"Blue Sunday" Is Indy Colts New Song And Video

Ok. It's not the Chicago Bears Super Bowl Shuffle, but it's something to work with for the Colts' fans. Here's Blue Sunday, the song and the video:

My AFC Championship Playoff Game Experience - Colts 38, Patriots 34

It's hard to begin to put into words how truly amazing this past weekend was. I had the opportunity to be at the AFC Championship game at the RCA Dome on Sunday. Being a Colts fan since they moved to my hometown in 1984, you can imagine my excitement.

While my beloved Colts have put forth efforts (and failed) several times to reach the big game, this year seemed different to me. I guess the media got tired of copying and pasting "Manning can't win the big one, Colts will never make the Superbowl", etc. etc. because this year, there didn't seem to be much hype about Indy in the press. They quietly made their way to the AFC Championship game.

On my connecting flight from Houston to Indy on Saturday, my excitement began to grow. As I boarded with the sea of Stokely, Addai, Manning and Freeney jerseys, I just couldn't contain myself. I gave high fives to and carried on conversations with complete strangers who were dressed in head-to-toe blue and white, just like me.




On Saturday evening, we headed out to check out the Circle City. We ended up tailgating (yes, I realize it was still about 18 hours before the game) in a parking lot with several Colts fans. It was freezing but I didn't care. I was too nervous and excited to notice. The shouts and honking of passer bys kept us warm.Finally...Sunday comes! I wake up to 3 inches of snow. Get up, get dressed and head downtown to check into my hotel. I started to feel discouraged with the number of Pats fans I encountered in the lobby. We watch the beginning of the Bears/Saints game and then head to the RCA Dome.




The outside of the Dome is plastered with GIANT blue and white letters that read "AFC CHAMPIONSHIP". Reality begins to creep in...win one more game and we're in the big show!We find our seats, watch warm-ups and pray that no loud Pats fans sit near us. By the time the game started, there were so few Pats fans in the stands, I felt proud that Indy fans actually heeded Peyton's advice "Don't sell your tickets to Pats fans!”

The game starts and the crowd is into it. I mean it's loud. But, as you can imagine, the noise diminished rather quickly through the remainder of the first half.As the first half drew to a close, I realized...I am NOT prepared for my Colts to lose this game!

The second half begins and it's like a whole new team. As our Colts determination began to grow, so did the crowds. The noise level comes back up and it would only get better!

Fast forward to the Addai touchdown to put the Colts ahead by 4. That hole was so big I could have made it through! The Dome just went berserk! But, being the realist that I am, knew that if anyone could make something out of a last, one minute drive, it would be Tom Brady. As the Pats continued to go through downs, we began to get more excited.

It was just then that the THE play that I will never forget happened. Tom Brady intercepted! The place erupted! I hugged my mom and every other Colts fan around me!! The floor was shaking from the jumping and I actually couldn't hear what my mom was saying to me (and she was right next to me). I had to sit down because I actually felt like I could pass out at any moment. All I could do is stand there and cry. I don't know if it was out of relief or adrenaline or just thankful that after all of the years of disappointing endings, Dungy, Manning and the Colts were finally going to the Superbowl!!




The confetti guns went off creating a blizzard of blue and white confetti, Will Smith's "Miami" is blaring over the PA system and the scoreboard reads "Colts 38, Patriots 34 / 00:00 / 4th Quarter". It's a Colts fan's dream come true.As they are setting up the podium for the trophy presentation I look around and realize, this is what it's all about. We all know at the end of the day, football is a business. But for this moment, it was about the fans that have seen their heroes fall so many times and for the coaches and players who have put their heart and souls into getting into the big game. It was a proud day for all Indy fans, players and coaches.




As we hear Dungy and Manning start to talk to Jim Nantz, I started to think of all of the elements this Superbowl entails, the first time two African-American coaches will face off in the big game, Peyton Manning is now 200 pounds lighter after getting that giant monkey off his back, the Colts just staged the biggest comeback in postseason history, an all-Midwest Superbowl and most importantly, the Colts have a great chance of bringing the Lombardi trophy to Indianapolis.We listen to the trophy presentation and then head outside to the mayhem!



We are shoulder to shoulder getting outside the Dome. A thundering chant of "Super Bowl, Super Bowl, Super Bowl" is roaring from the crowd. When I was finally able to get to the top of the stairs to start my decent down to Capital Street, I was taken aback again. Chills run down my body, but not from the 20 degree weather, it was from the view. The sea of people in their blue and white, the posters, the Indy Star copies with "Super Colts" waiving in the air.

