The Colts

This day is known in the sports world as Championship Sunday, the day when four football teams play for a chance to go to the Superbowl. The dust has settled and the games have been decided so I'm going to take a minute and blog about SueAnne.

Most of you know SueAnne, but just in case you don't she's a good friend of our family's; a high school friend of my mom's and her neighbor as well. SueAnne was a single mom and raised her son Jimmy on her own. Being a single mom is tough, I have first-hand experience with this. I'm sure their family had their share of hardships like all families do as it can be hard for adolescent boys and their mothers to find common ground (again, first-hand experience). Since 1983, the year then infamous Mr. Irsay moved the Colts franchise from Baltimore to Indianpolis in the middle of the night, SueAnne and her son have had season tickets to the Indianapolis Colts. Why would a single mom spend a good chunk of change on season tickets? Fun way to spend Sundays in the winter? Love of the sport? Quality time with her son? Maybe a little of each. Maybe more of one than the others. I can only speculate.

It wasn't easy to be a Colts fan back then. Save for a division championship during the strike-shortened '86 season (where most of the games were played by scabs), the Colts stunk. Really stunk. SueAnne and her son were there through it all; seeing Jeff George sacked every other play, watching Hall-of-Fame bound players like Eric Dickerson and Marshall Faulk come and go without success, agonizing through 3-13 seasons, endless coaching changes, watching Jim Harbaugh's last-second 'hail mary' fall to the ground in the 'Comeback Kid's' AFC Championship game in '95, and after the Colts finally got a successful and winning team, witnessing playoff defeat after playoff defeat. Even after Jimmy moved to St. Louis he and his mom kept their season tickets, Jimmy making the drive up to watch the team. I've been lucky enough to catch a few games with SueAnne when they've been generous enough to give me a ticket. I have to say she is as good and as faithful a sports fan as you'll ever meet (and her seats are fantastic!).

After watching the Colts play so terribly at the end of this season, Jimmy talked SueAnne into selling her playoff tickets. The Colts shut down the Chiefs in the Wildcard game and already SueAnne was regretting her decision. After a tough, hard-nosed victory in Baltimore (the very city the Colts matriculated from) the team was headed back to Indy to play for a chance to go to the Superbowl. They were to play the New England Patriots, the team that had been their nemesis in recent history. The Colts have been victim to crushing defeats by the Patriots including two playoff games, each time New England went on to win the Superbowl. It was only right that they had to beat their rival for their chance at a championship. Through some serendipitous luck SueAnne was able to go to the game today.

And she got to see one of the best games in the history of the NFL Playoffs, the greatest come-from-behind win in the history of the Conference Championships, and perhaps the greatest win in the history of pro sports in Indianapolis. All of the demons were excorised, all of the bad teams, all of the bad draft picks, all of the bad playoff performances ... Peyton Manning was redeemed. Tony Dungy finally won the game he could never win.

The Indianapolis Colts are going to the Superbowl.

This is why we love sports people. It's not just an excuse to drink beer and shout at the television. It's not just a means of escape for family men across the country. Personally, I love the artistry of the athlete, the drama of human competition and after witnessing the World Cup finals in Italy I have a greater appreciation for how a sports team can bring a sense of accomplishment and pride to their community. But what really summarizes why sports is special to me is a mother and son falling in love with the hard-luck, hometown team and watching that team finally reach the pinnacle of their sport.

Congratulations SueAnne. Congratulations to all of us Colts fans. We finally did it.

Only one game left to win.