Enjoying The Run

Those who have come to rely on my opposition to the public financing of stadiums may be surprised to learn that I am enjoying the Colts run to the Super Bowl. It is possible to have a set of political beliefs and enjoy the game at the same time. I'm no interested in the disappearance of the NFL, just a major change in public policy. My main beefs are with the governments of my state, my county, and several other county and municipal governments who voted to give Jim Irsay the earth, stars, and moon.

So, I will have some posts this week about the Colts and the build-up to the Super Bowl.

Keep this in mind: I'm originally from Cleveland, so I'm enjoying this. In my lifetime, the best the Cleveland Browns could muster was three trips to the AFC championship in the mid- and late-1980s. (Against Denver, who won all three AFC crowns, and who promptly lost all three Super Bowls, badly.) Other than that, the Browns were generally terrible. The Indians were generally terrible, with the exception of those offensive powerhouses in the 90s that couldn't pitch their way out of single-A rookie league ball. Two trips to the World Series, two lost World Series. The Cavs have always been awful. They never have even made it to an Eastern Conference championship series. Well, they could have been something, but there was this guy named Michael Jordan in Chicago. The NHL Barons were so pitiful in the late 70s that they only lasted two seasons after moving from Oakland.

I was a big sports fan as a kid. My city never won it all. Cleveland was a city that desperately wanted something in those years. I'll never forget my experience in 1997, when the Indians were going to the World Series, when I had to hide in the basement because people were firing guns in the air in the streets. Now, obviously I don't condone that kind of third world stupidity, but it points to the kind of foolish exuberance some places display when they have a civic win.

I'm looking to enjoy the exuberance here in Central Indiana, in the hopes of an absence of foolishness. Look for plenty of pictures!