NFL: Indy itchy for elusive title
The city that crowns champions yearns for one to call its own.
Indianapolis hands out trophies at the Indy 500, the Brickyard 400, at an NCAA Final Four every few years and at scads of world championships and Olympic trials it hosts. It’s a big-time sports town in almost every sense of the word – except, maybe, in the way that counts most.
It is not a titletown.
The Colts haven’t won a Super Bowl since they moved to Indy 23 years ago. They haven’t even been to the big game, in fact. The last championship to be celebrated by a big-league team inside the city limits came in 1973, when the Pacers won the ABA.
“It’s a city with a major inferiority complex,” said Bob Kravitz, sports columnist for The Indianapolis Star. “It’s a city that’s still looking for an identity, a sports identity. … We have a really nice identity as hosts. We’re very good at handing out other people’s championships. Now, the town wants one of its own.”
Once again, today will be called “Blue Friday” in Indy, and fans throughout this metro area of about 1.6 million will be wearing Colts colors, hoping a bit of Colts pride might spark Peyton Manning and the home team to their first trip to the big time.
The New England Patriots – with Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and those three Super Bowl rings – will provide the perfect foil in Sunday’s AFC championship game. In many ways, it had to be them.
“For us, they’re always the team that’s in the way of what we’re trying to do,” running back Dominic Rhodes said. ” … To get the Pats at home, to have a chance to beat them in this atmosphere. That’s what you want.”
“There are a lot of people in town who are swallowing hard this week, because they have such huge expectations last year and the fell on their sword,” Kravitz said. “In this city, the sight of Tom Brady gives us the civic heebie-jeebies.”
Vick lands in hot water
For the third time in nine months, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is making headlines for the wrong reasons.
Vick reluctantly surrendered a water bottle to security at Miami International Airport that smelled like marijuana and contained a substance in a hidden compartment. He was not arrested and was allowed to board an AirTran flight that landed in Atlanta before noon Wednesday.
Miami police said it could be weeks before a decision is made on whether to file charges against Vick.
Suicide tied to brain damage
Brain damage caused by playing football ultimately led to the suicide of former NFL defensive back Andre Waters, according to a forensic pathologist who studied Waters’ brain tissue.
Bennet Omalu of the University of Pittsburgh told The New York Times that Waters’ brain tissue resembled that of an 85-year-old man and that there were characteristics of early stage Alzheimer’s. Omalu told the newspaper he believed the damage was related to concussions Waters sustained during his 12-year NFL career with the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals.
Waters was 44 when he committed suicide last November.
Omalu said trauma was a significant factor in Waters’ brain damage, “no matter how you look at it, distort it, bend it.”
Around the league
The Miami Dolphins hope to complete their two-week search for a coach by Saturday, and the front-runner appears to be San Diego Chargers offensive coordinator Cam Cameron. … Jacksonville locked up a key defensive starter, signing linebacker Daryl Smith to a five-year contract extension worth about $25 million.