Super Bowl 2012: Indianapolis Venue Is Perfect Consolation Prize for Upset Colts

The 2011 NFL season has been a study in silver linings for the Indianapolis Colts and their legions of loyal fans.

Amidst a dismal 2-14 campaign and the disappointment of losing Peyton Manning for the year (and perhaps forever), the good folks of the Circle City have had only to take comfort in the prospect of taking Andrew Luck with the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, a two-game winning streak near season's end and the improvement of the Indiana Pacers and Hoosiers on the basketball court.

Best of all, though, is the excitement of hosting Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Of course, the Colts would rather themselves have the opportunity play for the Vince Lombardi Trophy in their own building rather than watch Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees (presumably) secure another one for their own franchises.

But it's not as though Indy is the first team to fall flat on its face the very same year it's scheduled to be the center of the universe on Super Bowl Sunday. The Dallas Cowboys went into the 2010 season with what they thought were legitimate aspirations to earn a ring at the Jerry Jones Dome before Tony Romo went out with a broken clavicle and Wade Phillips got canned mid-season.

In fact, rare is the occasion that a team gets to play a Super Bowl in its own backyard. Not since 1985, when Joe Montana's San Francisco 49ers dominated Dan Marino's Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX, 38-16 at Stanford Stadium in Stanford, California has a team won a title in its home state.

That figures to change at some point down the line, particularly with the proliferation of stadiums with retractable roofs along with the NFL's recent willingness to play its biggest game in cold weather. That much became clear when the league announced that MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where the New York Jets and Giants play, would host Super Bowl XLVIII in February of 2014.

MetLife Stadium, mind you, doesn't sport a retractable roof of any kind.

Granted, none of this can quite adequately quell the sadness among football players and fans alike in Indy. Winning is the only known antidote to such a malaise.

Still, the pageantry of the Super Bowl should lift some spirits in the Hoosier State come February while giving everyone in town a canvas on which to paint in their minds images of Andrew Luck leading the Colts to glory.

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