So what other RBM readers will be at the match in DC vs DC United? Me and a fellow Everton fan will be heading out there from Indianapolis, Indiana to catch the match. Curious to see how many readers from here are going to make it.

Who knows, maybe we can meet up beforehand somewhere? What's the lay of the land there, is there a bar nearby (walking distance) that we could maybe meet up at before the match?

Hey there DC United fans. I'm an Everton fan from Indianapolis, and looks like a friend and I will be making the drive to DC on July 23 for the Everton/DCUnited friendly. I've never been to RFK so I'm looking for some tips on ticket levels to go for, any other tips and tricks to a match at RFK.

First thing I noticed is that Mezzanine tickets are the most expensive, but the seating chart gives the impression that those are higher/further away. Thoughts on whether those are really 'better' than the VIP section?

http://www.dcunited.com/tickets/seating-map?utm_source=Seating+map+%26+matchday+tickets&utm_medium=Secondary&utm_campaign=Navigation

Thanks, and COYB!

Looks like there's a high chance I'll be going to DC in July to catch the friendly and want to get myself an Everton jersey (yeah, yeah, I know, "kit" heh) for the occasion. Where's the best site to order one that's going to only going to cost me an arm instead of possibly both arms and a leg?

Thinking Fellaini (despite the injury), Arteta or Beckford. 

Thanks!

jdb in Indy

Poll

Whose jersey should I get?

8%

Fellaini

1 votes

25%

Arteta

3 votes

25%

Beckford

3 votes

41%

Other (comment)

5 votes

12 votes | Poll has closed

So I'm just some Yank who has caught World Cup fever and has decided to maybe pick an EPL team to try and follow to get into the sport a little more.  I'm currently a big American Football fan (Indianapolis Colts, with season tickets) as well as following NHL hockey (Detroit Red WIngs) & college basketball (Purdue Boilermakers)

I knew right off I didn't want to pick a team that was in the Big Four, and also didn't want to pick a team that has crazy billionaire owners trying to buy championships. Also wanted at least a little American presence. My final requirement was to pick a team that doesn't really flirt too hard with relegation - I need to be able to follow the team and hopefully watch at least a few games from across the pond.

In the end, I really like Everton. I've loved watching Tim Howard (and bouncing between elation and heartbreak in his play). I love the history of Everton, or what I've read of it so far and how far back it goes. And how can you get better than a team where one of the nicknames is "The School Of Science" (at least according to WIkipedia, so correct me if Wikipedia is full of it).

I know they sound like weak reasons to pick a team, but I'm coming at this as someone who has never really followed the sport at all until this World Cup.

So... if I'm to jump onto the Everton bandwagon and start following the team, what do I need to know?

 

• What are my options for watching the team from the US?
• What teams should I hate? :D
• Who are the players to watch?
• Prospects for the coming season?
• Is some newbie who is just learning the sport welcome around these parts? Doubt I'll post much but I'll certainly be reading alot of the old posts here soon to catch up.

Oh, do I have to call it football? Is it okay if I say soccer? 30+ years of "football = gridiron" is going to be hard to change. :)

Anyway, Hi from a clueless Yank :)

Opened up Google Reader this morning and this headling from the Indianapolis Star started off my morning:

AirTran adds flight to Indianapolis to help Ravens fans

Demand for airline tickets to the Ravens-Colts' NFL game has been so fierce that AirTran said it will add an extra flight Saturday to Indianapolis from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport that will get passengers there in time for the playoff game.

...

Meanwhile, all Southwest Airlines flights to Indianapolis from Baltimore are booked for the weekend

(link)

What I want to know... what's up with the excess demand from Baltimore? We all know that a bunch of scalpers and resellers buy season tickets so I'm sure that's part of it. But how much of this is a portion of the OMG I'm Going To Complain About Bill Polian And The Jets Game For Three Weeks contingent selling out and selling their playoff tickets?

I certainly hope that's not the case. But considering I've heard people already saying they will get rid of their season tickets if the Colts don't win a Super Bowl, or even that winning a Super Bowl isn't enough after the Jets game.... I'm sort of worried that it may be the case.

If you are a Colts fan who had a hissy fit about the Jets game and sold your playoff tickets... that's just sad. Goal #1 for a team is a Super Bowl. An undefeated season doesn't mean squat, it's the trophy that matters. Selling your playoff tickets because you're upset the team went only 14-2? Damn. That's something a Jacksonville fan would do. Assuming Jacksonville had fans, of course.

