I’m choosing not to write about Sunday’s loss. Allen good, Farmer serviceable, everything else bad. We will not be good this year, regardless of anything administration or coaches do. I can’t understand Shane’s stubbornness to play Jones and Lou’s to play ADG. Not playing them would not likely change the outcome of the coming games, but it could become more palatable.
I want to bring up a date that gives me chills. The Colts lease for Lucas Oil Stadium runs through 2038. However, the Colts can re-evaluate
that lease as early as 2030. We simply can’t take a ton of time rebuilding. If it looks as bad in three years as it does right now, the Colts could be the ones going to London instead of the Jags. Sure, the Colts can turn it around, but as witnessed by our first 15 years in Indy, it is not a guarantee by any shot.
There has been some venting that includes disowning their team, or giving up their season tickets from some Colts fans, but that would make it easier for the Colts to justify a sale or a relocation, or both. I was there renewing each year from 85 to 2011, so I saw the worst and best that the Colts had to offer, in that order. It wasn’t easy plopping down the price of two season tickets each year, but I was always afraid that if I gave them up, I’d never be able to get them back, once we finally turned the corner.
I had the newness factor on my side as well. I mean, it was NFL football, just an hour up the road! I was also young enough that I could be as happy with the tailgating before and the bar hopping afterwards, as I was with the results of the game. Make no mistake, aside from a couple of playoff trips, we were really bad. I actually had money on the other team at times. I didn’t mind losing my bet if we happened to win, but there was no reason not to recoup the price of the ticket, if we lost?
We don’t have the same newness factor in our favor this time around. Many seem to think that our ten years on the Ballard Merry-go-round, somehow were as bad or worse than the 15 pre Peyton years. Just from one person’s perspective, I can’t make much sense of that. If you were not around yet for the Dolt years, just look up the record each year and look at where we picked in the draft. We had multiple high picks that did not pan out until we finally made the right call in the Manning/Leaf sweepstakes.
The Manning/Leaf decision changed our stars, but it took the signing of Polian to facilitate that correct decision. It wasn’t as cut and dry as you might think. So, that is what has to happen first. We have to find a GM, or whatever title the person prefers, to make the decisions. That person has to find our head coach and our players. That head coach has to find the right position coaches that spend as much time developing players as they do getting them in the right place on the field. The players have to want to win, above any quality that they possess.
I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but given the lease situation, I don’t think the Colts have near as much time to turn this around as they did upon the Mayflower’s arrival. I’m not sure that we survive, unless the next hire is as good and fast as Polian.
How is that ray of sunshine from your resident optimist?
