The Indianapolis Colts are one game away from the Super Bowl. Quarterback Peyton Manning, NFL co-MVP and all-around good guy, silenced critics by winning his first ever playoff game. He was a man among boys in the Wild Card game versus Denver and Kansas City couldn’t even make the Colts punt as they rolled up 38 points.
Watching Manning and Marvin Harrison has been a treat for the last several years. They go together like cookies and milk—chocolate chip cookies, right out of the oven. Two future first ballot Hall of Famers, they are Montana to Rice for this generation. Seriously, how can you NOT root for these guys?
Any chance you remember the Ravens-Giants Super Bowl when Jason Sehorn made a kissing gesture and winked at the camera when they were doing close-ups during player introductions? Well, by the first quarter he was already toast because some little guy from obscure Louisiana-Lafayette raced past him for the games first touchdown. The Ravens never looked back.
Well, that player was Brandon Stokley and he has battled injuries for the last few seasons, but is finally healthy and is now the Colts 3rd receiver. His sudden emergence appears to have pushed the vaunted Colts’ offense into the stratosphere. The Broncos are still trying to figure out how he did a Lynn Swann impersonation on them (144 yards and 2 TDs) and his score against the Chiefs was embarrassingly easy. I have to root for guys like Brandon Stokley. In another universe, if I managed to make an NFL roster, I would be Brandon Stokley. We’re both 5’11”, but with enough wheels to get behind a defense. OK, sorry—let’s get back to the real players.
Dwight Freeney came out of Syracuse as an undersized defensive end (6’1” 268 lbs.) and the Colts were soundly criticized for drafting him 11th overall in 2002. Pundits said he would get pushed around by most left tackles and that he wouldn’t be able to stop the run. Well, this season he finished with 11 sacks and 4 forced fumbles while making the Pro Bowl in only his second year in the league. You have to root for this team, right?
How about their coach? Tony Dungy is nothing but first class. Think back to how he was left to twist in the breeze while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were negotiating with Bill Parcells to take his job, before they had been eliminated from the playoffs? He handled that messy situation with his typical grace and quickly landed in Indianapolis. He was also smart enough to retain offensive coordinator, Tom Moore, to keep the continuity that the Colts offense had enjoyed.
I would say that it is impossible not to root for the Colts this year. Except…
The Colts still have blood on their hands from March of 1983 when their then owner, the infinitely drunken, rotten scoundrel Robert Irsay, snuck the team out of Baltimore in the middle of the night after promising to keep the Colts in Baltimore forever.
I say this as a lifelong, hard core Washington Redskins fan. I grew up halfway between DC and Baltimore, have always been an Orioles fan and can still remember to this day where I was when I saw the video clip of the Mayflower vans driving through a snowstorm while moving the team’s equipment and belongings to Indianapolis. Indianapolis? That couldn’t possibly be true, but it was.
That was over 20 years ago and I’m still pissed off. Sure, the Redskins were my favorite team but I had so many Colts football cards—Bert Jones, Lydell Mitchell, Roger Carr, John Dutton, Joe Washington—and I knew how important Johnny Unitas was to the history of the league. Besides, look at the uniform. The horseshoe on the helmet—that belongs to Baltimore.
And all would have been forgiven if the Irsay’s not tried to gouge Art Modell when he inquired about making a deal to bring back the Colts uniform to the former Cleveland Browns franchise that he had moved to Baltimore. He was willing to pay the Colts millions of dollars, but not 25 million, which was the asking price.
So that’s it. THAT’s how you can not root for the Indianapolis Colts to make to the Super Bowl. I’ll be watching the AFC Championship in a Mike Curtis throwback jersey waiting to closeline the first person who cheers when the Colts score. You might have to be of a certain age or from Baltimore to get that reference, but since a friend 10 years my junior said as we crossed the street in downtown Baltimore said, “The Colts used to be in Baltimore?” I felt it was important to make this case against them. Consider it a history lesson, soaked in vinegar.
Go Pats!
Yup, you said it, Scott.
It bothers me to root against the Colts, since Peyton Manning is sooooo good. And, after the Ravens’ Super Bowl, I have a soft spot for Brandon Stokley, too.
But, I still remember how much it hurt Baltimore when they left and so they will always be the enemy. Thanks for explaining why to the rest of the world.
But Tom Brady has a MAN-PURSE!
I don’t care if the Irsays tried to gouge Modell for the Colts name. Baltimore lost its claim to sympathy when it paid big money — far more than Indianapolis — did to lure the Browns from Cleveland, a city that loved its football team more than Baltimore did its Colts.
And Art Modell himself knows a lot about gouging.
So Balmer people, get over it. I don’t recall hearing a lot of sympathy from you for Cleveland when the Browns, er, the Ravens, made their Super Bowl run.
And speaking of gouging, would it be fair sport to mention Peter Angelos’ stated goal to gouge MLB if it puts a team in Washington?
However, I do cherish the Baltimore CFL Colts shirt I bought at Fells Point after the NFL ordered the team to change its name.
I think it was Yoda that said: “Dwight Freeney does not a defense make.”
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IN BELICHICK WE TRUST
looks like the weather is going to be 20s-30s for the game in Foxborough this weekend… The weatherman is a Colts fan!!
I disagree with the comments that Manning is “a good guy.” Lest I remind you, he settled a case out of court where, in college, he put his testicles in a female athletic trainer’s face as a joke while she was examining him.
She sued the school, and won…and received an undisclosed cash settlement. The issue wasn’t to be raised again…until Manning mentioned in his book, using unflattering tones. She sued Manning, and he settled out of court.
Now, this has nothing to do with football, and I respect Manning’s ability on the field. He looked in absolute control in beating the Chiefs. Maybe this is his year. But, to me, he comes across as a pompous know-it-all who is probably respected by his teammates but probably not very well liked. Just my two cents.
MEGADITTOES, DJ Throwback! And I mean that non-sarcastically.