Baltimore's Roots
When the Colts left these parts for Indy, in anger I announced that Baltimore would host a playoff game before Indianapolis--a bold prediction seeing as we didn't have a team.
Looking back, it was very bold considering Baltimore would get kicked to the curb for 12 years waiting for NFL football to come back to town.
What I did know was that the chances of a Bob Irsay-owned team winning a playoff game weren't very good. This was the owner that ran the Colts into the ground.
How ugly were those final years in Baltimore; well, the 1981 team lost 14 straight, then proving it wasn't a fluke, they bounced back in '82 and didn't win a game the entire season!
Johnny U, Lenny and Artie had to look the other way as this rag-tag bunch wearing their horseshoes, had a stretch where they won only 3 of 30 games.
When they got to Indy in 1984, the losing followed them, 4-12 the first year, 5-11 the next, and it got worse; there was a 1-15 train wreck at the Hoosier Dome.
It took the Indianapolis Colts 16 years to get to a 10-win season. It wasn't until 1999 that famous beer salesman Jim Mora coached the Colts to a 13-3 season.
And since that 1999 season the Colts have been one of the premiere franchises in the league; eight of the last nine years they've won at least 10 games.
In the last five years they've won five division titles and a Super Bowl and they became the first NFL team ever to win at least 12 games in five straight seasons.
So what happened? Here's what, Jim Irsay has become one of the top owners in the NFL. He's made terrific hires in team president Bill Polian and head coach Tony Dungy, and it didn't hurt when they passed on Ryan Leaf and took future Hall Of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning with the 1st pick of the 1988 draft.
The Colts, now in their 25th year in Indianapolis and their first year in their new stadium, have restored the horseshoes proud, past that which was born in Baltimore over 50 years ago.
As for my bold prediction nearly 25 years ago, it took the Indianapolis Colts 12 years to win their first playoff, and they didn't win a HOME playoff game until January 4, 2004 almost 3 years AFTER Baltimore fans packed the stadium to watch their Ravens beat the Broncos in their first step to a Super Bowl XXXV title.
Every once in a while, a Baltimore football fan will remind me about my rant/prediction, and always with a twinkle in their eye and a smile on their face.
Later, Sunday's Ravens-Colts match-up.
3 and out!
Scott
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