Dat feeling of being a Colts fan

[AllYouNeedIsLuck]

Going from one of the best QB's of all time to a QB who is possibly elite in his 2nd season and will only get better to become one of the best in the NFL for a very long time. 

 

While we didn't win many championships with Peyton, we were continually a winning orginization. That has to count for something. Peyton allowed us to be great all those years but we couldn't build a complete team because of poor FO choices. It shows how important the QB position is in that he was able to be successful while not having the most complete of teams around him. I feel that Luck can be that guy that even with bad or mediocre teams he can carry teams far. But he won't be alone. 

 

Now in this new Colts era, it's getting clearer each week that they are on their way to becoming a complete team that can beat any team at any time and should be feared amongst other teams. And it's only the beginning. Anybody with 2 eyes can see that this organization is doing anything they can to field a perennial super bowl contender. Grigson just has an eye for talent and that can't be stated enough. Irsay also seems like he'll do anything to win and it's nice having an owner who genuinely cares and isn't just in it for the money.

 

I feel bad for teams that go around a decade and can't find a true franchise QB. It may of been luck (no pun intended) that we have Luck as Peyton's successor, but sometimes luck is what you need (disregard username pun). We've picked good times to suck. Both in 1997 and 2011. 

 

Going from Peyton to Luck, the organization making smart yet aggressive moves, and new era early success just makes me giddy. 

 

 

 

Also guys, how did you become a Colts fan? Poll included. 

I became a Colts fan living in New York when I was really young, had no team, loved Peyton in college, loved the Colts unis for some reason, and BAM been loving the Colts religiously ever since. 

 

 

 

Double also, I am in no way, shape, or form a Pacers fan but it must be nice for Indy fans that they are fielding a great team. A couple years ago it looked as if the Colts were going to struggle for awhile (real fans didn't think so but their still was that uncertainty that the Colts would take awhile) and that the Pacers were just mediocre like always. Indy must be rocking now! And if not completely rocking now, definitely in a few years for both teams. 

[schwamm]

Been a fan for long enough, I don't really recall what started it, but it was a little of 1,3,4,5 and 6. As much as I enjoyed the Manning era, I was a fan long before he arrived.

[jvan1973]

I was a bears fan until the colts moved to Indy. My dad bought us season tickets in the first season and have been a fan ever since

[backshoulderfade]

I just choose to follow the colts back in 07 at the tender age of 14.

[AllYouNeedIsLuck]

I just choose to follow the colts back in 07 at the tender age of 14.

Did winning the super bowl right then have anything to do with it? lol just kidding man

[Buck Showalter]

I voted "live in Indiana" although I moved to SoCal after college, grew up in IN though & went to Ball State, i still attend 1 or 2 games a year when visiting the fam. back home... Was a Bengals fan until Colts moved to Indy when I was like 7, then it's been Colts all the way, still mad at my parents for never finding me a Dean Biasucci poster , my favorite Colt player when I was 8!!!

[Fx Stryker]

My dad has been a fan since Johnny U, and he was the only one in town who stuck with them through the 80s. So it was my birthright.

[Guest TeamLoloJones]

Here's my story....

I live in no mans land here in Iowa. Fairly equal distance away from the Chiefs, Rams, Bears, Vikings, Packers, and Lions. Never really had an NFL team I rooted for. (I was always a big Jerry Rice fan so I passively rooted for the Niners for a few years.  Also the Rams because Kurt Warner is from my neck of the woods.)  I've always been a huge Iowa Hawkeyes supporter and being Hawkeye fan means I HATE Michigan.  So during the Heisman race of 97 I started watching Peyton and rooting for him because I did not want Charles Woodson to win the trophy.  And through that process I grew very fond of that Tennessee kid.  After he was drafted by a midwest team, I found myself continuing to root for Peyton, and by the end of his rookie year, I was a full on Colt fan.  It was a sad day when Peyton left, if not for him I would not be a Colts fan.  But just like the Colts, I'm all in on Luck.

[Nostrils]

95 AFCCG and Harbaugh.. (he really bugs me now)

 

Then when they drafted Peyton & Edge back to back I was hooked... 

 

Edge was my dude when he was at Miami so it all just a PERFECT match..   I still remember the day Edge got drafted I was at Santa Anita Race Tracks with my grandpa watching the draft and when they took him instead of Ricky Williams, as I was drinking my chocolate milk I was soooooo stoked....  god I love the Colts

[Insert Colts Pun Here]

I voted 'Organisation appeal' because, although I started following the Colts when Manning was still around and although he played a massive part in my deciding to follow the Colts specifically, it was more to do with the attitude of the organisation as a whole. I love the honesty and integrity of the franchise, epitomized by players like Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Robert Mathis, Antoine Bethea etc. and that's why I chose to follow them. 

