeat a
(10:11):
one-seed making history, it wasjust so cool.
That kind of that hooked me.
I I I was in it for life atthat point.
Like that was just so fun towatch those games and just to
pull off the upset like that wasreally memorable.
After that, injuries toLafonso, Matombo ended up
leaving.
It it got dark quick.
(10:33):
We had a few 500 seasons, andthen by the end of it, we were
almost breaking records for thefewest number of wins in a
season.
And actually, my sister and Ibecame Nuggets ball boys or ball
kids at for the 97-98 seasonand the 98-99 season.
(10:57):
So I got to see some of thosehistorically bad teams every
night, and I got to see them upclose because being a ball boy
was awesome.
Like I I look back on thatfondly, but man, looking looking
at the teams, they were bad.
In the 97-98, my first seasonas a as a ball kid, they won 11
(11:21):
whole games.
It's probably I I I can't evenimagine how they won that many.
But the following season theyreally improved up to a big 14
wins.
So in my ball boy career, I gotto see a total of 25 nuggets
victories.
So I would say I'm I'm I'm goodluck.
(11:46):
Being a ball boy, there therewere so many fun things that
that happened, but it was kindof funny looking back on it
because part of our perk ofbeing a ball boy, we were given
tickets to the game, andobviously they were terrible.
So the ticket office would giveme as many as I wanted, and I
couldn't give them away.
(12:06):
Like, like I said, it was notcool to be a Nuggets fan.
So I had free tickets ready andavailable, and I don't think
people took me up on them veryoften at all.
So my how things have changed.
It was fun to be in the arena,kind of be around the players.
We we were corporate ball kids,so we weren't the locker room
(12:29):
guys that were there behind thescenes helping out in the locker
room.
We were more on the court, kindof getting things set up before
the game, helping out with thetimeout activities or the
halftime activities.
Big part of our job was blowingup those long skinny balloons
to hand out to fans to distractthe players while they're
shooting free throws.
(12:50):
So we would sit in the backhallway and just blow those up,
and then we'd have a few thingsto do during the game, but other
than that, we were pretty muchgetting to watch the game, and
so it was so fun.
That that was when I firstrealized that NBA players are
just built different.
Like the worst player on those11 and 14 team or 14 win teams,
(13:15):
they would warm up before thegame and I would rebound for
them sometimes, and they can'teven get on the court for those
terrible teams, and they're justdraining every shot.
Like they were amazingbasketball players.
It's just a whole nother level.
Like it it that's it hit mehard because obviously me
(13:36):
playing around with my friendsjust on driveways or in little
rec league games and everything.
I thought I was decent, but ohmy goodness, these guys were
they're they're I can't believethey're the same species as us.
It was it was really fun.
After the couple years of beingthe ball boy, the team really
kind of transitioned.
Some of the guys that were onthe team when I was a ball boy,
(14:00):
Danny Fortson, I really liked.
He was kind of an undersizedpower forward from University of
Cincinnati.
I just liked him because he wastough.
Like I said, he he wasn'treally huge, but he was thick
and he was strong and he hecould rebound like crazy.
But I always really liked him.
Bobby Jackson was a young pointguard on our team.
(14:22):
He he went on to be pretty goodfor teams like the Kings.
I think he he did really wellfor them.
But yeah, there wasn't a ton oftalent.
Like none of the players didmuch that I'm gonna be sitting
around talking to my grandkidsabout, but it was just really
fun.
Like, even like I said, when wewould rebound for them, just
kind of making small talk orjust kind of being a part of
(14:45):
their warm-up routine was reallyfun for for a 16-17-year-old
kid.
That that was that was thedream.
So in the late 90s, it was allabout Sports Center.
I would watch Sports Center somany times, it was kind of
ridiculous.
But it was just fun because ifyou got to see the new
highlights or you had yourfavorite anchors, back then it
(15:07):
was Dan Patrick and KeithOlbermann were were kind of the
the lead guys, and I justthought they were so funny.
But I I loved Craig Kilborne,Stuart Scott, those guys, it
they just kind of it madewatching the highlights fun.
And obviously, we didn't reallyhave the highlights on internet
or anything, so it was justSports Center all the time in my
(15:28):
house, and so obviously thenuggets were not on there a ton,
but it was still fun to watchthe the big guys then, like just
to see what's going on aroundthe league and memorize those
box scores and argue over who'sbetter with your friends.
So it was all about sportscenter back then during the the
(15:48):
late 90s, early 2000s.
We got Carmelo, things werelooking good.
His rookie year, I still tothis day will argue that he just
in his rookie year was betterthan LeBron.
He should have won rookie ofthe year, but obviously LeBron
(16:09):
was the chosen one, and it waskind of already decided by all
the media outlets that he wasgoing to be rookie of the year
because he was the new face ofthe franchise or not of the
franchise of the the league.
And obviously that has turnedout to be true, but man, that
rookie year, Carmelo, he he wasbetter.
He he he was the true rookie ofthe year.
(16:30):
But Carmelo, he led us to theplayoffs, a lot of first round
exits, just some really funmoments.
He he was great.
We we had some good teams, buthe just couldn't quite get us to
the hump.
