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It's offseason, we need some enlightenment.
So...my dad raised me to be a Redskins' fan. The neighbors across the street were Colts' fans. Not a huge rivalry, but about the time I was getting into football, becoming Redskins' obsessed, the Colts were perennial powerhouses so it was difficult. George Allen had brought us around with a Super Bowl visit, but the years of dysfunction had not worn off...we had yet to win a Super Bowl. The neighbors always let us know the Colts had a SB victory and the Redskins didn't.
Fast forward to the 1977 season finale. The Redskins are playing the Rams in a 4pm game...they win/Bears lose and they are in. The Colts are playing a 1pm game...they win they are in. So the youngest son in the neighbors family, my older brother's best friend, comes down to my house with a proclamation, if I root for the Colts against the Patriots in the early game, he will root for the Redskins in the late game.
OK...sounds good to me. Let me just say Steve, the proclaimer, was 5 years older than me and was my idol as a 9 year old boy. He was the cool kid.
So the Colts win, I rooted for them. Here's where things get dicey. Steve wasn't around for the Redskins' game so I don't know what he was doing. But they won, all they needed was for the Bears to lose to the Giants in a game that the network broadcast after the Skins game. Bears lose and the Redskins clinch the wild card. Well...that prick came over to the house just in time to root for the Bears to win! He told me he rooted for the Skins, who knows if he did. But he rooted for the Bears at the end in a close game against NY. I was CRUSHED! That jack ass slimed his way through "living up" to his end of the bargain. Who knows if he really rooted for the Redskins? Talk about feeling betrayed!
That's OK...I got the last laugh in this story!
A week later the Colts are playing the Oakland Raiders at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. My uncle had 4 tickets about 15 rows back in the endzone, one for me, one for him, one for my brother and my brother got to invite Steve. Not sure if any of you know about the Colts' Corral, but it was a group of rabid season ticket holders at Memorial Stadium that sat in the end zone...that was where we sat. With my mother and her boyfriend, a member of the Corral, 2 rows in front of us we settled into our seats. I don't remember much of the game, I know it was a great game, the crowd was truly fanatical that day...I don't remember seeing a single Raiders fan around. I was surrounded by a sea of blue! But there was one Raiders' fan in attendance that day...ME!!!! That son of a bitch wants to root for the Bears to eliminate the Redskins from the playoffs? Well, 2 can play at that game!
There I was, this 9 year old boy sitting in one of the most ardent, passionate fan zones in pro football rooting for the opposing team...in the playoffs! Needless to say, I was getting the ole' stink eye from a lot of the old-timers. You gotta remember, these were tough, blue collar guys, in a blue collar town, tremendously affected by the terrible economy, soured by the current state of affairs, trying to get lost in their team on a Sunday afternoon of playoff football, only to have this snot nosed kid rooting against their Colts, IN THEIR SECTION!!!
My mother's boyfriend was PISSED! Meh...**** him too!
So...if you guys remember, this was the Ghost to the Post game where Ken Stabler completed a bomb to Dave Casper to the Colts 14 yard line with less than 30 seconds left in the game...before all the "time-outs" made 30 seconds seem like an eternity. TheRaiders kicked a FG to tie the game and send it to OT. After the end of the 1st OT, still tied. The game goes into the 2nd OT and the Raiders have the ball in Colts' territory driving down field directly toward us. I start screaming with excitement at this point, much to the dismay of everyone around me! If I was a grown man acting like that, I doubt I would have made it out of that stadium alive!
Then...Stabler lobs the ball into the corner of the endzone directly in front of us, Dave Casper catches it for the game winning TD. We couldn't really see it from where we were sitting because of the people on the sidelines and the first 14 rows, but we saw the refs arms go up! I was soooooooooo happy!
The look on Steve's face was priceless!~ He tried to console himself by saying, "At least we were in the playoffs!" But it didn't work...I could tell he wanted to cry. My mom's boyfriend didn't come to or house for Christmas the next day, they'd been dating for about 3 or 4 years at that point, but he didn't want to see me. I don't remember how long it was until he said 2 words to me.
I didn't care, it was payback for Steve betraying me!
I laughed last...especially the night I watched the local knews to see those Mayflower trucks carting the team to Indianapolis. Before the Ravens came along, Steve was cheering for the Redskins on Sunday because he married into a Redskins' family!
I believe some of you may have read that before, but if you haven't I hope you enjoyed my vendetta!
HTTR!
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