Again, I thought to myself, this is what the NFL is all about.

With Dungy and Smith In Super Bowl XLI, African Americans Forced To See Positive Role Models

Yes, I know the title of my post is controversial. But it's also true. It comes from several episodes in my personal life that I will never forget and caused me to think that we -- African Americans or "blacks" if you will (I use the terms interchangebly) -- have actually conditioned ourselves to accept a second class place in American Life. (Oh, if youre wondering, that's me on the left, in the suit.)



Now, with the two teams in Super Bowl XLI being coached by African Americans -- the Chicago Bears by Lovie Smith and the Indianapolis Colts by Tony Dungy, Blacks are actually forced to see ourselves in positive role model positions. It's about time and will help me reduce, but not erase the memory of the following occurences in my life.

The first one was when I was 14-years-old. (I'm 44 now.) I was just leaving a McDonald's Restaurant located in South Chicago and just off Avalon Avenue, when an older Black man walked in and yelled "I want the manager! Where's the manager?!" I don't know what his complaint was but he seemed angry. So a tall, well dressed Black man walked out from behind the counter and identified himself as the manager. "Can I help you?" He asked.

"Naw. You're not the manager. I wanna see the White Man." That's what he said, and I obviously never forgot it. I left the place as my Mom was waiting for me outside, but those words "I wanna see the White Man" never left my head.

The second occurence was during a visit to see my auntie in Tennessee when I was 17-years-old. One of her family friends was bragging about how he purchased a new car almost every year "Like the White man does" he said. And he kept saying it. It was annoying to me and so I asked Mom about it. "That's how some of us think," she said. "It's not right, but you're being exposed to it."

No kidding.

I was never told or even allowed to think that I could not do something because I am Black. I was never instructed that there are "two rules" -- one for Blacks and the other for Whites. I was also never discouraged from seeing the late Economist John Kenneth Galbraith as my hero even though he's White. No one ever told me that his position or way of thinking was not attainable to me or anyone else because they were or I am Black. I was never told not to date interracially because I was Black. I was never told that I could not be with Asian or White or Latino or any "different" friends because I am African American. Never.

I was always instructed to expect to see Blacks in important positions and indeed my Mom knew Blacks who were. Blacks like Arnold Grant, who was the first African American Regional Director of Kentucky Fried Chicken in the 60s. Or my father, who I'm named after, and who invented an electric ladder. Or my late stepfather Chester Yerger, Jr., who fought in World War II and who's father was part of one of Arkansas' most prominent families. Thus, I'm happy that at least one of the members of the Federal Reserve Board are Black -- there should be more. The point is, I was brought up to expect greatness from Blacks.

But I digress.

I've seen more examples of Black self-hatred and dislike of other Blacks who rise to positions of power or prominence than the opposite. You can take the examples I gave, or San Francisco Radio Station KNBR's Personality Rod Brooks' recent statements calling Black Coaches "one of those" as if they were a bad thing, or Black on Black crime, I could go on and on.



But now, with Colts Coach Tony Dungy exorcising the demons of Patriots past, and Lovie Smith expecting his Chicago Bears to be Super Bowl champions and then willing his team to the game, I have a reason to smile. And Blacks everywhere do as well.

This adds to the expected greatness of Tiger Woods, and the rise of Barack Obama to Senator and perhaps President of the United States of America. It means we can expect greatness from us, and indeed should insist on it. Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith coaching in the World's largest single day sports event seen by almost 1 Billion people, will do almost as much for Black self-esteem as Martin Luther King did decades ago and today. A tall statement, perhaps. But consider the size of the Super Bowl TV audience once again and then think about it.

Still, it's a jarring experience for some of us to see this. Derrick Bell, the noted Black law professor formerly of Harvard and now at New York University, told the story of an African American cab driver who asked what he did, and when he told him, the driver said "Man, it's guys like you that make it hard for me." What he meant, was that he could not easily use the fact that he's Black as a reason for not succeeding. Indeed, it's a reason to at least try. We all know that racism is alive and well but it makes life harder when we as Blacks don't expect to excell because of it. It's better to fight racism and battle through it, but not destroy one's self because of it.

Thus, the next time -- regardless of who you are as we need all hands on deck to rid ourselves of this self-esteem problem -- you hear someone Black ask "Where's the White Man?" when an African American manager appears, don't slap the crap out of him, just say to him "He's in line, ordering from the Black man who runs the place."

Coming to Miami? Come to the Bauer's Super Bowl Party!