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Henry B. Gonzalez Elementary Bobcat Shimmerz Dance Team 1st place in Varsity Pom Division at the City Of Eagle Pass 5th Annual Dance Competition held Feb 11,2016. Team members are Stephanie Ferguson,Kimberly Balderas,Jenevee Dueñes,Michelle Olvera,Ayleen Madrid,Priscilla Marquez,Ashley Gonzalez,Kayla Sanchez & Kayla Herrada. Coaches Ariana Rodriguez & Gladys Ferguson. Choreography done by Leticia Villanueva.
DENVER (AP) — Will Peyton Manning be back? Can Denver keep this top-ranked defense together? Big questions loom over the Super Bowl-champion Broncos. But Tuesday wasn't the time to think about that. Tuesday was parade day — an opportunity to bask in the spotlight of orange-and-blue clad fans after a 24-10 win over Carolina.
The victory celebration started with an outdoor concert by a trio of Colorado bands including Big Head Todd and The Monsters near city hall and the state Capitol. The sea of fans went crazy on the sunny morning as the music started. The smell of marijuana hung over the park, even though smoking pot in public is illegal in Colorado.
After the show, a downtown parade will feature the victorious players riding on fire trucks along a 1.5-mile-long route, including quarterback Peyton Manning atop Engine No. 18, after his jersey number.
People have been in the park and lining up along the parade route for hours. Classes were in session Tuesday, but school age kids mingled in the crowd. Denver schools offered students excused absences if their parents let officials know.
Mark Bedenbender, who had a prime spot along the metal barrier near Union Station, said the event is not only a celebration but likely a farewell to Manning, too.
"I think he finished on top," he said. "When he lost the game two years ago, you knew he was coming back."
Judy Ayce drove nine hours with her 81-year-old mother Dorothy Ayce from the Chinle Navajo reservation in Arizona for the parade, arriving at the Denver home of Judy Ayce's niece late Monday. On Tuesday morning, Dorothy Ayce's wheelchair was parked against a barricade. A plastic bag of drinks and snacks dangled from the chair. The family was ready to spend the day celebrating.
"We brought our mats. We brought our food. We brought blankets for Grandma," Amanda Ayce said.
Judy Ayce, speaking in Navajo, asked her mother whether she was there for all the Broncos, or especially for Manning.
"Peyton," was the answer.
"She just likes watching sports, and she's followed him for years," her granddaughter said.
Officials won't give specific turnout predictions, but the last time Denver won the Super Bowl in 1999, the downtown party drew an estimated 375,000 people. A year before that, when the Broncos won the Super Bowl for the first time, about 650,000 people showed up.
"We're probably expecting hundreds of thousands," said Mike Stott, a spokesman for Mayor Michael Hancock.
Fans began celebrating Sunday night as the clock ticked down on the Broncos' win in Super Bowl 50.
The crowd became unruly at times, but officers for the most part watched from the sidewalk. Police reported a handful of arrests, mainly for criminal mischief.
On Tuesday, the mood was light. Even some people stuck in traffic near the parade route honked at fans dressed in Broncos jerseys walked on the sidewalk toward the event.
While many took the day off, Gary Baca, chief of security for a downtown building along the route, was working. He wore a bright orange tie with his white dress shirt, and took a moment to survey the crowds he said were sending a message to the Broncos.
"I want them to understand that we as fans truly love them. The love deep down is genuine."
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) -- Before his whirlybird spin in the air forever etched him in NFL lore, two-time Super Bowl champion John Elway called his mother on the team flight from Pittsburgh after winning the AFC championship on Jan. 11, 1998.
"I said, 'Mom, guess what? We get to go back to the Super Bowl!" Elway recounted. "She said, 'Do we really have to go back?"
After so many Super Bowl letdowns - three losses by an average of 32 points - she wasn't sure watching her son face the two-touchdown favorite Green Bay Packers was such a good idea.
Many Denver fans are similarly pensive as these Broncos (14-4) prepare to face Cam Newton and the mighty Carolina Panthers (17-1) in Super Bowl 50 as five-point underdogs.
They swear they've learned their lessons, however, after getting shellacked by Seattle 43-8 in the Super Bowl two years ago.
They won't be beating each other up this time in full-pads practices in the lead-up to the Feb. 7 kickoff.
They're praising their opponents aplenty - a lot like the Broncos talked up the Packers 18 years ago.
They won't be soaking in the nightlife quite so full throttle once they get to San Francisco on Sunday.
They'll certainly prepare for a loud crowd this time after former coach John Fox famously turned down the speakers at practices figuring it would be like a home game only to see that plan ripped apart in all of 12 seconds.
Players and coaches have already taken care of tickets and flights for family and friends and all the distractions that go with the Super Bowl so when they return to work Thursday their focus is on football.
"We got spanked last time. I felt bad for a month and a-half, two months," said wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, the lone bright spot that night in the Meadowlands when Seattle's sideline-to-sideline supremacy rendered his Super Bowl-record 13 receptions a footnote.
"He played great," Elway said in the aftermath of that blowout. "If we all played like he did, we'd have won."
Elway was asked after the last Super Bowl letdown how long it took him to get over his three Super Bowl losses.
"I'm not over them yet," he shot back. "I just added this one to it."
Elway remade his team after its 35-point loss to the Seahawks. He committed $109.5 million by adding free agents DeMarcus Ware, Aqib Talib and T.J. Ward. The trio has helped turn Denver from an offensive juggernaut that had scored an NFL record 606 points behind Peyton Manning's record-breaking run in 2013 into a defensive team.
Two years after taking the league's No. 1 offense to the Super Bowl, the Broncos bring the NFL's No. 1 defense, one that battered Tom Brady with an incredible 23 hits Sunday.
The Broncos also changed their offensive identity this season with the hiring of coach Gary Kubiak, who installed a better ground game and a plan for Manning to share snaps with Brock Osweiler in practice.
The plan came in handy when Manning missed six weeks with a foot injury and Osweiler kept the Broncos rolling right along. And the ground game finally came on behind a new O-line in Kubiak's zone blocking scheme.
Even though it's been inconsistent, "I like what we're doing offensively," Elway said. "I like the system, obviously, having played in it and knowing that you can win world championships with it."
Elway changed coaches a year ago, befuddled by Fox's teams losing their last game by a cumulative 150-66. He said he wanted a team that would "go down kicking and screaming."
That toughness has been on display all season.
Denver's model is no longer lighting up scoreboards but grinding it out, hanging around and making big plays at the end. It's a formula that's seen them win an NFL record 11 games by seven points or less, including 23-16 over Pittsburgh and 20-18 over New England in the playoffs.
"The mindset to me is that you know we play for 60 minutes - even though we haven't consistently played well for 60 minutes - you know our mindset has been there. And that's why this team is a tougher team because it's a mentally tough one," Elway said.
This time, it's Newton and the Panthers bringing the high-octane offense to the Super Bowl and the Broncos sporting the star-studded secondary and ferocious front-seven.
They're hoping this dynamic makes a difference - and like the Broncos teams of '98 and '99 they'll make their nervous mothers proud.