For a while now, I think that Peyton Manning has been the best passing quarterback in the league and he has the supporting cast that could potentially make this a blowout if Ron Rivera's defensive scheme doesn't work. The knock against Indianapolis earlier in the season was that they couldn't stop the run but they have been unrecognisable recently and this is why head is going with them.
Heart is going for the Bears for a number of reasons. The first pro football game I ever saw live was the 1986 American Bowl at Wembley Stadium, at the beginning of the season following the triumph of Superbowl XX. So I saw Walter Payton, Jim McMahon, The Fridge and all the other luminaries on arguably one of the most complete football teams I think I've ever seen. This season I've had more fun following the Bears than the Raiders, but whereas the Raiders are an obligation the Bears have always been a way of enjoying the NFL without screaming blue murder at the TV.
In a lot of ways, the game is Old School as well. Until the re-organisation of the NFL in 1969, both the Colts and the Bears were in the NFC and the Colts were the first team to represent both conferences in the Superbowl: they lost to the Joe Namath inspired NY Jets in SB3 and beat Dallas in SB5 (in Miami when the Colts wore white!) with a Jim O'Brien field goal with five seconds left.
Madame Zaza time: will I be publishing a photo of Adam Viniateri doing something similar to this on Monday morning?
It's all very well considering the past, but here are some threads leading up to the game that are of interest.
Hardly surprisingly considering what happened to the team in 1984, the city of Baltimore isn't supporting the Colts. Neither are these old Baltimore Colt alums, but they seem to like Peyton Manning. This story is really sad; John Mackey was one of the pioneers at the Tight End position at roughly the same time Mike Ditka had a similar role with the Bears and Cowboys.
John Mackey
Mike DitkaI stumbled across a fantastic Bears website at bearshistory.com while I was looking for bits and pieces to post here on youtube.
Having said that, I haven't seen any stories about Colt fans that travel the 500 or so mile trip to Indy to support the team rather than staying in Maryland to support either the Ravens or the Redskins. It's about the same distance from Oakland to Los Angeles as it is between Bristol and Glasgow; seeing as though I now seem to be locked into this, Chicago to Indianapolis is less than 200 miles.
Enough rambling.
Having said that, I haven't seen any stories about Colt fans that travel the 500 or so mile trip to Indy to support the team rather than staying in Maryland to support either the Ravens or the Redskins. It's about the same distance from Oakland to Los Angeles as it is between Bristol and Glasgow; seeing as though I now seem to be locked into this, Chicago to Indianapolis is less than 200 miles.
Enough rambling.
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