What XLIV Means

I’ve been thinking lately about what winning this Super Bowl would mean to me as a Colts fan.  Tonight a flood of ideas hit me out of nowhere.

1.)  Winning XLIV will make breaking every last passing record a lot less important.  Manning will spend the final years of his career hunting records that almost universally belong to Brett Favre.  After tomorrow it won’t matter nearly as much.  We love stats and that will never change.  But we won’t be forced to pull them out in anger nearly as often.

2.)  Winning would mean a lot of baseless digs at Colts not currently featured on this team.  We’ve already seen this begin during the past month.  People will rip Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison, Tony Dungy, and Bob Sanders.  This will piss us off and likely start a few internet shouting matches.  (It is only fair to mention the downside of winning.)

3.)  Winning means the end of the Atlanta Braves comparison forever.  I can’t tell you how much that possibility excites me.  I hated the Atlanta Braves dynasty.  There was just something trashy about those teams.  Whenever I think about them I think about their failures rather than their immense and sustained success.  It is grossly unfair, but people think of the Colts run of success in the same light.  A second Super Bowl championship would put an exclamation mark on more than a decade of dominance.

4.)  Winning would mean Tom Brady can feel Peyton’s hot breath on the back of his neck.  Okay… that came out horribly wrong, but you get the idea.  We can start talking about how the Colts have won two of the last four titles.  But hey, the Pats have won three of the last nine!

5.)  Winning means I can add to my collection of bootleg highly questionable fully-stitched Colts Super Bowl jerseys from China parts unknown. I got a #88 and #29 from XLI.  DZ got a #21 and #18.  We paid a total of $125 for four jerseys.  Totally real looking.  Ebay rules.

6.)  Winning would make DZ’s forthcoming book an absolute must read.

7.)  Winning would punch Bill Polian’s ticket to Canton.  It would also greatly boost the Hall chances of Jeff Saturday, Dwight Freeney, Reggie Wayne, and Dallas Clark.

8.)  Winning would complete one of the most impressive seasons in NFL history.  Winning convincingly would start a debate that might last for years to come.  Where would you rank the 17-2* Indianapolis Colts?

9.)  Winning means another Peyton Manning appearance on SNL.  Huzzah!

10.)  Winning XLIV means fan nirvana.  The Colts never lost a game they tried to win?  Peyton won his fourth MVP?  There is life after Dungy?  Yup — we are one win from fan nirvana.  I can’t believe we are this close.