AFC Title Game Day

The Indianapolis Colts are going to the Super Bowl!! In what can only be described as an unbelievable game, the Colts exorcised their demons and beat the Patriots 38-34. You all know the story of the game, here are just a few thoughts from Sunday.

Got up early and went to church. Me and the Mrs. have been pretty remiss about that since we got married and it felt god to go. Naturally I prayed for the Colts, but I have no illusion that God cares who wins a football game. Nor should he. I just prayed that the guys played to the best of their abilities. For 25 minutes of that game, I was pretty sure my prayers were not to be answered.

Went to lunch at Bahama Breeze for Brooke's birthday and to their house for cake. By this time my stomach feels like it has bats instead of butterflies! I'm confident, but very anxious at the same time. After we leave we go by the house and I grab some brews, my hat and coat and a trash bag and we head to Tom's.

I get to Tom's first followed by Paw and Tim and finally Neil. We have Bombs to get the day started although I could go for a cat nap to get lunch past me. I have a Red Bull and feel fine. Another round of Bombs and a beer and we are ready to go. We pile in the Caddy and head for Mo's.
The atmosphere downtown is charged. There do seem to be a lot of Pat fans around the area and my anxiety level increases. I am not sure if I can handle a stadium full of those idiots. Still, there is a lot of blue as well. We make our way to Pullmans for what has become our traditional pregame stop. We have one, go to the can and I make a call to the wife and tell her we are heading in. I am assuming voice conversations once inside the dome are not going to be possible.

Once we get in the Pat fans are few and far between, but of course that doesn't mean there are 5 sitting right in front of us. Craig warns me to behave, later Eric does as well, but these guys look pretty harmless. I assure Craig all will be well. I really wanted to hit them a little later, but I kept my cool and just yelled louder and "accidentally" spilled a little beer on their jacket.

Most of the usual's were there. Butch and his crew, Dan-o and Mark, the Legend, the Girls, my buddy who always speaks (who unfortunately may have broken his ankle in the first quarter) was there, the BILF, the throwback helmet guy and the myriad of other usual fans were all in attendance!

Then the unthinkable happened. PM threw a pick that was run back for a TD. Patriots 21, Colts 3. Tom headed out to smoke and I don't think he came back until the half, Paw was giving up his tickets next season, Timmy was moved to seat 110 and I had pretty much thrown in the towel. The Pat fans were chest bumping and high-fiving. They were calling and texting their friends back in Boston or wherever Pat fans come from. Without the FG at the end of the half for the Colts the dome may have begun emptying out by the half.

The good news is that the fans didn't leave. We all stayed and we just yelled louder. I made sure the guys in front of me knew this fan was going to stay in the game. It was worth it! As the Colts stormed back from 15 down it was apparent PM was going to pick his game up. Even the 80 yard KO return after the Colts tied it up didn't bring us down.

Eventually, as you know, we pulled it out! Marlin Jackson, in place of the injured Nick Harper, picked off Tom Brady's pass with 16 seconds left to go and the game was over. The Pat fans in front of me were gone before I was done with my first hug. But only the Pat fan left. As you can see from this picture, Colt fan stayed late! We hugged and high-fived. We laughed and teared up. We felt the weight of not only the last few years of heartbreak, but of 23 years of trying to get over this hump. None of us had much of a voice left but who cared.

When we finally filed out of the dome, with smiles splashed across our faces the cheering continued. Number one fingers all around, more high-fives, chest bumps and general fun! We headed over to the Ugly Monkey and got drinks and went out n the patio and high-fived hundreds of passing fans and tossed snow balls at passing cars. All in good fun. We finally headed up Illinois Street in the Caddy and with the other idiots, honked our horn and joined in the fun! Even saw some Bear fan who promptly got the finger.

It was a great day. We can only hope that in two weeks we beat the Chicago Bears. While I have a problem when people say "we" meaning the fans deserve this, it is a great feeling and one I want to take into the offseason! Let's Go Colts!!