Class in sports

Not blogging about guns, shooting, or politics today. Today I’m talking about my Colts. For those of you that don’t watch/enjoy the NFL, the Indianapolis Colts beat the New England Patriots 38-34 last night, getting a a huge monkey off our back and clinching a berth in the Super Bowl along the way.

As a Colts fan, the game was almost too intense for me to watch. Going into halftime, we were down 21-6, and I was thinking that it was over, we were going to spend another off season playing “Woulda-coulda-shoulda” after losing to Tom Brady and the Patriots. And then the 2nd half happened. Peyton comes out of the locker room and drives the Colts down the field for a score. 21-13. Then we hold the Patriots. Drive it all the way for another score with a pass to Dan Klecko. Then we get the 2-point conversion! Tie game at 21!

After that, we see-sawed back and forth with the Pats scoring, then the Colts, until Joseph Addai (our running back) scored the go ahead TD with 1 minute left.

Tom Brady and the Pats come on the field, and they’re driving right up until Brady is intercepted by Marlon Jackson, who is something like the Colt’s 26th string cornerback, with 16 seconds left. Peyton takes the field, takes a knee and the game is over – Colts win!

That brings me more or less to the subject of today’s entry, which is class and personal character in professional athletes. After the game, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady both showed a tremendous amount of class and respect for one another. As much as I’d like to hate Tom Brady, he really makes it hard when he looses with dignity.

Then you have Tony Dungee, the Colts’ head coach. Just an all-around great guy. Decency, dignity, and respect are what he’s all about. He deserves to be in the Super Bowl.

I apologize if I’m a little scatterbrained, there’s a lot of emotion going around the city right now. What I’m trying to get at is how nice and refreshing it is to see people of character in sports. You hear so many stories of “this guy got arrested for this” and “that guy got arrested for that”; it just gets depressing. Both teams and players that went last night showed the kind of character that everyone tells you playing sports builds.

Go Colts!

2 Comments

  1. I just bloglined you a couple of days ago. I like your stuff. Now I know that I made a good decision.

    I had no idea you are in Indiana.

    I’m originally from just outside of Tipton…about 40 miles or so north of Indy.

    My best friend still lives in Indianapolis and I visit him every couple of years.

    My son, daughter in law and wife were watching that game. I thought the daughter in law was going to have a heart attack from the tension. Excellent game even if the first half was quite frustrating with all the dropped balls, missed tackles and just all-around half-hearted play.

    I agree completely with you about the class of Brady, Manning and Dungy.

    That’s one good thing about the NFL…so far, the class acts still outnumber the thugs and crybabies…at least by a little bit.

  2. Glad you like what you’re reading. I must say, I almost had a heart attack when Reggie Wayne popped that ball straight up in the air.

    Again, thanks for reading. GO COLTS!

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