The City of Denver has a tumultuous recent history with the number 15. Some of it is well in the past (someone else's problem now), some of it is in the present and some in our not-too-distant future.
It wasn't too long ago that we said goodbye to the man who last wore the number 15 for the Denver Broncos, Brandon Marshall. He was traded to Miami a couple years ago. Good riddance. Marshall was always a problem here. And he was a problem there. He fought with his old lady, got stabbed in the gut, "discovered" he had some trumped-up "personality disorder" and then he punched some girl in the face. Miami must have seen the error in their ways because they shipped him to Chicago for a couple draft picks and a Starbucks card. There he will reconnect with another Denver malcontent, Jay Cutler. Naturally, Marshall will wear number 15.
Who could forget the melodrama surrounding the kid who wore number 15 for the Nuggets? Carmelo Anthony put this city through all kinds of pain before he was ultimately traded to the Knicks. Then that asshole took the number 7, worn in Denver by John Elway and Chauncey Billups. Not surprisingly, that former 15 has become a curse in New York. He has single-handedly strangled Linsanity and led his team to six straight losses. Now he is reportedly trying to get his coach fired or get traded. Nuggets fans, meanwhile, sit back in shake their heads knowingly. Another 15 who's gone somewhere else and changed his number but not his stripes.
Then we have Tim Tebow, the man who wears 15 like none before him. He may not be here much longer, either. A guy who was handed the keys to the city just a couple of months ago has suddenly become the greatest of all goats to wear the number in Denver. How quickly things change. The City is waiting on pins and needles for Peyton Manning to decide whether or not he will grace us with his presence and Tim Tebow is, too.
Carmelo Anthony and Brandon Marshal don't necessarily know what their futures hold, but at least they know they're wanted. Tim Tebow has no idea whether the Broncos want him or not - or if any other team does for that matter. As much of a beating as he has taken lately he must wonder if Florida would even want him back. It's not fair, really. But strange things happen to fifteens in Denver.
Let's home Jeremy Guthrie of the Colorado Rockies fares better.
