Indianapolis - Day 3

Game Day!

We slept in a little bit again today and discovered a note under our door from the hotel. Most of it was regarding a busy checkout period, since the hotel is full, but at the end they mentioned that there would be a pre-game party downstairs starting at 10:00am. As that was when were were expecting to go for breakfast, we figured we should go a bit earlier. The lobby was fairly full of people in Colts gear waiting for breakfast and people not in Colts gear waiting for their cars. There was a wait for breakfast, but we were seated right away, as there was a table beside the front door that no one else wanted, due to the chill. Being tough Saskatchewan folk, we sat down and ate there.

After breakfast we got ready and then walked over to Lucas Oil Stadium, which is only two blocks away from our hotel. At the gate, they patted us down and searched Sandra's camera case. After that, we were in the stadium, though I had to force the doors open due to a massive air pressure difference between inside and outside the stadium. As we stood there trying to find our way, a staff member came up to help us find our seats. It turned out that the seats we purchased were actually the seats provided for the club seating. As we did not have access to the club area, we had to go the long way around to get to our seats, rather than using the posh elevator.

Lucas Oil Stadium is very impressive. There are a ton of seats and they all appeared to be cushioned, with a decent amount of leg room. The stadium was nice and warm and we immediately took off our jackets once we arrived. I had been worried that our seats wouldn't be that great, but they were awesome - right at the front of a section that really wasn't far from the field. I think it was the perfect spot to watch the game, as you could see everything that was happening. We arrived early, so we just sat and waited for the game to start.

The game was extremely good as it included everything I wanted to see, with the exception of a coach's challenge. The Colts dominated the game and ended up defeating the Bengals 35 - 3. One of the big highlights of the game was when Peyton hit Marvin Harrison on a post pattern and Marvin ran for 67 yards, coming very close to a touchdown. Marvin's career may be nearing its end, but the fans in Indianapolis are still VERY appreciative of him, as some of the loudest cheering of the day occurred when he caught that pass and when he caught his touchdown pass. Conversely, the loudest boos occurred whenever Chad Johnson touched the ball. Speaking of the cheering, it was very eerie whenever the Colts had the ball, as the entire stadium would go quiet. I don't think I have ever heard that many people make that little noise.

Sandra took a ton of pictures (somewhere around the 300 mark) and managed to get a picture of every touchdown, though in a couple of cases you will just have to take our word for it, since all you can see is a player and no football. We had a couple of happy drunks sitting beside us, who spent most of the game talking on their phone, leaving for more beer, or discussing the latest movies they had watched. Near the end of the game, the one guy started talking to me and was utterly amazed that someone would come from Canada to go to a Colts game. He was a cook in the US Army and was at the game with his brother, who was also in the army and had just returned from Iraq. After the game was over, they took the time to phone their sergeant and had me talk to him, just so he could talk to a Canadian Colts fan.

We left the stadium and went to a restaurant near the hotel for supper. It seemed pretty packed when we arrived, but they were seating people very quickly and we managed to get in and eat in a fairly short time. We then returned to the hotel and watched the rest of the football games. It has been a very good weekend.

Pictures

Peyton warming up


Cheerleaders


Colts team introductions


Opening kick-off


Peyton in the pocket


Housh stiff-arming the defense


Peyton directing his team


Rhodes scoring the first touchdown


Dallas Clark fumbling at the goal line


Marvin Harrison's touchdown


Marvin Harrison's big pass


End of the game