I think a lot about dates. I don’t mean the fruit of the palm tree, nor the “dinner-and-a-movie” definition. I’m referring to calendar dates.

If I were to guess what was behind my mild obsession with dates long past, it’d probably be that I’m deeply nostalgic. The “On This Day” feature on my social media and photo apps is always fascinating, reminding me of where I was on my journey two or six or 10 years ago.

For instance: 12 years ago last Sunday, I was perched at the bar at Applebee’s in Augusta, staring in something resembling utter disbelief as I stared at the B-section of that day’s Kennebec Journal. 

Jan. 19, 2014, was the day of my very first appearance in print as a columnist for the KJ and Morning Sentinel. 

I had joined the newspapers a month prior, on Dec. 16 (see? These are the things I think about), as a web editor fresh off the proverbial boat from Australia as a newly minted U.S. permanent resident, green card in hand.

The fine folks at the KJ had offered me my very first job stateside and, having spent one night in Maine ever – the night before my job interview – I accepted and moved my life to Vacationland in the middle of winter, sight unseen.

My maiden column, in print in front of me at the bar, detailed some of that journey. But the other thing that sticks in my mind from that day, and what inspired this column, was that it was AFC Championship day. And that year, the New England Patriots were facing the Broncos in Denver, the city I’d been crashing in before I moved to Maine.

The bartender and I were the only two people in the place rooting for the Broncos, who eventually prevailed. I made it out of the bar alive that night, and went on to enjoy two more years’ worth of Maine’s wonders. 

The next decade-plus took me to South Florida for a stint (never again) and then to Denver for the past eight years, with a 10-month sojourn to Cincinnati for good measure. Now I’m a husband and father, and no longer a journalist, but I think of the Pine Tree State fondly and frequently. 

So when the Broncos clinched their spot in the AFC Championship this season and I realized they may face the Patriots again, my mind raced back to Applebee’s on Western Avenue. I jokingly tweeted at my former boss and asked if he wanted me to write a sequel to the column I wrote 12 years ago.

Central Maine was my first home in the U.S. as a new immigrant, and now I have a new date to add to the calendar of my memories: AFC Championship Day 2026, or the day I had the privilege of writing again for my former employer. 

As for Sunday’s game? After being adopted as an Eagles fan in 2017, I don’t have a horse in this race, if you’ll pardon the pun. But as much as I’d love for the Broncos to win their way back to the Super Bowl (if only so the bar I work at will be busy on my shift on Feb. 8) I just don’t see them overcoming the loss of sophomore quarterback Bo Nix to injury. 

While anything can happen on any given Sunday, I think it would take a miracle of mile-high proportions for the Broncos to overcome Nix’s nixing. My prediction? Pats 34, Broncos 10.

Adrian Crawford is a former Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel columnist and Hallowell bartender. He now lives in Denver, works as a copywriter for an outdoors brand and has a 5-year-old daughter. He still tends bar on weekends.