Disco Volante
Experienced Starter w/First Big Contract
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2007
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What? What kind of topic of this? Well, I was just browsing Indy Star and saw a great post by one of their members, thought it should be shared here.
Great to see classy, intelligent Colts fans who look at things objectively, kudos to this poster. Great post.
sngfx said:As painful as it is for me to write this, I must, at last, come to grips with reality.
As one Boston columnist said after Adam Vinatieri signed with the Colts two off-seasons ago, AV was off to play with the "other big-game losers." Well, he was wrong about last season, but probably last season only. Before this season began, I felt strongly that for the Colts to make a name for themselves and stand out in the annals of football history, they needed to have an undefeated season. I believed, after the streaks they had started the previous two seasons, and after having won a championship, that that goal was achievable. Now Tom Brady and the cheating Patriots are well on their way to the greatest season in NFL history and only divine intervention and Brett Favre might stand in their way. Neither is likely.
With a fourth championship in an undefeated season, the Patriots will solidify themselves as the dynasty of the new millennium and perhaps the greatest of all dynasties. As for the Colts, they will forever be a footnote, an also-ran that had several nice seasons with a great quarterback and coach who rarely performed greatly when the stage called for it.
Let's be honest: Not many people immediately remember, even after only a few years, that Tampa Bay and Baltimore won championships recently. And Dan Marino? Just a few years ago, many still believed he was the greatest quarterback to have played, even without a championship. Now that his records are falling left and right, no one will ever regard him as such again.
And please, forget forever the Manning-Brady and Dungy-Belichick comparisons. Regardless what we think of them personally or who we would want guiding our team, our adversary, on the football field, is a winner. We can no longer deny it, nor can we obstinately pretend that ours is better. How can we?
The Indianapolis Colts, and Peyton Manning in particular, after New England's coronation, will be permanently buried in the shadow of their arch rival's shadow. It would require the Colts to have a string of four or five championships in a row to escape this, and I doubt Manning has that much great football in him, not to mention the gagging the franchise itself must overcome to have such an unprecedented run.
I'd like to believe that the Colts should be working their way toward their third-consecutive Super Bowl victory. But the fact is, if they were worthy of it, they would be. If trophies were awarded to paper champions, things might be different.
Yes, the Colts brought us a championship. For that I will forever be grateful. I will never forget it. But with the love and passion that each true Colts fan commits to this team comes the very harsh and wrenching agony of failure and disappointment. And the sad and undeniable truth that ours is not the best … and probably never will be.
Great to see classy, intelligent Colts fans who look at things objectively, kudos to this poster. Great post.