John Elway has always been a bit of an elitist. His aristocratic snobbery has been apparent since his senior year as a Stanford Cardinal and right on through the 1983 NFL Draft when he refused to become a Baltimore Colt.
Part of his snot-nosed reasoning is grounded in the buzz (pun intended) surrounding then Colts owner Robert Irsay. Elway heard the persistent gossip about Irsay’s regular impairment and its affects on the team and the franchise and Elway wanted no parts of it.
Irsay, the Chicago-bred tippler, was often cloaked in a fog of Beefeater gin and his slurred speech was anything but eloquent, often stumbling through words when questioned about the team.