So far, I've been left rather flat by the response to the Colts and the Super Bowl. Sure, the rabid football fans are going crazy, but the region is not.
Remember, I'm from Cleveland. People there are nuts about the Browns. The signs and banners we see here in Central Indiana for the Super Bowl Colts right now are little less than what you see around Cleveland at mid-season when the Browns go 6-10.
In my neighborhood, the response is almost non-existent. There were two snowmen wearing Colts jerseys. One was Edgerrin James... who plays for Arizona now.
The 'best' of Sunblest. I like the creativity of dressing up the most melted snowman in Patriots colors. That's pretty cool.
Great sentiment, but The Edge is in Phoenix now.
Not a lot to report here. It's a Super Bowl!
I was told when I got here that in Indiana, basketball comes first. That's fine, but this is a championship after all! Then again, the Browns fans in Cleveland were most intense in the working class neighborhoods. Perhaps Fishers is just too effete, or too caught up in the rat race to notice. I'll visit other areas to see the outward support.
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I don't think that what you describe is unique to Cleveland (the mistake on the lake). Pretty much all of Ohio is populated by blue-collar rubes. It's a perfect football state. I mean really, a state the size and population of Ohio can support TWO NFL franchises? And what about Camden, home of the NFL Hall Of Fame? A city that (used to anyway) wastes tax dollars by buying footballs for all of the baby boys born there?
You can keep your dog pound and all of the rude, rabid, drunk and stupid fans in it. I guess we Hoosiers would rather view a football game more like a professional sport and less like a hockey game.
Not noticing anything about the Colts going to the Super Bowl?? I think you are waaaay off!! It's all over the place buddy , hard to miss!! Where are you hiding in a shell??
Before you denigrate Ohio to sternly, you might consider the similarities between Ohio and Indiana- Cleveland's counterpoint is Gary, Columbus is a capital much like Indy, Fort Wayne is rather like Canton (not Camden), for one Earlham there is an Oberlin, and for every Anderson there is a Youngstown. The conservative rural spaces between cities are nearly identical.
I've been driving all over the region, thank you, and I see a similar display of signage this week before the Super Bowl to the signage you would see at the beginning of an average season in Cleveland. I'm not in a shell, I just have an experience that might blow the die-hard Colts fans away. Remember how about 70% of houses had American flags flying after 9/11/01? In Cle, when the Browns made the AFC Championship, you say Browns gear in about 70% of windows in houses. If they made the Super Bowl? Hard to say.
I've seen Colts gear in about 5% of residential areas, and 25% of commercial properties. As a right-of-way agent, I get around. In the last five days, I've been to Lebanon, Danville, Noblesville, Carmel, Fishers, Indy east side, Indy south side, and Franklin. Oh, and Valpo for my son's birthday dinner. So, if that's being inside a shell, so be it.
Hockey rules! It's a shame Indy doesn't have an NHL franchise. I end up going to Columbus, St. Louis, Chicago, and Nashville to see San Jose Sharks games. Heck, I wish Indy had an AHL team.
I should add that I'm enjoying what I'm seeing, taking pictures of the most interesting and creative displays. There are some good ones, like the blue Colts fire engine on 96th street, and a blue & white propane tank at the Co-Op station in Noblesville.
Pictures soon!
Oh yeah Canton, I guess I was distracted by the similarities between Ohio and New Jersey. Mainly the toxic industrial waste. How appropriate that team name is the same as the color of Lake Erie. How many cities in Indiana have ever dumped so much oil, raw sewage and industrial waste into a river flowing through their city that the surface of the river caught fire? The state of Ohio is a great example of what will happen if business is allowed to operate unfettered by pesky government regulation. And that's just the Northern half.
What about that crazy Southern half, or is just Northern Applachia? Cincinnati, the "Queen City" with Jerry Springer as a former mayor? If that's not funny enough, you can't buy a Playboy magazine within the city limits but if you just cross the river into Covington, KY you can watch live sex shows.
Oh, let's not forget about the state-owned liquor stores and the drive-through beer stores. Face it, Ohio sucks, so it's no surprise you moved here in your quest for greener pastures.
Wow, that's some kind of vitriol!
But, I did get this benefit when I moved here: my state income tax is 4% lower, I have no municipal income taxes, saving another 4%, the sales tax is 2% lower. I like these things very much.
I'm going to rest on the similarities between Ohio and Indiana, though. Indiana could have been all the things you point to, had it been developed then years earlier. Not much difference really. That's just the way the did things back then.
Kole, you missed your own point! You wanted to see some pride in your hometown, and you got it! Anon 6:00pm & 10:56pm could fit right in at the Dawg Pound. He's got to be a great Colts fan. And you get it because you get the Browns rivalry with the Steelers. Cleveland and Pittsburg were the same kind of steel towns and that let them say MY SHITHOLE IS BETTER THAN YOUR SHITHOLE!
That's what this guy's saying. That's Hoosier pride! Cut him some slack.
Remember, I'm from Cleveland. People there are nuts about the Browns. The signs and banners we see here in Central Indiana for the Super Bowl Colts right now are little less than what you see around Cleveland at mid-season when the Browns go 6-10.
Less signs and banners than A 6-10 Browns?? Get real, That's an absoulte Joke!! Obviously you have not been downtown with all of the banners and blue lights. I work with several people from Ohio who all say that everybody has gone sour on the Browns the last Several years. I agree that perhaps in Cleveland if they made it to the Super Bowl you'd see more, but not with a 6-10 record!!! That's absouletly laughable!!
Sure, many Clevelanders may have soured on the Browns. Who wouldn't? They haven't had a winning team since their expansion eight years ago.
I can tell you this. I lived in a very poor neighborhood prior to Modell leaving. The Browns were revered there. There were two families on my block who were making in the $20-25,000/year range as households that had 2 and 4 season tickets each. Do the math on that one. These were people who hadn't painted the exterior of their houses in 20 years, but they had rooms inside (and a car!) painted in Browns colors.
Go up to Cleveland next year on the weekend of the home opener and let me know what you see. If the Browns made the Super Bowl, I'd be afraid for my safety in many parts there. They take it too seriously.
But it would be nice to see something more here. Not violent or crazy, just more than what I'm seeing. I'll be downtown again tomorrow. I'll let you see my pics. I know Methodist Hospital has a great display at their back entrance, visible from I-65.
Maybe the lousy show of support for the Colts in Indy is really a reflection that they know Da Bears will kick their asses on Sunday.
Dream on. Duh Bears are still NFC. Grossman lacks toughness. I predict he'll be injured and out before the second half. Dwight and Booger are going to hurt him bad.
10:13 called it right.
Grossman may be a little eratic but that wont matter. When he plays well the team wins 100%, when he plays badly they win 75%.
That means even if he has a bad game you only have a 1 in 4 chance to beat Da Bears.
Sorry, Bears fans. What was Greenspan's term? Irrational exuberrance?
Here's my prediction: Colts 34, Bears 27.
Manning hasn't had a really good playoff game yet this year, but I think he's due. Winning three playoff games, plus New England again, really clears the hurdles for him.
The Bears remind me of last year's Seahawks- a surprisingly good team greatly aided by a soft division and conference, but hardly battle tested. In the big game, these teams tend to fall short.
Worthy of its own post, I do believe.
Manning hasn't had a good playoff game EVER.
Manning threw for 458 yards, threw for 4 touchdowns, and ran for another in a 49-24 pasting of the Denver Broncos.
If that doesn't qualify as a good playoff game, what does?
http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=250109011
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