Time to retire Colts jerseys?

Maybe it’s time to retire our jerseys.
We’ve been Colts fans at our house for as long as the Colts have been in Indy. That means we’ve suffered through the “Lord, help our Colts” era as well as the Super Bowl success and disappointment.
It’s been a tradition for years that we talk to our youngest daughter Sally at halftime during each Colts game. Sometimes we’re exuberant. Sometimes we’re nervous. Sometimes we’re tearing our hair about special teams’ play.
A few years ago, my wife and I took the big plunge and bought Colts jerseys. We don’t wear them every game day, but we did wear them for last year’s Super Bowl.
Sure, it’s a little corny, a couple in their 60s sitting in their family room yelling at the TV and dressed as if they were in the stands. (Okay, maybe dorky is a more appropriate word.)
But, just the same, it’s harmless fun and gets us in the spirit of the occasion.
First time around, however, the jerseys didn’t bring the Colts the sort of luck we’d been hoping for. There we were in all our horsey blue finery, watching the New Orleans Saints intercept their way to a Super Bowl championship.
Still, we figured, this year would be different.
We should have known better.
Appropriately for this season, both of the players whose names are on our jerseys spent weeks on the injured reserve list. Mine, Jeff Saturday, was back in action this weekend. Connie’s, Anthony Gonzalez, has been sidelined nearly every week since the jersey was purchased. (We thought about taking back to the store as a defective product.)
At any rate, on Saturday (the day, not the player) the jerseys were brought out again. I wore mine over a turtleneck as I went to the post office, dropped mail on my desk, and stopped for a flu shot that had been recommended in connection with an upcoming trip. (That’s another story entirely.)
While waiting for my shot, a clerk noticed my jersey and asked what time the game was. To her credit, she didn’t say that 62-year-old guys should know better than to dress up like kids.
Connie wore hers with pride when she did the grocery shopping.
Then that night we settled in to watch the festivities.
The rest, of course, is history.
The enormously obnoxious Rex Ryan and the New York Jets ruined the night for Colts fans, edging Indy with a last second field goal.
To the Jets’ credit, they played a smart game, exploiting the ground game and keeping Peyton Manning off the field for what seemed like hours.
But a loss is a loss, and the hex of the Ronald jerseys is beginning to make me a little nervous.
It may be too soon to retire them completely, but they’re certainly on the injured reserve list in our wardrobe.[[In-content Ad]]