Hey, at least our fans aren't lounging in the stands reading the newspaper & don't need to be told when to be quiet any longer. So at least there's been progress.

[None of this is said as a fan of another team. I am a season ticket holder to the Colts and always will be.]

[[And yes, I'm annoyed at the idea of seeing Ravens fans all over Lucas Oil Stadium like the Bad Old Days vs the Dolphins and the Titans]]

Poll

Are you:

6%

Selling your playoff tickets?

8 votes

4%

Getting rid of your season tickets?

5 votes

88%

Or still a fan of the Indianapolis Colts?

105 votes

118 votes | Poll has closed

The first kickoff at the gorgeous Lucas Oil Stadium. A few more pics I took are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xtrarant/sets/72157606939146341/

Hopefully putting together a panorama soon. The stadium is amazing and if you have a shot at getting some tickets I'd HIGHLY recomment you go. This place will be one of the best in the league now. Wide, open concourses. SHort bathroom and concession lines. Great views from all over. Definitely check out the north entrance plaza - you can stand there and check out the game from right behind the lower level seats there. And the view of the skyline out the open NE end window is great. It will be an amazing place to watch a game.

Can't wait for the REAL games to start.  The Luke is a hell of a place.

Continue reading this post »

Suppose we can put the open thread here.  Off to a good start with TJ's return. And since I have to havea  certain number of characters, why the hell are the refs wearing those ugly-ass cold weather threads in Oakland? It can't be that cold.

Go Colts! Make Manning's first visit to Oakland a good one (I can't believe this is his first visit TO Oakland in his career...)

Now that we are into the Week Before Armageddon, I can finally make the post I've been itching to make all week.

http://www.charlieweisatemybaby.com/2007/10/28/football/nfl/colts-vs-pats-vote-for-good-over-evil/

Here's just one of the seven I made.

In case you are curious, the original I based it on is here:
http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govinfo/collections/wwii-posters/img/ww0207-60.jpg

To quote one of my favorite SNL skits, "who are the ad wizards that came up with this one?"

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071024/SPORTS03/710240466/1100

The week becomes even more truncated when a Monday night road game is followed by a road game the next Sunday. Over the past decade, the NFL schedule makers have set up that scenario -- away Monday, away Sunday -- 24 times. Draw your own conclusion as to the impact: Road teams are 12-12 in their ensuing Sunday games, and have lost seven of the past 10.

But the odds are further stacked against the Colts. The Panthers were off last weekend. Carolina last played, and won, Oct. 14 at Arizona. Sunday marks only the third time since 1997, and the first since 2004, that a team has played away from home on Monday and again the next Sunday against a team coming out of its bye.

(Emphasis added)

This is a dangerous game, IMO. A very rare away-monday night/away next Sunday vs. team off Bye combined with the potential to look ahead at the Patriots. Really, what the hell were the schedule makers thinking when they drew this up?

Greg Aiello, the NFL's vice president of public relations, said the league is sensitive to every team's scheduling concerns and attempts to minimize what might be considered inequities.

"But sometimes it is unavoidable when you are constructing a 256-game schedule," Aiello wrote in an e-mail. "It's just the way it worked out this year."

So he's saying that this schedule quirk was just plain unavoidable?  I'm not saying they did it on purpose, but to have it turn out this way - did they even try to fix it to make it a bit more fair?

Update [2007-10-24 12:2:7 by jdb]: : Ahhh the internet. Found the video of said SNL skit.

A story in the Star today finally sheds a little light on what happened to Tony Ugoh Monday night:

Backup Charlie Johnson played most of the second half after Colts left tackle Tony Ugoh suffered a shoulder injury, but Dungy said Tuesday that he thinks Ugoh "will be fine."

So it wasn't the shore foot that they speculated on the broadcast Monday night. Hopefully as Dungy said he'll be fine for Sunday vs. the Panthers.

From the same story:

Dungy also said wide receiver Marvin Harrison told him near the end of the game that he felt as good as at the start. Harrison missed the Tampa Bay game with a bruised left knee and the Colts limited his snaps at Jacksonville.
Keith was hit in the head when his helmet came off during the first half, but he returned to the game. Safety Matt Giordano did not return after suffering a strained hamstring on the final kickoff.

Dungy reported no other injuries.

Looks like we came out of the game okay. Hopefully Giordano is okay as he's a beast on special teams and we need him there to spell Sanders and keep him healthy for the playoffs.

