First off, could this be any more a blatant misuse of the English Language?  I guess, I am a bit jealous that we, as Colts fans, do not have a competitive unique 'battle cry', if you will.  I have officially grown completely tired of this phrase, and for you Bengals fans, not so fast.  Your 'Who Dey' is just as terrible, and a copy of something terrible.  I would compare it doing a cover song of 'Ice Ice Baby'.  It was not good the first time, leave it alone and hope it dies a lonely death.

I write this in the Charlotte, NC airport waiting to fly to Louisville, so I may retrieve my car and head north back to Indianapolis.  I attended the Super Bowl festivities at a value cost in comparison to our Super Bowl Championship.  A valeu you ask?  Being upper deck seats were averaging $2500 each in 2006, and I only paid $1100 in 2010, I would call it a value.  I am embarassed at our showing as fans, as it was easily 10 to 1 in that stadium, and it very much sounded like a Saints home game.  So, why am I tired of 'who dat'?  Imagine everyone one of those fans who outnumbered us screaming it every two seconds.    Those who went, thank you for representing the team proudly and with class.  There were obviously many parellels both personal and professional with these two organizations (and who thought a Hoosier would do us so wrong).  I was not upset with the loss of the loss of money for watching a loss.

My hope is the fairweather/dome team fans find themselves a new team to follow.  My hope is we gain soe history and the Colts marketing team starts considering creating a more robust game day environment, and creating more tradition around this team, this way I do not have to hear Who Dat so much, and we as Colts fans could have a rebuttal.

Cannot say I have one at this point.  Go Horse in 2011.  I think we will be back in the game!

RESPONSE BELOW TO RECENT POSTS:

#1 - This is not a slam on the cultural relevance of "Who Dat'.  It's like everything overused, it grows tiresome.  You know like a drunk uncle at a family reunion.  Great to see at first, but then he just becomes annoying after multiple beers.  I don't like it because its not mine to like.

#2- Thanks for the 'who dat' lesson.  I still don't care, and, I am well traveled, I get its a dialect thing.  Very cool your chant is a cultural tie to the team, and I find it very appropriate.

#3 - Not coming down on anyone for not going, but it was a bargain by Super Bowl measures as far as costs, mostly to the economy.  I will no doubt be in debt for a bit, and owe my wife more "foot rubs"  than I care to discuss, but it's not like Saints fans all used their FEMA checks for tickets.  It's not like New Orleans is swimming in money.  Draw whatever comparisons you wish, it was easily 10 to 1 in upper and lower decks.  Kudos for those who went and supported all of Colts Nation, we were as loud as we could be.  Saints fans great showing.

#4 - Saints fans, do not come over here and start what you have no control over finishing.  Support your team, and keep you opinions to yourself, as I noted in the above post, there is much to like about both teams, and we win and lose with class.  Great game, good for you and your city, you need it way more than we do on a larger level.  Be careful in 2011, Colts will have your number!  Enjoy the celebrations in New Orleans.

#5 - LIGHT SWITCH. 

Enjoy.  Colts in 2011.  Mark my words.

I know may people were pissed about the game on Sunday, and truthfully, I was more pissed I had the flu and couldn't attend the game.  I have what we call "perspective" and, yes, I am a season ticket holder.  This Flu was way worse than a Colts loss, and I am a die-hard fan.  

Here's the thing.  These guys are playing well, they proved early they could beat the Jets if they chose to, and management decided to avoid potential injuries over a meaningless games.  I support it.  You guys watched Curtis Painter right?  If Peyton goes down at QB, do you think we even get a sniff of the Super Bowl?  I was beside myself, I was hoping we could Sorgi off IR, or maybe Hermann was willing to suit up from the stands.

If anything, I bet losing pissed them off, and if anything, puts a fire in the bellies.

I want Freeney, Mathis, Brock, Brackett pissed as hell and hungry for a Championship.  I want Manning and Co. to be more focused on a Championship.  You saw what going 18-1 did for NE right?  NOTHING.  NO ONE CARES.  

