It’s time for a historic comeback. Let’s get to work.
The Drive: January 11, 1987, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium between the Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns. Broncos quarterback John Elway, in a span of 5 minutes and 2 seconds, led his team 98 yards in 15 plays to tie the game with 37 seconds left in regulation. Denver won the game in overtime making a 33-yard field goal, pulling off a 23–20 win over the Cleveland Browns.
The Comeback: January 3, 1993 at Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, New York was an NFL playoff game between the Buffalo Bills and the Houston Oilers. It featured the Bills recovering from a 32-point deficit to win in overtime, 41–38. To the present day, it remains the largest comeback in NFL history.
The 2004 American League Championship Series: October 12-20, 2004 where the Boston Red Sox became the first (and only) team in MLB history to come back from a 0-3 series deficit to win a seven-game series. This led to the Red Sox winning their first World Series championship in 86 years and ending the Curse of the Bambino.
Super Bowl LI: February 5, 2017 featured the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, with the New England Patriots overcoming a 28–3 deficit to the Atlanta Falcons to emerge victorious. The game was also the first Super Bowl to be decided in overtime.
Rocky: On January 1, 1976, at the Philadelphia Spectrum, Rocky Balboa has his match with Apollo Creed. The match becomes a long and grueling battle for both competitors. It is the first time an opponent had lasted the full 15 rounds against Creed and as a result, it ends up with a split decision – which in itself was a moral victory for underdog Balboa.
2020-21 Ski Season: Eagle County vs COVID, fourth quarter. We’re losing and COVID19 continues to spread. We have record case counts, hospitalizations are soaring & deaths are increasing. COVID is spreading like wildfire across our community. We all knew that another wave was coming, but the momentum it picked up during our offseason is overwhelming. We don’t know how this story will end, and the good news is we have the ability make a comeback.
Our community – hospital workers, front line hospitality employees, grocery workers, teachers, first responders – have worked so hard to position our community for success. Thank you to all our COVID heroes: the people that stay home when they are sick; those who wear masks when carpooling; those who keep their kids home when someone in their household has COVID-like symptoms; those who are avoiding social gatherings and following the five commitments.
The data is clear: spread is not only about how many people are here visiting but also about how we all personally act and interact. Local or visitor, the critical focus needs to be on modeling the 5 Commitments of Containment at all times. We’ve got to stop the spread now.
The Drive, The Comeback, the Red Sox and Patriots, and even Rocky Balboa provide us the blueprint. Sports – and movies – are filled with comeback stories that provide the roadmap on how to move forward and achieve success. But life isn’t always sports, and COVID isn’t a game. But these sports comebacks provide is a universal truth: it is time for us – individually, and together – to band together and make our comeback.
It’s time for us to make our comeback. Take a moment and ask what you can do to make a positive difference in our communities today. And then go do it.
Chris Romer is president & CEO of Vail Valley Partnership, the regional chamber of commerce. Learn more at VailValleyPartnership.com