Faith, Life, and Sports by Eric Jensen

Patience, patience is hard to teach. Waiting for anything is difficult. Especially if you’re young. I am young, oh so young, as I am constantly reminded by myself and everything around me.

In the Church year, this is the time for patience. As we await the arrival of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That wait is difficult. Christmas is a holiday loved by all, young and old. To have to wait for 30 days is a lot of waiting. It’s also a lot of uncertainty. The wise men came east not knowing exactly what to expect. Only to find a poor baby in a manger. All that waiting, for something that we can’t quite grasp.

I think that’s something we can relate to. So much of the future, for everyone, is unknown. We don’t know what to expect or if things will change. We as humans are very good at being prisoners of the moment. I know I certainly am. I have a very hard time thinking more than a month or two into the future because it’s all so unknown. I bet that’s how the wise men felt:  there was a power shift coming. King Herod clearly could not mess with this so-called King of Kings that was being brought into the world.

The wisemen’s allegiances and roles were likely to change. So much of Advent is about waiting. But you know what else requires waiting?  Winning championships. O Dear God does winning championships take time:  sooo much time!  It might take the Broncos another 30 years to win a title, but let’s not get into the Ultra-Depressing category in this article today.

Here is a list of some of the longest current championship droughts in sports:

Cleveland Guardians (formerly the Indians)- 75 years

Sacramento Kings- 71 years

Toronto Maple Leafs- 53 years

Detroit Lions- 50 years

New York Jets- 57 years (They also hold the longest playoff drought in the NFL currently at 11 years.  Fun fact:  if they make the playoffs this year, and guess what, they might, the Broncos will have the longest playoff drought in the NFL at 7 years.  This has been your “Broncos sadness corner.”)

It took the country of Canada, hockey’s birthplace, 50 years to win another gold medal in Men’s Hockey at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake .

It takes time. Life takes time.  I am a 23 year old who is slowly learning that. I wish life would move a lot faster.  I wish I had the answers overnight. I wish I could win a championship tomorrow. But I can’t. And neither can anyone else, it takes time and luck and most importantly patience.