Monthly Archive for January, 2006

Year after year, the Colts give fans reason to cheer…in the regular season. And year after year the Colts give fans a reason to cry…in the post-season. Last year it was Manning’s unbelievable 52 TD throws…just to be beaten again by the Patriots in the playoffs. This year it was making a run at an undefeated season…just to beat themselves by spending two quarters shaking the rust off of a near month long stretch without really having to play a meaningful game.

There is much I love about the Colts. Tony Dungy’s character. Peyton Manning’s cerebral play at quarterback that shuts down so many defenses. The lightning fast defense that hits hard and gets to the quarterback often. But it gets hard year after year agreeing with the ‘experts’ that, “the Colts are the team to win the Superbowl….”, “The Colts are the most dominant team in the NFL…”, “This is the year for Peyton Manning and the Colts to shake the monkeys off of their back…” I get so excited when I hear things like this about ‘my team’…but all in all, it sets me up to be another fan talking about the season that it could have been.

Tonight I went to the Royal Canadian, a good place on the Seine in Paris, to watch the game. As if the poor play of the Colts wasn’t enough, I had the over-dominant alpha-female Steelers fan sitting right behind me. When she wasn’t loosing her voice screaming for the wrong team in my ear, she was tossing back long-island ice teas…Thankfully her trips to the bar gave my ears a rest and allowed me time to remind myself that it was just a game that I had no control of. When watching sports I try to keep the big picture in mind…”These are guys that I’ve never met, playing a game at a place where I am not at, and I have zero control of the outcome…So why get upset?” I’ll tell me why to get upset, because (self-titled) ‘Steeler Man’ would yell, “I’m a Steeler Man” every time the Steelers would make a good play…I seriously thought people who did things like that were rarely around other human being, but I guess I’m mistaken….wow…this article is revealing anger issues I thought had gone away! (maybe being a Colts fan is therapy of some sort…you think you’ve gotten rid of your issues root for the best losing team ever and all of your issues will come right up!)

So all that to say…Vanderjagt sucks, Peyton Manning is a good quarterback, but should not be considered great, legendary, or compared to any great ‘all-time’ quarterback until he can lead an excellent team past a mediocre team in the post-season, Tony Dungy continues to display the most character of any person I’ve seen in the public eye, and I will still be rooting for the blue and white next year…talking about the season the Peyton threw 52 and the Colts almost went undefeated…It was said best by a fellow Colts mourner as I left the Royal Canadian, “Maybe next year will be the year the Colts lose in the Super Bowl…”

Peyton if you read this…I love you and I do think you are great, forgive me for not trusting you like I should…I’m an idiot, just like Mike Vanderjagt

We’ve been back in Paris for a few days now. We’ve fought through the mornings of waking up at 3:30, then 5:30, then 7:30 and are on a ‘normal’ sleep schedule. I think that a lot of people (ourselves included) were curious to see what it was going to be like for us to return to Paris after our first trip back to the States. I was sad to leave family and friends again (and I think only a psychopath would say they were happy to leave the people they love) but I have to say…it’s go to be home.

When Jen and I ascended the stairs from the Port Royal metro station and came out onto Blvd St. Michelle and Blvd Montparnasse my first thought in my head was, “Home!” When a person lives in Paris it’s easy to let the beauty of this city pass by day after day without noticing it. But I had fresh eyes again. Walking down the street towards our apartment I noticed buildings that I had never noticed before. The leaves had all finished falling off of the trees so that could have something to do with it!

Like I said in my last post, our vacation gave us space to breathe and rest. I feel like we have returned home healthier and ready to get back into the rhythm of life and ministry again. It is really good to be home and be back working with Vintage again. We missed our friends here and the church that has become like our family.

It’s also good to be back to the simple things that I had grown to love…fresh bread everyday, playing guitar in the apartment, walking, my leather chair, hearing people all around speaking French, diversity, our petite marché workers…even though living in a second culture can be hard, this life has become home.