Becoming a Real Fan

I moved in Indianapolis in September 2001. Okay...I moved to the north suburbs. Technicalities aside, I found myself in the minority. After a few years of not really having a NFL team to cheer for, I became a pretty dedicated Detroit fan. We marched at their games, and many of our football players went there (including our quarter back from my freshman year, and they actually didn't totally suck back then.

Don't get me wrong. I had grown up watching football, but I hadn't really had team since Cleveland went to Baltimore. I loved football, I just did not have any loyalty. I had every intention of staying a Lions fan. Even when they sucked, I was still on their side. To an extent I still am, but things slowly began to change.

After my first year here, I went to work at Ivy Tech. Of course I'm not blind or totally oblivious. Yes I knew that The Colts would be the hometown favorite, but I had no idea how much this would be a part of day to day life. It wasn't that I disliked the colts. I just hadn't given them much thought. I mean I liked Peyton Manning. I thought he was a great quarterback, but I couldn't tell you who the coach was...or identify any of the other players. After scraping by a football season...I started paying closer attention to the Colts on Sundays. I paid attention to whom their players were, and their strengths and weaknesses were. After a few more seasons, I was slowly coming around. I officially joined the fan band wagon in the 2005 season. Of course the 2006 season was awesome, and I watched every game. Still I really hadn't totally committed to the cause. I didn't own one shirt or hat or any other memorabilia item. I went to watch the Superbowl with a friend, and e was astonished I wasn't wearing Colts gear. I told him I didn't own colt's gear, but I was wearing Blue....it just wasn't the same though.

At the beginning of the 2007 season, I went and bought a simple Colt's t-shirt. It was black with the colts in blue and white and horse shoe in the middle. It worked just fine, until this past weekend. I didn't do laundry until Saturday, and I air dry to make my laundry money last...Sunday afternoon, my shirt wasn't dry. Had I been watching the game from home this would not have been an issue. However, I was going to a party and I knew Colt's attire would be expected. I headed up to the store, and I found the Colts memorabilia section. I hadn't sprung for a jersey before, because I could see spending that kind of money on it. Now it was seeming like a good idea. At this store, the jerseys were only ten dollars more than the t-shirts, so I figured why not. I bought my first Colts Jersey that day. It was pink yeah one of the girly ones..even though I'm not always that girl...it works. I changed in the store restroom and then headed to the party.

It may sound silly, but for the first time I felt like a legit fan. We may have lost (I'm still trying to figure out why the Patriots weren't punished more for the whole cheating fiasco myself...seriously) but it was still a good time. It was nice to finally feel like I belong to as a fan.