Urban Idealist

When I was 7 years old I remember my dad taking me to see the Indianapolis Colts play the Buffalo Bills at the Hoosier Dome (now due to corporate takeover it is called the RCA Dome)…The Colts lost that game badly…27-3. I became a Colts fan on that day. When we moved to Portland I still rooted for the Colts because Portland didn’t have an NFL team. When I moved to LA I still rooted for the Colts because both the Rams and the Raiders had moved out of the city. When I moved to Sacramento I still rooted for the Colts because God knows I could never root the Raiders and I was certainly not going to root for the 49ers. And besides…I was a Colts fan. Now I live in Paris. NFL games are only on TV at Canadian pubs and the games are on late at night, but I still go watch games when I can.

Last year, like the last oh…7 years, the Colts had a good team, but every year they came up short…If it wasn’t the Patriots..ugh…it was some other team that Colts found a way to lose to.

But then there is this season. Not the best year they have had, but this is a different team. Manning is no longer playing desperate. The defense is stepping up when they have to. Despite injuries to key players (Stokley, Harper, Sanders, Simon) and the departure of Edgerin James they have come together to finally win the AFC Championship. They weren’t supposed to be able to stop the run on defense…but oops..they dominated the run in all three playoff games. They weren’t supposed to win if the Colts couldn’t score touchdowns…but they did. They weren’t supposed to win if Manning played bad…he hasn’t been himself (yet) but they still won. This year is different. They found a way to score 31 points in the second half against a Patriots team that hadn’t allowed more than 27 points in a game!

And now…the day has come. Super Bowl Sunday. As a long-time fan that has had his fair share of disappointing season endings I believe that they are finally going to win the Super Bowl. My prediction: Colts 34-Bears 17. Manning MVP. Justin Happy fan on Super Bowl Sunday for the first time since 1987 and my first trip to the Hoosier Dome.