[NewEra]

Was actually a niners fan growing up. Till we moved to ft Wayne when I was 16. Started rooting for the home team when they moved here. Loved harbaugh and been colts fan ever since

[James Harden]

Didn't really got into football until i was age 14. My first NFL game i ever watched happens to be the colts vs texans. From then on I just became a colts fan watching them every week.

[basketballsteve]

Love at first sight. Baltimore/Indy Colts fan. Lived near S.F. as a kid and in 66 saw the Colts play the 49ers in S.F. Instantly fell in love with Colts uniforms and players and I've been in love with the Colts since that moment. The Colts have broken my heart a number of times (season ending loss to LA in 67 after entering the game 11-0-2 which kept them from the playoffs that year, of course SB 3, ghost to the post, 04 loss to Pats, 05 loss to Steelers) but I absolutely can't imagine rooting for any other team. Now live near Montreal and have tried rooting for the Allouettes as there is no conflict of interest but nothing......it's like my heart is dead to any other team?

[coltsguy510]

Born in Indiana, but only lived there for a couple months after (military kid). Just been a Colts fan as long as I can remember.

[PrincetonTiger]

Three names that describe my fan hood:

Mayflower

Eric Dickerson

Ken Dilger

[Mameluc]

I'm in Mexico and in 05 NFL wasnt that popular here....so i didnt really understand football, but my cousing kept making me watch eagles games...so one day i get to watch the colts play, my cousin says that Manning is something...and you have to understand, i didnt understand jack about x's and o's...all i saw was this goofy dude, screaming stuff and throwing long TD passess while everyone else was running the football or throwing short passess...so it was because of Manning and that record breaking season i became a colts...next year, the win vs the pats was the thing that really made a hardcore Colts fan.

 

When Manning left, i knew i would support him whenever he went, but i already had my team, so even he left and he was the reason i started football, i coudlnt leave the colts.

[GoColtsGo5150]

Not gonna lie, I became a colts fan via madden. I downloaded the madden 11 demo 1 day and one of the teams I played as was the colts and I enjoyed playing as them. About a week later, I saw a game on TV of the Colts and the Broncos ( when Kyle Orton was QB) and I guess I've loved the Colts ever since, even through the 2-14 season. And I thought I might as well keep the Indiana theme going and am a fan of the Pacers. Now I have 1 Manning 2 Luck ( 1 colts,the other Stanford) and a Paul George jersey.

[Nadine]

I would have liked this post more if you had not included a poll asking people to categorize themselves.  In particular a couple of the choices.........well, suggest intolerance

 

Responses are nice.  Just a suggestion, invite people to tell their story rather that using a poll like this

[Gramz]

My son was at College in TN at the same time as Peyton.

We followed him to the Colts.

[SMett]

I began as a Raiders fan in High school. Their games were never played on TV here in Indiana, and they played a dirty highly penalized brand of ball that I didn't agree with, so I was in search of a new team. And since the Colts were doing quite well with Harbaugh under center, I jumped on the bandwagon. My blood then turned blue. 

[HarryTheCat]

My son was at College in TN at the same time as Peyton.

We followed him to the Colts.

I moved from Indy to Nashville in 2004, and still can't bring myself to root for the Titans. Peyton is still regarded as a god by most of the population of Tennessee. After he retires he could probably run for governor or the senate here, and he would win by in a landslide, although he could probably do that in Indiana too!

[backshoulderfade]

Did winning the super bowl right then have anything to do with it? lol just kidding man

I will tell the truth, back then Ireland was so far removed from any NFL coverage that yes, winning the Superbowl did play a factor.

But it doesn't change my love for the colts. I loved them as much as a 2-14 team as I did on Sunday night. Nothing is more magic than watching a colts game for me. No team, no sport. Every stop on 3rd down, every 3rd down conversion, Mathis' strip sack, Luck's TDs on Sunday night all had me jumping around the room.

[BigQandTheManiac]

can you believe bronco fans think peyton is gonna retire a bronco?

[CroatianColtsFan21]

until 2006 i knew nothing about american football (thought it was a lame version of rugby, cause the players wear pads and helmets)..

 

and then one rainy sunday evening, while flipping trough tv chanels and having nothing to do, i ran into a local low budget tv station that just started transmitting nfl.. the commentators were 2 local enthusiasts, that spent 3 full hours explaining the rules and what was happening on the field and why.. i didn't retain anything.. it was philadelphia with donovan mcnabb and that was my favorite club for a week ;)

 

next sunday i tuned in again, and the colts were on, peyton manning doing his thing, the uniform being white and blue, and my love for the horseshoe grew stronger from then on.. winning the super bowl the first year i started following football helped also

[holeymoley99]

When I was old enough to understand sports (5,6  1974-75)  I watched games on tv of teams until i found a player or team whose playing style and personality I liked.  Thus my allegiance city/state wide is all over the map but have never strayed despite team moves.

