A couple of years ago, the Indianapolis Colts were unstoppable as a football team. But their momentum has lost its steam this year, in no small part to the benching of famed quarterback Peyton Manning, who is recovering after neck surgery.
B-list quarterback Curtis Painter did a good job this past Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, throwing two touchdown passes to Pierre Garcon. The Colts were ahead 17 - 0 in the second quarter. But sometime after Colts' Joseph Addai had to leave the field with an injured hamstring, the Chiefs put the hammer down and came from behind.
The Colts' defense started taking the rap for giving up a total of 436 yards to the Chiefs. An exciting, bobbled touchdown catch by Chiefs' Dwayne Bowe turned the tide late in the third quarter. The Chiefs' win was locked in by wide receiver Steve Breaston, who made two touchdowns, one of which clinched the lead with five minutes to go in the game.
Lucas Oil Stadium was a sea of blue on Sunday. I am amazed how many fans now show up in actual replica jerseys, or at the very least, Colts' colors. It looked like a blue army, nearly 70,000 strong. Oh, the humanity!
But as it is so often in life, it was the things happening right around us that made the biggest impression of the day. There weren't many KC fans visible in the Indiana stadium. I would have thought it might be intimidating for the ones who were there. It made me wonder if the 20- or 30-something-year-old Chiefs' fan, sitting ten rows below me, had a death wish.
People from Indiana, even football fans, are generally nice. Maybe just a level or two less nice than people from Minnesota, or Canada. Don't take these generalizations too seriously, but usually, Hoosiers are quite humane. But this Chiefs' fan in the orangey-red jersey was really pushing it. With just a few likewise seatmates, and otherwise blue all around him, this guy wasn't content to simply clap or cheer for his team.
No, he had to egg it on. He stood, he made lots of drama. He kept turning around, gesturing, making eye contact, instigating the wrath of those directly behind him and on up the stands. He kept spreading his arms wide like an evil angel, pushing his hands down over and over, as if to tell the Indy fans to sit down. Smiling and grinning like a fool, a bad Jim Carey imitation if you will, he was a comedian in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He must have thought he was untouchable, but in the age of cell phones, camera phones, tweeting and instant communication, he made at least one too many Colts' fans mad. Although no punches or objects were thrown, sometime in the fourth quarter a male and a female cop showed up. And asked him to leave. He couldn't believe it, and told them he would calm down. But it was too late for that, I suppose, because they ended up escorting him out.
And THAT made some the Colts' fans in front of me mad! He hadn't really done anything, they tried to interject and argue with the police. "Oh, so do you want to leave with him?", the cops countered. "Well, it was those people over there," as these the fans pointed fingers, at who they thought called to eject him from the game. The folks in front of me got mad - "but he doesn't deserve this, really," they said defending him. Colts fans turning on Colts fans. Everyone has an opinion.
Yes, it seemed like maybe he shouldn't have been pulled. But what I told my kids was, I really think it was done for the guy's own protection. Crowd mentality is a scary thing. People just don't seem to think straight in big groups like this. I have to admit even I had some fantasies of winging a bottle cap at the back of his head; something I would never do, I'm quite anti-violent. I bet this guy was really just inches away from some real altercation with the people behind him, or from someone further away throwing a bottle or pouring a drink on him.
So there doesn't seem to be much tolerance for unsportsmanlike behavior in the stands at Lucas Oil Field in Indiana. My impression now is, with a little of that, you will lose your expensive seat at the game. I felt for the cops. I told my kids never try to second-guess the police, the authority, when it really isn't any of your business, when you really don't know everything that is going on. They have a tough enough job to do; let them try to do it. And after that fifth disappointing loss of the season, it's probably good the guy didn't end up walking out among that outnumbering crowd in blue.
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