Everyone has to pick a team somehow.
The Indianapolis Colts reach Week 14 with a 6-7 record and now is the time for a long-awaited bye week.
Players can rest and recuperate and get ready for a huge final four games.
It also means that for this weekend, Colts fans can take a break from trying to figure out playoff permutations and just enjoy a good weekend of NFL action. RedZone it is this Sunday night, which will be more peaceful than last weekend!
When Anthony Richardson barrelled his way into the end zone last week, to cap an exceptional Colts comeback victory against the New England Patriots, I was jumping around my living room in excitement, adrenaline pumping. Total happiness from a game being played in another continent.
Which got me thinking, personally, when did my weekends become hostage to a sport played in a country thousands of miles away? What makes you follow a sport from another country?
For me, it was about curiosity. There was more and more coverage in the UK on TV, radio, podcasts, and social media. Games being played in our country. I felt I was missing out.
The first time I sat down to watch a game I was frantically searching the rules as I went, as I had no idea what was going on. What does 2 & 17 mean?!?
Eventually it started to click. The game started to make sense. The next step was to pick a team.
Who to support?
Everyone has their own reason and story about why they support the teams they do. Even more so if it is a team from another country. Sometimes it is handed down generations. Sometimes there is a particular player you just enjoy watching. Maybe it is a team that wins a lot.
My reason is less interesting. The Colts became my team based on a TV programme. The show in question, ‘The Middle’.
A fairly easy to watch comedy programme based on a family from the state of Indiana, who all support the Colts. It was on TV one day at home as I was beginning to get into the NFL, and so I picked them to be my team.
And from there an obsession was born. Lost weekends, late nights, and hundreds of pounds spent purchasing merchandise. Time spent listening to podcasts and reading everything possible about the team, the players and history.
Weekends like the one just gone where your team gets a win gives a buzz that cannot be explained. Even if you are on the other side of the world.
Seeing defenses making tackles, running backs breaking through and going on a huge run, wide receivers hauling in catches they have no right to make. It gets the blood pumping just writing those words. It really is a sport like no other.
A sport I would thoroughly recommend to anyone to follow. And on that note, if you are looking for a team, then there really is only one choice – the Indianapolis Colts!
One Response
Well done and good choice. I am a long time Colts fan (1958) The great uniforms, players and the incomparable John Unitas winning the world championship was my introduction to professional football. I’ve been hooked ever since.