Rightward Coffee Buzz: Indianapolis Geared Up For The Home Team!

Lady Espresso accompanied me the night before the AFC Championship game on a chilly tour around Indianapolis. The news has been showing images of downtown buildings dressing up the town for our Colts. We thought we'd like to share them with visitors to our sites. Between the photos, I've inserted a bunch of news articles and some TV news video spots. There are two photos on this page that are not mine, should be easy enough to figure that out. Any correlation between photos and text is purely coincidental! Enjoy!!

The best news channel video I can find describing Indy's experience is here , from WTHR-13.

This is us making nice to east-coasters...and them making nice to mid-westerners...

Hundreds of Patriots fans are already in town to make a weekend of the game.

...Our local retailers and restaurant/ catering/take out businesses are happy to see them...

So welcome Patriots but go Colts all the way to the Miami. Even our east coast visitors wish us luck.
"We hope to win, but if we don't win, I'll be cheering for the Colts and Adam Vinatieri at the Superbowl," said a Patriots fan.

There is so much drama and emotion riding on this game. It's in the air around here. I can only speak for myself, but I don't think I'm alone when I say I tried, I really tried to stay out of Colts football this year. You can only allow your heart to be broken so many times by the same perpetrators, right?? It's always been this way with the Colts though. It was easier in the 80's when they were three and thirteen, for Pete's sake.
But we're HERE now...we're right THERE now...There's just a sense that it's now or...darn it, OR IT'S NOT. OK. The Colts will suck me in around game four or seven or whenever next year, just as they have been since they've been in Indy.
Ya know what? I'm damn glad to have Peyton and Tony and Marvin, Anthony, Bob, and Dallas everybody else on this team in Indianapolis!! They are a bunch of great individuals - as well as a great NFL team. For a gazillion different reasons, we want them to beat their nemesis, the Patriots.
Anthony "Booger" McFarland (Tampa, Indy thanks you!) lays outhis reminder for the press and the fans, in the second frame of this slideshow.

"If I have 11 (players) and I play your 11, that's the only storyline that really matters. That's the only storyline that's ultimately going to be the cake that we bake," McFarland said Thursday. "You guys can come up with all the different icing you want to, put all the different cherries you want to, and spin it and flavor it however you want to, but the bottom line is, it's going to be whatever team plays the best."

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Patriots 24, Colts 20

The Colts' defensive performance of the last two weeks has led some to believe that their run-stopping woes are a thing of the past, though that analysis glosses over some important facts. Indy has undoubtedly been better in that area since Bob Sanders' return to the secondary, but has also benefited from playing against Larry Johnson and Jamal Lewis, a pair of one-cut, between-the- tackles rushers. The Patriots' running backs (especially Maroney) offer a different set of problems for the Colts, who had their biggest struggles against multi-back attacks like those of the Jaguars and Titans. For that reason, look for New England to have terrific success on the ground, in turn keeping the ball out of Manning's hands for long stretches. When the Indianapolis offense is on the field, Manning will be able to do some damage against a New England secondary that misses Rodney Harrison. But Belichick will throw enough wrinkles at the Colts attack to force Manning into making a major mistake with the game on the line.

I guess we'll just see about that!!

Colts fans star in this IndyChannel 6 Slideshow . I love the mustaches!

Channel 8 (WISH-TV) video link ... Colts Fans Show Their Pride All Over The City

Concerning security

Hey, these tickets ain't cheap...and we're all as capitalist as any NFL team owner!

Some say there is another game on Sunday? Does it matter?

Peyton's in his ninth season and says it's time...now...

"Certainly you feel the clock ticking with free agency and with injuries, especially when you see it firsthand,'' Manning said. "When you see an Edgerrin James get injured or when you see an Edgerrin James go to another team. When you lose good players like David Thornton and Ken Dilger and Marcus Pollard, guys that were not only great teammates, but great friends as well."

Will we have the first black coach in the Super Bowl this year?

Dungy's Indianapolis Colts entertain New England at 6:30 p.m. in the RCA Dome in the AFC Championship Game, but first Smith's Chicago Bears host New Orleans at Soldier Field in the NFC final. The Bears-Saints game kicks off at 3, giving Smith the first opportunity to take the historic step.

The Patriots Plan...

Harassing him. Hounding him. Hitting him. Flushing him from the pocket and making him throw on the run. Sacking him when possible. Absolutely disrupting the nerve center of the Colts' offense and turning him one more time into an emotional basket case in January.