Even When The Colts Stunk, I Was There

[WoolMagnet]

My brother took me to Colts games at Memorial Stadium starting in the late 60's. All thru the seventies. My brother's wife's sister lived in Baltimore. (We lived in Pa)

I got hooked on the horseshoe right away. My two brothers liked the Packers and Steelers respectively. I certainly "walked to my own tune" growing up. I didn't know any other Colts fans in my area.I wore it like a badge of honor. As a kid, I had the coat with the white vinyl sleeves, the beanie hat, Helmet lamp (which I still use!) belt buckle, etc., etc. I have soooooooo much Colts stuff, especially from the 70s and still have it all. I always had something Colts on as a kid. Pre-Manning, during football season, people knew me as "the Colts fan". And it wasn't because I wore stuff. Thats how FEW Colts fans were around. Now, they're everywhere. Especially younger kids. I call it the "Manning effect".

I stuck with the Colts when they moved (even farther) away. There was never a second thought.

I think I , at first, fell in love with the "Memorial Stadium experience" and you gotta love the Blue shoe on the side of that White helmet. I saw alot of great players back then. And they were accessible. You'd see them in the hall of the stadium and in parking lot after games. I saw, and talked to, Unitas several times in the halls of Memorial. One week, Lenny Moore, maybe Mike Curtis. It was great back then, the players were "regular guys".

For me, there is only ONE team. And I feel my patience thru all the "lean" years were repaid thru watching this team thru the last 15 years or so.(starting about Faulk/Harbaugh days)

With witnessing that first SB win(that I remember) in '06, I can die a happy man. At least in football terms.

I almost cried.

Oh, I was at the '95 AFC champ game in Pitt.......... with 2 Steeler fans.

[coltfaninnewyork]

Colt fan since the bert jones days in baltimore,spanning from mike pagel to peyton.

[MAC]

I, too, became a fan in the 1960's. I had a cousin (Willie Richardson) play WR for the Baltimore Colts in the late 60's. I have been a fan through thick and thin and all the crazy history of the franchise up to the present. I will always be a Colts fan. You would be surprised at who are Colts fans - On Thursday morning, Erica Hill, cohost of the CBS Early Show commented on the fact that her husband and son were huge Colts fans.

How cool is that !

I certainly remember Willie Richardson. When I think about Colts receivers of the 60's the first one that comes to mind is Jimmy Orr for some reason, but your cousin was right there with him too. (If I ever saw Berry or Moore it was before I had any idea what I was looking at).

It's not surprising to see more and more Colts fans popping up all over with their recent domination. Same reason you can find long time Packers, Steelers, Cowboys and Dolphins fans all over the country. Lets hope the "new" Colts fans are equally loyal. If I tell someone in my area that I'm a Colts fan they assume first that I'm a late-comer. Fortunately I have a lifetime of pain (Art Schlicter, Joe Thomas) to fall back on to convince them otherwise.

[MAC]

I live in Chicagoland, and this is the game I watched that made me a Colts Fan.

'In 1965, Baltimore tied Green Bay for the conference title. With HB-Tom Matte quarterbacking the club because of injuries to Unitas and Gary Cuozzo, the Colts lost a controversial 13-10 "sudden-death" playoff contest to the Packers.'

Since I have such a disdain for the Bears, I root for the Packers, but I'm a Colts fan all the way, forever and ever.

The game was a bit too early for me but I've certainly read about it. Amazing season. Obviously in that day and age no team was as reliant on the QB as the Colts are now - even with Unitas.

I've always tried to make the argument that Manning is better than Brady in the same way that Unitas was better than Starr. Just because the team has more success and the coach is a legend doesn't mean the QB is better. But since I was so young at the time, I'm not sure how similar the situations were. Opinion? (Probably fodder for another thread, but I doubt that enough people would be interested).

My wife is a Packers fan by the way, so I've grown to consider them my "NFC" team. Incredibly distant second of course.

[MAC]

My brother took me to Colts games at Memorial Stadium starting in the late 60's. All thru the seventies. My brother's wife's sister lived in Baltimore. (We lived in Pa)

I got hooked on the horseshoe right away. My two brothers liked the Packers and Steelers respectively. I certainly "walked to my own tune" growing up. I didn't know any other Colts fans in my area.I wore it like a badge of honor. As a kid, I had the coat with the white vinyl sleeves, the beanie hat, Helmet lamp (which I still use!) belt buckle, etc., etc. I have soooooooo much Colts stuff, especially from the 70s and still have it all. I always had something Colts on as a kid. Pre-Manning, during football season, people knew me as "the Colts fan". And it wasn't because I wore stuff. Thats how FEW Colts fans were around. Now, they're everywhere. Especially younger kids. I call it the "Manning effect".

I stuck with the Colts when they moved (even farther) away. There was never a second thought.

I think I , at first, fell in love with the "Memorial Stadium experience" and you gotta love the Blue shoe on the side of that White helmet. I saw alot of great players back then. And they were accessible. You'd see them in the hall of the stadium and in parking lot after games. I saw, and talked to, Unitas several times in the halls of Memorial. One week, Lenny Moore, maybe Mike Curtis. It was great back then, the players were "regular guys".

For me, there is only ONE team. And I feel my patience thru all the "lean" years were repaid thru watching this team thru the last 15 years or so.(starting about Faulk/Harbaugh days)

With witnessing that first SB win(that I remember) in '06, I can die a happy man. At least in football terms.

I almost cried.

Oh, I was at the '95 AFC champ game in Pitt.......... with 2 Steeler fans.

You have my everlasting envy. When I finally was old enough to seriously consider venturing down 95 to see the Colts, they ran the other direction. I've seen them in Philly and NY a few times.

Somewhere I have a Colts book bag jam packed with various items of clothing, etc from back in the day. Back before I got Directv they were on tv so infrequently that watching a game was like a religious experience. Who am I kidding, it still is.