Champions

When Andrew and I were living in Seattle, he made it very clear to me that I was making a mistake in not being a Seahawks fan. He thought picking up the Colts midstream was a weak decision. Because they had an exciting young quarterback and an explosive offense, of course it was going to be tempting, but ultimately it couldn't be as exciting or meaningful as sticking with a team through the hard times and seeing them finally make it (a position I basically agree with but can't bring myself to care about very much). It's something I've thought about a fair amount as the Seahawks made Andrew look a little prescient, even making the Superbowl before the Colts did. You might think Sunday would have quieted all that thinking. Actually, it was basically quieted when I realized shortly after last year's collapse against the Steelers that despite it all, I was still totally hooked. Sunday was something else entirely.

That Steelers loss removed a lot of my anxiety about being a Colts fan. I used to wonder if I could really stick with the team after they finally won it, if I could handle all the Manning adulation that would finally become fully acceptable after he had a ring. I think I would have--it doesn't really appear I have any choice in the matter--but it would have been very contrary to the way I normally think as a sports fan (that is to say my Mariners/Yankees-derived hatred of dominant franchises). That loss changed the whole subtext. It wasn't about the best offense ever being outsmarted every year by those bastard Patriots, because I'd been forced to admit that clearly the Colts were nothing of the kind. It made the Superbowl an end unto itself, rather than a event mired in hoping that the nascent Colts dynasty would eclipse the recent Patriots dynasty (which I think Kelvin was right to deride as ridiculous). So I stopped feeling like only a Superbowl run in which the Colts came back in the snow in Foxborough would erase enough of the trauma of those big losses. I could admit, because I had to, that they were chokers, and root for them to get it off their back (instead of rooting for it to have never been true at all).

And now I can bask comfortably. No question, it's not the same as if the Mariners or the Sonics won it all. Those playoff losses were their own kind of frustration, but it's nothing like watching those teams muddle through the past few seasons. And because I don't have any other real connection to the state of Indiana, it doesn't stand in for anything else, at least not anything else personal. But it sure feels good.

Anyway, the bottom line is that there's not a lot to say about this. It's beautiful, but it doesn't feel right to gloat--after all, I picked a team primed to make a run to begin with. But I'm happy for them and for myself, and I have no anxiety left about being a Colts fan, except that it's tough to explain to people. But whatever, screw it. They're champions. Maybe next year we can make a 4th quarter comeback in the snow in Foxborough in the AFC championship game, after holding LT to 80 yards from scrimmage in the second round of course...