My Uncle Phil gave Scotty and I his Indianapolis Colts tickets, and tonight he and I headed down to Lucas Oil Stadium to see the game.  The Colts were playing the Pittsburgh Steelers, and even though I am a diehard Chicago Bears fan, I was looking forward to the game.

Scotty and I got there early too.  Post stroke, I am not too good with things involving anything like traffic or crowds.  I used to have what we like to call “patience,” but that went out the window with my memory.  So getting there early was a good thing.  We got to the seats and people just gradually filled in around us.  It was pretty cool.

The flag in the picture covered the entire field for the National Anthem, and even many of the players held it on both sided.  It was so great to see, and it was accompanied by a young woman singing that wasn’t trying to win on American Idol.  She sang respectfully and beautifully, so as the game started I was feeling great.

The game was pretty good too.  Pittsburgh was supposed to win handily, but apparently no one told the Colts.  And although the Steelers did finally win, they had to win it on a field goal with just 4 seconds left.  It was an awesome, well-fought match.

What was hard for me was some of the people.  I am 50 years old, and don’t get me wrong because I do drink.  But when you start pouring alcohol down the throats of morons, things can get out of hand……and that’s exactly what happened.  One guy about 5 seats to the right of us was swearing at God knows who most of the game and then worked hard to provoke a fight with a Steelers fan about 5 rows in front of us. It almost worked.  A group of three people a row down and about 5 to the right, was in some sort of shouting match with other Colts fans about 4 rows behind them, and although I am hard of hearing I am pretty sure they were not shouting out their addresses to exchange Christmas cards.

But the kicker was a guy who sat next to me on my right.  He got into it with another guy right behind us who was a Steelers fan and who was with his I’d guess to be 12 year old son.  Their language with each other was atrocious.  And to be honest, I was embarrassed for all of them……but mostly for the young boy.   I am pretty sure most of these people were not the usual season ticket holders that sit by my uncle each game.

But Scott and I left, and I was really proud.  Not only did I not throw anyone over the rail, but I saw how well Scotty handled it too.  He saw it for what it was….people a bit out of control with drinking.  After all, we were just there to see a game, and we did.   It was a great one too.  And although I know we would have enjoyed a Colts victory a bit more, it was exciting all the way through.

And I am glad we went.  Because if the truth be known, I do know for a fact that the Colts are Scotty’s favorite team (as they are Amanda’s) (and Steph’s) (and probably Ben and the dog…although I know for a fact the cat like the Carolina Panthers).  But Scotty has just been patronizing me for years about the Bears.  And it was a real treat to see him as excited to watch his team live.

Thanks Uncle Phil!  We had a blast!!

Goodnight (it’s really very early in the morning) and God Bless!

Tommy+