The next game is in Buffalo.  Hell, I hope they start that Drew Willy from Buffalo, so he can play in front of his college town.  I say get the first team some snaps, make sure their timing is good, run some interesting plays, and get your asses in front of a heat lamp!

Let's given Polian some credit here, and you certainly love him when he makes good decisions, so give him some slack for a bad one.  It's not Polian's fault the economy is in the shitter and the city financed a stadium.   I don't go to your work and tell you how to mop the floors.  He is doing is job, what is best for the investment and the health of his team.  I think in a perfect world they would have loved to have gone for the perfect season, but I would much rather have the ring, because New England has more rings than Indianapolis does.  Until we are in the Green Bay/Pittsburgh conversation for most SB Championships, we have far to go regardless.  My dad has made some shitty decisions in his day, but he's still my dad.  You can be pissed, but he is still your dad.  That's how I feel about Polian.  He does what he thinks is best for his team.  You don't have to agree with him, just respect the decision.

I hate the whole I pay my money for this ticket...I expect...blah blah...well they also gave you, what was it,  23 games straight with a win?  How about you call a KC Chief Fan or an St Louis Rams fan and ask if they would appreciate that?  Get a grip and get focused.

Take how pissed you are and make it loud for every playoff game, because in my opinion, there have been way too many fans sitting in their hands and need to show up for games.  That places is not near as loud as the RCA Dome, and the loudest I have heard it was during the Pats game.......

You pissed?  Good.  Bring it as a fan, show up, support the team, and help them win to get to Miami.

I was there the last time.  It was well worth it.

GO COLTS.  Go for the Super Bowl Ring.

I have this overwhelming feeling that the Colts could go double Ohio State players in the draft.

If James Lauranitis is there at 27, I could feasibly see the Colts trading up to pick up Brian Robinske in the early second round.....if Polian would trade up to get Ugoh, this is certainly possible.  Talk about two guys with the right kind of motor with the Colts.  We have some conditional picks to play with...

With the Mark Sanchez pony race coming down the home stretch, who drafts Sanchez could greatly effect what falls to the Colts at 27.  Gonzalez moving the the Falcons shifts things a bit, and there are a few other players that could still shake things up.....

Jason Campbell, Brady Quinn, Braylon Edwards.....

Anyone else have any gut feelings how things go down tomorrow?

Screw me up Polian, you always do. 

In Polian, I trust.

masonzbt

The NFL has now posted the NFL Draft order, not including compensatory picks (as I understand).  The Colts have the following picks thus far:

RD 1 - pick 27

RD 2 - pick 29 (pick 61 overall) 

RD 3 - pick 28 (pick 92 overall)

RD 4 - pick 27

RD 5 -pick 29

RD 6 - pick 28

RD 7 - pick 27

begin your speculation.

The link is below:

http://www.nfl.com/draft/story?id=09000d5d80eef17e&template=without-video-with-comments&confirm=true

     I have posted before about this topic, and it is something I believe needs to change, but a change driven by the fans and with the help of the Colts marketing department to help solidify.  Lucas Oil Stadium this year pailed in comparison with the RCA Dome when it came to gameday magic.  I truly believe Home Field Advantage was a wash this year, and as far as I was concerned the Colts played 16 away games.  We were not present, not loud, not into it.  Granted, I sit in the 500 level, so I miss some exposure, but this is a consensus I get from many fans.  It feels disconnected based on the vastness of this new building, which I do love. 

The Colts need some things that are uniquely ours.  Our Touchdown song is a rip off.  You know how many teams use that song, long before we did?  Not that there is any kind of ownership, but copying is not what I want for our team.  

The uniforms are my favorite in the league, very old school.  Respectable.  Traditional.

The first down chant, which is essentially no longer, was lame to begin with.  No support from the organization to make it work. 

Ball State fans "chirp" on kick offs, Notre Dame fans rattle their keys, what do Colts fans do to set up apart and make us unique?

How is our tailgating experience?  What things would you like to see added, changed, supported, created?  I love the fact Green Bay has bathrooms on the outdoors of the stadium just for tailgating.  Nice touch.