From the diaries, jdb from Charlie Weis Ate My Baby stops in to set the record straight on the salary cap. --BBS

This comment by Bucsfan got me thinking about this myth of The Colts Pay Too Much Money to Peyton

How is the Colts depth with Peytons large cap number?

Which lead to me doing some internet searching and finding this gem from a Pats blogger who doesn't seem to have updated since July

To all the Colts-haters out there, take solace in knowing one thing. This was a "one and done" situation for the Colts. They won't come close to the Superbowl next year.
...
[insert John Clayton article talking about all of the Colts free agents after last season and how they are "losing so much"]
...
What does this all mean? Well, in short....there are going to be some changes in Indy. Guys will have to restructure, which may happen, but will all of them? Doubtful. So all in all, we're not looking at the next dynasty here folks...we're looking at a one and done.

So really, are the Colts that bad off in the salary cap? Has Polian really been managing this team horribly?

 

This man is smiling because he just won the Super Bowl, eliminated the national debt and solved world hunger all with 7th round draft picks and undrafted free agents.

First, Bucsfan's comment about depth. I think this weekend's game against Tampa Bay with 6 starters missing disproved that little meme once and for all. When you have a GM like Bill Polian who consistently makes the best use of low draft picks and undrafted free agents, you can afford to pay your top players more by consistently unearthing gems from the low rounds and the undrafted players. Has any other team made more use of the low rounds and undrafted players than the Colts and had the success with them that Indy has had?

Onto the cap....

In 2001, the Colts had only $1.256 million in cap room (19th in the league). Yet their best years were ahead of them. In 2007 (yes, this is from a different source so the numbers may not be completely comparable but they should give a good idea) this Colts had projected cap room of $5.9 mil, 29th in the league*.

So the Colts have dropped 10 spots in the league in cap room since 2001 but have managed a record of 71-30 (70.3%), 4 division championships,  5 playoff visits and a Super Bowl up through week 5 of 2007. They have been able to hold onto or fill key components that are in low supply of top flight producers (QB, WR, DE, FS, K, OL) while making good decisions on important positions that are in higher supply and used good scouting to find unheralded pieces that fit the Colts scheme at low cost (RB, CB, LB, TE).

So in the end I guess that yes, Polian and Irsay are going to have to walk a much finer line and rely on their top notch scouting even more in the future as the cap slowly tightens. But to say that the money paid to Manning, Freeney, Harrison, Wayne etc has been done foolishly and at the expense of depth and the future is exaggerated at best and plain wrong at worst.

*The reason that a cap space number 4x bigger than 2001 is ranked 10 lower is due to the new CBA for 2006 that raised the cap by a significant margin. The cap was $85.5 mil in 2005 an is around $109 mil this year.

Hmmm now that I've written this, I'm happy with how it turned out. Guess I should crosspost this to Charlie Weis Ate My Baby

Poll

How soon will the Colts cap situation hose the team?

5%

2008

1 votes

5%

2009

1 votes

11%

2010

2 votes

11%

2011 or beyond

2 votes

64%

Never! Bill Polian is GOD

11 votes

17 votes | Poll has closed

I just have to give some love to my favorite name on the Colts roster - Craphonso Thorpe! he came in and gave a great effort after riding the practice squad all year. Dare I say he looked better than Rushing at return duties?  I honestly wouldn't mind if Thorpe took over that job. And when Dallas went down Thorpe stepped right into a starting WR spot. I don't think he was thrown to but damn, to be on the practice squad one day and then running with the first team on Sunday, gotta give some love for that.

I hope with Hall on IR that Thorpe stays on the active roster.  And I hate a guy losing a job due to injury, but I wouldn't mind see Craphonso! keep the return job.

HOT. Even hotter today than yesterday. My car thermometer said it was 111 degrees in my car at the end of practice. Yikes! Glad I didn't leave any live animals in there.

The afternoon practice was another full team practice, with a couple different drills I hadn't seen: Goal Line with downs marked and 2 Minute Drill with downs marked.

Continue reading this post »

Saturday the 18th the Colts are having a night practice at 7:30pm.

http://www.colts.com/sub.cfm?page=events&id=2017

Any local-ish Stampede Blue readers want to meet up there? Having spent 4 1/2 years in The Haute for school (a Rose alum) I can direct us to a good bar afterwards as well.

if there's enough interest for a group could be fun. And hopefully it won't be Fires Of Hell hot that weekend.

