The Denver Broncos know a good thing when they see it. And a devoted group of nuns who happen to be football fans is a very good thing:

“Quiet please. Let’s go again.” In the chapel at Exempla St. Joseph Hospital in Denver July 31, amid the lights and camera and cable and sound equipment, a director asks for another take. The crew is shooting part of a series of television commercials promoting the Denver Broncos football team that will air this fall.

The director cues his performers.

“We are from the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth,” the trio says in unison. “And we are Bronco fans.”

Sisters Marie deLourdes Falk, Mary Rosenda Arkfeld and Marie Paula Hardy were selected by the National Football League (NFL) Denver Broncos organization to be featured in the promos, which will be shown on television and will be broadcast at the games.

The nuns were a little amused at all the fuss over them but, being die-hard fans, they were also excited to be part of “their team.”

“This is a lot of fun,” Sister Falk told the Denver Catholic Register, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Denver. “I’m enjoying every minute of it. I started to cheer for the Broncos in 1977 and I just got hooked.”

The nuns and others in their religious community live on the 11th floor of the Catholic hospital, which is part of the nonprofit Exempla organization, co-sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Kan., Health System.

The nuns work at many jobs at St. Joseph, helping to alleviate the anxiety and fear that many people experience when they first check in. But come Sundays during the football season, they become some of the most emotional and excitable fans the team has.

“We support them with prayers and yelling,” Sister Arkfeld said with a laugh. “And I don’t mind telling you that we get great satisfaction when the Broncos beat San Diego.”

Sister Hardy said she is a latecomer to Bronco fandom. When she arrived in Denver, the first thing she had to do was get rid of her Kansas City (Mo.) Chiefs shirt – it just didn’t belong.

“My family sort of disowned me when they heard,” she said. “But if you live in Denver, you have to be a Bronco fan, especially if you live on the 11th floor.”

On game day the nuns gather in the television room, aptly named the Bronco room, which is awash in the team’s colors of blue and orange. Inside, 10 recliner chairs are set up so that everyone has a first-class view of the television. The chairs are covered with every piece of Bronco paraphernalia available.

All the nuns who live on the 11th floor support the team, but Sister Falk said some are more vocal than others.

“Some of us are ardent fans who stay until the very end,” she said. “Others will just drop in now and then to check the score. But we all have a wonderful time.”

I bet they do. If anyone sees the ads, send me a link!