Genesis of a Colts Fan: A Man Without a Team

It was 1995. I’d recently moved to Indy. I had been a Bears fan, but when Da coach, Iron Mike Ditka had just been unceremoniously fired ‘92. I was a man without a city, a man without a team. I felt out of place.

After a brief stint as a Buffalo Bills fan (don’t judge me) I decided to pin my hopes on the home team. Ironically, Bears quarterback Jim Harbaugh had just been picked up by the Colts in ‘94. He probably felt the same way I did after moving to Indy.

Harbaugh wasn’t my favorite player.  But he was a familiar face. So I was pulling for him. I remember the Colts starting Craig Ericson at QB that year. They’d picked him up and thought he’d be the answer at QB. But mid-way through the third game, he was benched and in comes Harbaugh.

Thus begins the legend of ‘Cpt. Comeback.’

Harbaugh took the Colts on a roller coaster ride that season that would end with Harbaugh being named to the Pro Bowl as the NFL’s top rated passer and the Colts falling just short of a Super Bowl bid.

I was now a Colts fan.

I remember sitting there, watching as the Colts bumped off the Chargers, then next week they beat the Chiefs. I was sure they were going to win it all. All they had to do was get past the dreaded Pittsburgh Steelers. However, because of an uncalled penalty – when Kordell Stewart ran out of bounds behind the goal post to come back in bounds and catch the winning TD – and a dropped Hail Mary pass in the end zone by Aaron Bailey, the Colts season had come to an end.

But the legend of ‘Cpt. Comeback’ grew as did my passion for Indianapolis Colts football.