We we we made it to the WesternConference Finals and lost to
the Lakers, and then he and hisfamily decided that they wanted
(16:54):
to become moguls and move to NewYork.
So he was not my favoriteperson there for a while, but
it's all good.
Bas basketball hate isdifferent than than real hate.
Now that he's retired, I canlook back and appreciate what he
did for Denver and kind of putus on the map.
Because, like I said, we werenot even a real basketball team
(17:16):
in the eyes of the majority ofthe country before Carmelo came,
and he made us relevant foreight, ten years, and so he he's
a great nugget, and Iappreciate that.
After Carmelo left, we did getlucky.
Masai, our general manager, hedid a great job in the trade
(17:37):
with the Knicks.
He kind of held out, eventhough it was obvious that
Carmelo wanted to go to theKnicks, he held out.
We got draft picks, we gotswaps, we got Galinari, Wilson
Chandler, like we we got decenta decent return for Carmelo,
considering the fact thateveryone knew he wanted to go to
(17:59):
New York, but he didn't want towait.
He wanted to be traded, hedidn't want to finish out the
season and then go.
So it actually worked outpretty awesome that that we were
able to put together a teamkind of on the fly, and the
following year they kind ofcaught fire.
I know I think they wonsomething like 20 out of 21 home
(18:21):
games at one point.
They set the franchise recordfor 57 wins that year, and I
think they could have done somedamage in the playoffs, except
for Reed and Galinari got hurtone of them right before the
season ended, and the other onein like the very first playoff
game.
And so obviously we were wewere done at that point, but it
(18:45):
was still a really fun year.
They just they were a group ofguys that played well together,
they played fast and won a bunchof games, but they the injuries
hurt Galinari, Ty Lawson hadsome off field or off-court
issues, and then we brought inwhat was supposed to be the next
(19:07):
great coach in Brian Shaw, andthe team just fell apart so
quickly.
He just it seems like hecouldn't relate to the players
and and looks like it washeading down some some dark days
again.
So that takes us up to 2014.
And like I said, I'm I'm alifer.
This is this has been myNuggets fandom and not very many
(19:31):
bright moments, but got it,gotta stay with them.
They're they're your team, gotit, gotta love the the highs and
the lows.
2014, obviously, we draft ayoung kid named Nikola Jokic who
changed everything.
He second-round pick out of outof Serbia.
The story's well known, andwe're gonna talk plenty about
Jokic on this podcast, so I'mnot gonna go into too much
(19:53):
detail.
But Jokic comes over a yearlater.
We have Michael Malone now asthe coach, he sees something in
him.
He tries to play Jokic andNurkic at the same time, then he
realizes Jokic is way better.
Nurkic pouts and cries his wayout of town, and we add Jamal
Murray, so now the foundation isstarting to form.
(20:16):
MPJ comes, then guys like GaryHarris, Will Barton, Paul
Milsap, who is the mostimportant free agent signing
probably in Nuggets history, ifunless Bruce Brown is pretty
important to our championshipteam.
So either Paul or Bruce formost important free agent
(20:37):
signing, but they're not hugenames, but they totally changed
who the Nuggets were.
Paul taught the young guys howto be professionals, he made
them play some defense, and Ithink he represents a huge
stepping stone in the Nuggetsbecoming the champions that that
uh they won this year.
(20:58):
Then obviously everything's puton hold with Jamal and PJ
getting hurt, and then Jokicdecides to become the best
basketball player in the world,win two MVPs and a championship.
I'm sure I'm gonna go over moredetails in many of those eras.
(21:20):
I love talking about theNuggets, so I'll I'll do some
deep dives back into some ofthose previous teams.
I of course have to talk aboutthe championship run and what
that team was last year and whathopefully they're gonna be
again this year.
I will say it's been nice lastcouple years, just with
(21:41):
different companies comingalong, technology obviously, to
be able to follow the Nuggets,the Broncos, all my Colorado
teams, either through socialmedia or a wonderful company
that I love so much is uh DNVR.
They have awesome coverage ofall the Colorado teams.
So it's been great followingthem and just being able to be
(22:07):
part of the fandom again.
Whereas when I first moved downto Florida, I had to depend on
ESPN or back then it was FoxSports One or places like that
to talk about the teams.
And if they did, it was maybeone highlight here or one
comment there, like it wasn'tmuch, and so just how it is
(22:29):
nowadays is just so so muchbetter, and it's just so much
more fun to be a fan with theoptions that we have now.
But it'll be fun to talk tothese other fans and see how how
they grew up with their fansand how they have changed their
fandom living far away, or howoften they go back to that city
(22:53):
to go to a game, or just to howoften do they interact with
their friends or family thatthey still have in those cities.
So so I hope you'll enjoy theconversations that I'm gonna
have with these fans.
I hope you'll discover thingsand tools and resources that can
make you a better fan to followyour team.
And yeah, I just love talkingabout sports and just how it can
(23:16):
bring people together.
So I really appreciate youjoining me for this first
episode of Fandom from Afar.
And that was the first episodeof Fandom from Afar.
I appreciate listening.
And like I said, the Nuggetswill be back in just a few days
to start training camp, and sowill Fandom from Afar for the
(23:37):
third season and hopefullyanother championship season.
Thanks for listening, everyone.
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