 

Baltimore/Indy Colts- Bert Jones

Boston Red Sox- Yaz

NY Islanders-Dennis Potvin

Buffalo Braves/SD-LA Clippers- Bob McAdoo

 

Been some tough years through long stretches especially in basketball but lately things have been pretty rewarding.

[AllYouNeedIsLuck]

I would have liked this post more if you had not included a poll asking people to categorize themselves.  In particular a couple of the choices.........well, suggest intolerance

 

Responses are nice.  Just a suggestion, invite people to tell their story rather that using a poll like this

Yeah, I understand. Putting the bandwagoner category wasn't that nice but it was as a joke. The other categories are pretty straight forward though and not intolerant imo. 

 

It is definitely nice to hear stories about how others became a fan. 

With the poll, I just wanted to get a clear view on how the best fans in the world became just that. 

[In Luck We Trust]

I am cause i was born in Indianapolis, even though i don't live there. loved them through their worst and loved them through their best

[riderprider47]

up here my high school team was the colts, so naturally ... lol

[achcolts]

Im from new jersey. i was always "underground" with the stuff i liked and didnt like either new york team... in 6th grade i got a colts jacket from my doctor (she was my one of my moms close friends) and since my favorite color was blue she got me an old school colts jacket...discovered peyton manning then bam... almost 10 years ago so 2003-2004.

 

 

Edit: Heres the jacket! lol

 

[Coltsfanman1953]

I don't remember which game but I watched Johnny U, 3rd and nine from the 2 yd line. Play action pass for 98 yd deep bomb, hooked immediately.

[SteelDragon]

I've been a fan since they moved here in '84.  Before that, I was a Dan Fouts/San DIego Chargers fan.  

[Poster X]

Born and raised here in Indy. I played baseball growing up which was my first love, and probably didn't pay much attention to anything else until 92. After that it was all football which is a much more interesting game... and thus I have always been a Colts fan. Some of those early years were rough. None the less, my fandom has never wavered.

[McGrit]

I've told this story before but here goes again.  What made me a Colts fan?  A tetherball tournament, a pencil and a hat.

 

I am from out west.  Growing Up, my family were all Bronco's fans, but I never really cared about football. 

 

Then in 4th grade I won a tetherball tournament at my school.  As part of my prize I won a complete set of NFL pencils.  Pencil fighting* was really big in my school at the time.  I traded some of the pencils away and kept the rest for fighting.  As anyone who ever fought with those pencils knows, they were terrible fighters.  They would often break very early in the fight.  They were all that way except one, the Colts pencil.  It must have been made of oak.  It won 5 consecutive fights and gave me bragging rights like you wouldn't believe.  I retired it to a shrine in my desk that I constructed out of a cardboard pencil box and numerous colts stickers.  It was horribly dented and deformed but it was my most prized possession at the time.

 

I ended up talking so much smack about my unbeatable Colts pencil that everyone just assumed that I was a fan of the team as well.  Later on that year, one of my friends bought me a Colts hat for my birthday.  That was in '88-'89.  Been a fan ever since.

 

*This is where two people each get a pencil and they take turns thwacking the other pencil until one of them breaks.

[JoKeR]

I'm not a fan of castration, it's an issue that cuts deep for me

J/k

I moved to Indiana when I was becoming a fan of football.

[FastStarts]

I live in Denmark, and the first game I ever saw was the Super Bowl win.. Needless to say I was in love with PM.

[fvegas]

I grew up in Fort Wayne, IN and I was a Raiders fan throughout the 80's w/ Marcus Allen, Bo Jackson, Howie Long, etc - they were on TV a lot back then and were actually competitive.  Stuck with them for years and years until I went to my first NFL game in 1999 - opening day Colts vs. Bills in Indy.  I went to most of the games that year since I had a friend with season tickets.  That was a pretty magical 13-3 season.  I've been a die hard Colts fan ever since.  I now live in Indy & am a season ticket holder, myself!

 

Side note - the first play of that Colts/Bills game in 1999 was a great crushing of Thurman Thomas - you could hear it throughout the whole RCA Dome.

[JlynRN]

I never really watched much football as a kid, although I think my dad did watch some.  But I fell in love with the Colts when I started nursing school in Ft Wayne back in 84.  I watched some games then, when I wasn't busy studying that is  LOL.  I lived in Ft Wayne for 20 years after I graduated,  but the Colts have been my team since then.  

 

1 thing that was on my bucket list was to see a Colts game in person, and I can now say I've been to 2 games  What an amazing experience both times !!! 

 

Love my Colts !!!

[GOCOLTS_ROLLTIDE]

I was 9 playing Madden and was drawn to the "Horseshoe" . Fell in love with them . Although it took me two years to find out the horseshoes weren't their mascot name. . GO HORSE

[IndyScribe]

can you believe bronco fans think peyton is gonna retire a bronco?

They also think we're going to give them Luck.

[1959Colts]

Went from Baltimore Colts fan to Indy Colts fan.