(Hmmm Fires Of Hell would be a great band name...)

Alright, another day at practice, another day I feel  like i'm in the swamps of Georgia or something. If you come to camp bring plenty of water. $2 a bottle is criminal in this heat.

Continue reading this post »

Like the last one, this one will be mostly bullet points. Sparse crowd for this one but can't blame them with the combination of special teams only and an eleventy-billion degree heat index.

Continue reading this post »

So headed down to Training camp today, and may stay for tomorrow as well. I even brought a little notebook. I will be the first to admit I don't know all the subtly little bad things to look for in a poor performance (except Tony Ugoh getting beaten like a gong) so it might seem a bit on the homerish side. But trust me, it was just me noticing good things. I'm sure someone smarter can point out the bad things. :)

Continue reading this post »

I know, that's like saying "The sky is blue" or "Randy Moss is an ass", but it has to be said. Again.

Why this time? his latest column entitled "A repeat? Sorry, folks, it won't happen"

Posting this here rather than CWAMB since this is so singularly Colts specific.

Continue reading this post »

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070727/SPORTS03/707270541/-1/RSS

Looks like 4th round Safety Brannon Condren from Troy got signed today. Who does that leave unsigned?

Condren is the fourth of the Colts' nine-player draft class to sign or agree to his rookie contract. First-round pick Anthony Gonzalez signed a five-year, $7.5 million contract on Thursday. Earlier in the week, wide receiver Roy Hall (fifth round) and defensive end Keyunta Dawson (seventh round) agreed to terms.

So I guess that leaves:
*Ugoh
*Hughes
*Pitcock
*Session
*Coe

As long as Ugoh is signed by Monday I'll be happy.

From the Star just now:
Simon expected at Colts Camp

Defensive tackle Corey Simon, who missed the Indianapolis Colts' Super Bowl season with a knee injury and an undisclosed illness, is expected to report to Terre Haute on Sunday for the start of training camp.

"He's planning on showing up,'' Roosevelt Barnes, Simon's agent, said today. "He's in shape. He's ready to play football, hopefully for the Colts.''

You know the story. Manning sucks in the playoffs. He chokes away games.  He can't win. He forces it too much in playoff games and costs his team the game.

I decided to look at his QB ratings in playoff games, both wins and losses, and see if there was any pattern.

Continue reading this post »

I'm crossposting this from my post on Charlie Weis Ate My Baby as I figured some Colts fans here might be interested in this. It's about the Colts' switch this year to non-striped socks.

Poll

What's Your Favorite Colts Sock Design?

40%

who the f' cares?

6 votes

0%

Solid blue or white only.

0 votes

13%

2006-07 socks: no stripe, solid blue over solid white

2 votes

46%

pre-2006 two striped

7 votes

0%

old school one stripe

0 votes

15 votes | Poll has closed

Continue reading this post »

Got your attention did I?

I've been MIA lately. Mostly just due to disgust at teh Colts D, also due to the Holidays and such. Anyway I'm posting this because I have a new web project I'm working on - a sports blog (about sports in general, not any specific sport or team).

It's called Charlie Weis Ate My Baby. There's not much there yet, but I'm hoping to sign up more writers for it.

Continue reading this post »

I've seen this mentioned in the comments around the site, but figured I'd do a diary about it as well.

the Cowboys cut Mike Vanderjagt today. Martin "The Great Gazoo" Gammatica was signed as his replacement.

I can't say I'm disappointed. I loved Vandy until his little meltdown a couple years ago and that horribly shanked field goal in the playoffs. When he went on Letterman and kicked it for the TV and was all joking about it, that was the last straw to me. Not a team guy, it seems to me.

Listening to the Bill Polian show on Q95 right now and Polian said he confirmed with Dungy that Marvin left early at halftime with Dungy's blessing because he was tightening up. He spent the entire halftime getting rubbed down by the trainers.

Yet another dumbass statement by Kravitz that could have been fact checked with a simple phone call.

So I wasn't able to watch the game last night, instead was seeing my Special Lady out of town. That means I listened to the second half on the radio. I love the Colts radio team, even Ted Marchibroda's penchant to ramble and mumble.

I'm surprised I wasn't pulled over for obviously yelling and cheering and pumping my fists in the car as I drove up I70 at 80+ MPH :)

So anyway, a little love to the Colts radio crew for putting together such a good game presentation where a schmuck like me can listen and picture the game and feel the excitement as if I was there.