To Lucas Oil Stadium And Back!
They say you don’t know what you have until you don’t have it anymore. True that is, I told myself as I sat in the upper deck at Lucas Oil Stadium last Sunday. The place is an absolute engineering marvel.
The roof of the dome was open in anticipation of the absolute gorgeous day that Indianapolis presented to us the day of a game I felt the Kansas City Chiefs would absolutely have to win in order to salvage the 2011 season and my substantial investment in field level tickets.
As incredible as Lucas Oil Stadium and the view of downtown Indianapolis was, I found myself missing my beloved Arrowhead.
Surrounded in a sea of peaceful blue, I missed the angry red of Kansas City. The roar of the crowd during Kansas City offensive runs seemed high school basketball level compared to the deafening roar of the eighty thousand Arrowhead fans driving Phil Rivers or the Manning Brothers to turnover hell.
And the tailgating was nonexistent, at least for regular guys with the luxurious upper level, cheapest seats in the stadium guys like my buddy Gerald and me. At Lucas Oil Stadium, tailgating is restricted to parking pass holders that did their time on a waiting list in order to enjoy postage stamp sized parking lots in the metro area of Indy. Tailgating at Arrowhead is half the fun, hell the only fun some Sundays.
The dejected fans in blue Sunday enjoyed nothing about the day as our heroes fought bravely in the second half to deny the zombie-like Colts fans the chance to emerge from the dark pit of a win-loss record like nothing the Indy fans could remember.
The fans themselves, well, they weren’t the friendliest I have encountered. They were not the worst I’ve met on the road either. They were actually nothing at all. Shell-shocked soldiers marching the march of the walking wounded to parking garages scattered about.
Just when you think all is lost, our boys in red and gold fight like hell to bring home a win that could very well cost them dearly when draft day rolls around. As well they should. For all that Herm Edwards took from Kansas City, he did leave us one thing. An attitude we will never lose no matter what our record. “You play to win the game.” Always. Indeed we do, Herm. And for that, I thank you.