At my house, we are recording The Great Food Truck Race which airs each Sunday night at 8 p.m. CST. The show features a number of teams from around the country with their own specialized food truck. The basis of the show has the teams competing in a different city each week to raise the most money as they sell their product. The team who earns the least amount of money is eliminated from the competition.
Tuesday evening, we sat down to watch the most recent episode; I was pleased to discover the teams would be stopping in the Mile High City. For a person who lived in Colorado and, deep down has an undying passion to always relocate there, I enjoy it whenever Denver and/or Colorado is included in any television show, regardless of the reason. My son and I both got very excited as the show went to commercial and showed that none other than John Elway would be making an appearance. I attempted to immediately fast forward to that portion of the show but was out voted by the family, so we watched the episode in its entirety.
Each week the teams receive a “speed bump” that is delivered via a phone call, and this week Mr. Elway, sitting in his Colorado steakhouse, was he lucky person who delivered the challenge to the teams. Some of the team members were shocked to learn they were speaking to THE John Elway, while others didn’t realize how well known the person they were speaking to is known in Colorado and the football world. My family chuckled when one of the teams, known for their vegan style cooking, hoped that John Elway was a vegan; we all knew that wouldn’t be the case since John Elway was sitting in his very own restaurant that specializes in steak.
When Elway was first shown, the show listed “Former NFL Quarterback” below his name, which prompted a comment from my son, “They should have at least put ‘Former Denver Bronco Quarterback’.” What an excellent segue to conclude this article.
Elway is not just any former NFL quarterback; he is a former Denver Bronco quarterback. When Elway came to the Broncos, the team was well known and very popular in the Rocky Mountain region; however thanks to Elway’s style of play on the field and late game heroics, he took the organization to a whole other level of popularity. The appearance on The Food Network is just another show that Elway can add to his list of accomplishments. Over the years, I can recall Elway appearing on Home Improvement, as well as, making a “special appearance” on The Simpsons as himself.
Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr, and Joe Namath, to name a few, come to mind when you think of classic, old-school NFL players. Needless to say, John Elway easily fits into this category, because he has proven that even though his playing days are long past him, he continues to be popular and in the spotlight – whether it is leading an NFL team from the front office or appearing on reality television. When kids today become adults and look back on NFL quarterbacks, Elway will still be as well known then as he is now.
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