That night I had a dream. I dreamt I was as light as the ether- a floating spirit visiting things to come. The shades and shadows of the people in my life rassled their way their way into my slumber. I dreamed that the Buffs and Broncos returned to relevance and the fuskers ended up with the death penalty. Probably that's just as well. I don't mean to sound superior, and they're a swell bunch of corn worshippers, but maybe they weren't ready yet to face the world without cheating. And then I dreamed on, into the future, to a Christmas morn in the Liver home where Liver Junior was opening a present from a kindly couple who preferred to remain unknown; it was a Pac 12 championship jersey. I saw a washington fan, a few years later, still having no luck getting anyone to listen to his wild tales about how CU used to be a doormat. Maybe he threw in one altitude joke too many. I don't know. And still I dreamed on, further into the future than I had ever dreamed before, watching the Buffs' progress from afar, taking pride in their accomplishments as if they were our own. Wondering if they ever thought of the dark early Embree years and hoping that maybe we'd helped sustain the program a little even if they couldn't remember just how they got sustained. But still I hadn't dreamt nothing about national championships until the end. And this was cloudier cause it was years, years away. But I saw an old couple visiting Folsom, for a ceremony honoring a national championship. The program wasn't screwed up. And neither were the basketball or baseball (!) programs.. And I don't know. You tell me. This whole dream, was it wishful thinking? Was I just fleeing reality like I know I'm liable to do? But the Buffs, they can be good again. And it seemed real. It seemed like our Buffs and it seemed like, well, our home. If not Boulder, then a land not too far away. Where all fans and players are strong and wise and capable and all of us are happy and beloved. I don't know. Maybe it was Utah.
*with an nod to the coens.
*with an nod to the coens.