What songs should we be playing overhead?  Anyone tired of some of the things played?  Suggestions?  What songs should be played at what times?

What should be on the jumbo-tron or scrawling boards to get the crowd hyper, or help coordinate a chant/cheer?  What would it be?  A rip off of the J E T S we tried?  Yikes, that made me sad when we did that. 

How about a cheer on defense lead by cheerleaders from both side of the stadium, something like "IN"  "D (as in defense people)".  Should the cheerleaders be more involved in leading chants rather than being irrelevent?

     This small forum is to take in your suggestions in the off-season to collectively send to the Colts Marketing Department (I know how to get it to them), so we can start to create an experience Colts fans MUST have.  To make Colts games the most fun and motivating as possible for our players.  I want fans from other teams talking about how much fun it is to be a Colts fan.  Let's add more value to Sundays and get our team excited to be Colts players.

These are wishes and dreams, but it can easily become reality.  New traditions start here, and if you like some of the old traditions - let me hear about those as well.  It's our team to support, and an even longer offseason.  I look forward to your feedback. 

Sports talk radio is driving my insane with the plethora of callers who embarass me as a fan, and who keep our city becoming a "football town".  We lost.  We didn't execute they way we normally do, and we lost to a hot team who had our number.  We still have talent, does ANYONE remember sucking so bad you could barely watch a game?  Be thankful for 10 years of class football.  You may never see anything like it again.

I am thankful to watch a class organization play football every year.  Not only did they win 12 games, their home games might as well been away games.  I have seen more energy watching the Colts at an old folks home.  Get with the program people, this team was good.  They just were not good at the right time. 

Here's what needs to happen for 2009 (in my humble opinion):

1.  Colts fans - get our sh*t together and get Lucas Oil rockin' and loud, and fuel this team on for home wins.  I say we FAILED at this in 2008.  No excuses, people sat on their hands, and felt very disconnected.  I think the Colts marketing department could use some help firing up this place.  Time to start developing traditions!

2.  Run game improvement/O-Line improvement.  I think it may simply be a matter of new guys on the line, maybe in year two those gaps are a bit wider.  If not, we could use a power back.  Bottom line is, there was no confidence in the run game.  None.  Zero.

3.  Marvin.  Wow.  Hard to say, I am not certain if he would be back next year.  I do not want this handled like Favre and the Packers.  This man has earned his spot in the ring of honor and Hall of Fame.  They better treat this situation like professionals and my preference is he just retire a Colt.  I do not think I will get my wish.  Pay him to retire then.  He's just as valuable from a marketing standpoint if he never plays for another team.  Think down the road.....

4.  Tony Dungy.  That man commands respect.  He should have earned yours by now.  The man should leave on his own terms when he is ready.  He is not the reason the Colts lost, nor do we need a change in "culture".  There is not a player in that locker room who wouldn't do anything in their power to earn this man's respect and praise.  I truly hope he stays as long as Peyton does.

5.  Special Teams.  Hunter is a good punter.  A good punter.  Not a great one.  Return game hasn't been good for a long time.  We need better field position to take some of the pressure off the defense, because short fields for Peyton and Co equal easy points.  That gives the Cover 2 the opportunity to be more effective.   I am still good with Vinatieri, he is still money.

6.  Defense.  We certainly know how to defend the pass.  It was back luck D line this year.  Who predicted Pitcock would flake out and Ed Johnson to toke out?  I say we did rather well considering the circumstances.  Stopping the running game could make this defense just scary.  Freeney and Mathis were just flat out cheated/raped on nearly everydown.  Hello Competition committee, time to pay attention.

7.   We had some good young talent emerge and get better this year.  Imagine with draft, guys coming back of IR (Hart, Lilja) how hard it could be to make this team next year.

Just some random thoughts I thought I would share.  Consider it my therapy for the loss.  I still love this team, how they represent our city, and I still believe under Peyton we have at least one more Super Bowl run in them.

Comments appreciated.  Here's to training camp 2009! 

As I noted in my previous post, I was able to attend to Green Bay this past week.  I am NOT going to focus on the team in this post.  I have beaten that to death.  Let's just hope we embarass Tennessee and move forward.

