Game On!

(This game-winning TD is brought to you by Joseph Addai.)

Well, I said I was gonna do it, & I did it: the Indianapolis Colts have made it to the Superbowl for the first time since 1970, when they were still in Baltimore, based on the sheer force of my will. I dumped Gatorade on myself last night. Go, me!

Seriously though, last night's game against the Patriots was flat-out, bar-none, the most fantastic game I've ever seen. Granted, I've only been watching football since November. Indeed, a friend told me last night how lucky I was that "my team" made the Superbowl in my first year of fan-dom. The concept of "my team" is a very odd one to me. Unless a team becomes "yours" based arbitrarily on geography, how can it be anything but an even more stunningly arbitrary choice, particularly given the amount of emotion people invest in teams & the possessiveness with which they speak about them? I mean, the Colts became "my team" because I like QB Peyton Manning & his cornpone accent, receiver Marvin Harrison has this awesome Boogie Nights-worthy porn star mustache, coach Tony Dungy looks like a nice guy, there are a lot of "8"s on their jerseys & I like their helmets. That's it. Oh, & Joseph Addai is a damn good running back. (Look! I'm starting to finally know the positions! Hee hee.) And yet, like any other fan for any other reasons, I found myself emotionally invested in last night's AFC championship game. It wouldn't have ruined my night if the Colts hadn't won - but I totally, insanely, wanted them to. & was seriously fucking excited when they did. There was screaming. And lots of high fives.

But, come on - they were down by 15 friggin' points at the half. Against the Patriots. And Manning always chokes in the post-season, right? I thought it was true. The first two playoff games didn't bode well for him - the defense won 'em the first game against the Kansas City Chiefs (the! Colts! defense! holy! shit! - as an Indy sportswriter said during the regular season, the only reason they're 32nd in the league is because there aren't 39 teams) & the combination of defense & kicker Adam Vinatieri led them to improbably defeat the Baltimore Ravens. And the first half against the Pats looked to be more of the subpar same for Manning, who, again, just didn't seem to be getting the job done in the crunch.

I figured, at the half, that they were probably gonna lose. Yes, I almost lost faith in my powers. Almost - but not quite. I left the window open. And they did it! And Manning was fantastic in the second half, especially on that last 7 play, 80 yard drive, which led to Addai's touchdown, the Colts' first lead of the game (with 60 seconds left in the 4th quarter) & ultimately, after Marlin Jackson's interception of a Tom Brady pass, sweet sweet victory. I can't really recreate the events & feelings, but suffice it to say I was pumped like I was full of steroids.

I'M GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL. Well, maybe not me exactly. But, you know, my team. And we're totally going to hand the Bears' asses to them on a platter. Because I said so.