Things I enjoyed most about their experience vs. our experience:

1.  The stadium has outdoor restrooms for tailgaters built into the stadium.  What a great idea.

2.  There is not one bad seat in the entire stadium.  I sat in the last row by the green wall.  GREAT seats.  Just awesome.

3.  The friendliness of the fans.  I shared many a beer with Packer fans, and not that our fans are not gracious, but they understand we bring dollars to their economy and there is NOTHING else up there but Packer football.  I think we have a few fans who could learn this lesson, but on the whole, I think we are always gracious hosts. 

4.  The tailgating experience is unreal.  We bought a pass to the Brett Favre Steakhouse and drank and ate like kings.  There are so many bars with huge, outdoor tents prepartying like crazy.  So much fun.   The area surrounding the stadium is as fun as the game itself.  After the game, its like an all night party.  I certainly hope in the next twenty years we develop the area around the stadium as well.  Jeff Saturday should open up a steakhouse near the stadium, it would be packed.  Hey Jeff, let's open one.

5.  Being outside.  Nothing like football outside.  I love our open air roof, I understand the necessity of it.  We will host a Super Bowl.  Green Bay will never host a Super Bowl.  Advantage Colts.

6.  For those who do not have seats, obviously there are plenty of bars close by to watch the game, but they have huge outdoor tents in the parking lot for fans to watch the game as well.  $5.  Pretty cool, being tickets are so hard to get!  I hope one day demand is always like this for the Colts!

7.  COLTS FANS DO TRAVEL.  There was a great showing of Blue and White.

8.  I have not done our stadium tour yet, but I enjoyed their tour.  I especially like the Curly's Bar and Hall of Fame connnected to the stadium in this gorgeous atrium.  I could see the Colts adding one on Lucas Oil in 10 to 15 years.  Outside the stadium in a 3 block radius, they have numbers of players in a sculpture with info on the player.  These really tied the area together, and worked as inidcators as to where you were. 

9.  They have some planned chants during the game, and some activities special to the Pack such as "Go Pack Go".  Lame, but more than we have.  HEY COLTS MARKETING DEPARTMENT - time to create some tradition.  Get fan input.

Thank for your time, if you went as well, I would be curious to your thoughts.

GO HORSE.

For the fairweather fans to abandon this team now.  All of you who whine and moan about the failure and success of the Colts, I ask of you, I plead of you, I beg of you..... adopt another team.

Having an NFL franchise in your city is a PRIVLEDGE.  I can tell you Indianapolis without the Colts is an entirely different city.  No downtown nightlife, less events, etc etc.  I just recently returned from the Packer game, what I took away more than anything was PACKER fans are FANS.  They care about their team winning and losing, just like we do, but they were gracious hosts and are professional tailgaters, partiers, and UNDERSTAND the privledge and respect the history of the game.  There are Packer fans who will NEVER see season tickets in their families for 500 years.  You can even pass your name on this list down to a first cousin, still wont see tickets in 5 lifetimes. 

Colts fans can take a lot from this.  I loved this team when they were 3-13 and I was there when they won their SuperBowl title.  It is a privledge for them to be in my city, and I am aware the taxes I pay help support this team, and Indianapolis without a NFL team is souless.

 We need to develop the sense of tradition and history, though it may be short, and create a Colts Experience.  Right now, especially with the new stadium, we do not have this anymore.  We really only began to get one at the RCA Dome....do your part to help create one, and less time whining.  It's embarassing.

Finally, this team will be just fine.  If they don't make the playoffs, it is certainly underachieving, but I am proud to call myself a Colts fan all the same.  To those of you asking Dungy to "leave" simply do not understand the game of football.  Dungy is doing his job, his team is not, and that man has brought more diginity, respect, and honor to this city that anything most of us could ever accomplish.

Do the city proud, do your job as a fan.  Show up.  Be loud as hell, get out of your seat, and NEVER boo anyone but officials and Patriots.

To our Gracious Packer hosts, thanks for showing us what we can be once the "fairweather" fan disappaears.