Irsay is a great owner
 

I just wanted to gladly eat crow. Irsay is so much more knowledgeable and has such conviction in his beliefs it amazes me. Not only that he was correct. In January I would have never thought this team was about to take off. The balls move was getting rid of Wentz, not matter what. The second great move was letting Ballard take over from there. It says a whole lot that Ballard/Reich and Irsay stayed on the same page through this whole mess. The man deserves a Lombardi for this-if we got the correct coaches hired this off season no reason we can't. Thank you Jim. I was an idiot to think I knew more than you about this team. You are truly THE MAN.

irsay is absolutely fantastic as an owner

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When Art Modell offered Irsay $5 Million for the rights to the name and franchise records of the Colts in 1996, Jim said "The bidding starts at $25 Million."

In other words, take a flying leap at the moon, mister ...... his father was a bad owner, but the city of Baltimore gave him no choice when they threatened to take his team away via eminent domain.

o

One thing I never understood, is why Baltimore treated the Colts as the red-headed step child to the big brother Orioles.

The Colts were bringing home just as many championships as the O's and had their hero's in their own right in, Johnny U, Raymond Berry, Art Donovan, Big Daddy, Bubba Smith, Ted Hendricks, Mike Curtis and Bert Jones.

My only conclusion is that Irsay instigated the treatment that the team got and that it was somewhat deserved.

I'm no expert on this topic, but I do know that Irsay wanted a new Stadium, the one in Baltimore sucked pretty bad! Was Irsay totally without blame, of course not, but it is really no different than what we see today, teams go where they get the best deal, and they all want new stadium deals...Baltimore fans basically blamed Irsay for all of it, the city deserved some of that blame as well!

I know that Irsay wanted a knew stadium and that he wanted it be football only, but I believe Maryland was only offering to build a dual purpose stadium.

No, the city didnt think he would tell them to, in the words of Deadpool, “suck a cock”.

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I'll be the first to say that Robert was a bad owner, but there have been numerous bad owners in the NFL over the last 50-60 years ...... but not of them (besides Irsay) had the threat of their team being taken away from though. The city of Baltimore all but put a gun to his head and dared him to make a move, and he did.

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Also, at the time of the Colts' relocation in March of 1984, the Orioles were in the midst of what was seemingly endless glory. From 1963 through 1985, they had a grand total of 1 losing season. They won 6 Pennants and 3 World Series between 1966 and 1983, and at the time of the Colts' move to Indianapolis the Orioles were the defending World Champions ...... nobody could foresee the tough times that lay ahead in the near future when the Orioles suffered 3 consecutive losing seasons from 1986 through 1988, which was punctuated by the record-breaking 21-game losing streak that they started the 1988 season with.

The city may have figured that in spite of the Colts' long, rich history of success from about 1957 through 1977, that they were "kickable" ...... they may have felt that with the Orioles as a glaring example of success to point to, Irsay would be too embarrassed to do anything but back down in a showdown. He may have been a bad owner, but he was the wrong guy to pick a fight with, regardless of how good or bad his team was on the field.

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Art Modell for starters

All I can say is I'm glad Robert Irsay was an asshole! Indianapolis metro area is small compared to many other cities they compete with, at the time of the move it was even smaller, I doubt Indianapolis would have ever gotten an expansion team, considering the metro size and the proximity of Cincinnati and Chicago...this may have been the only way we could get a team. So Irsay being an asshole worked out very well for us!

o


The city of Baltimore were even bigger assholes than was Irsay ...... if they hadn't been, the Colts would still be in Baltimore, or been in Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Memphis, or Phoenix. My guess is that they would still be in Baltimore, and that the city (at long last) would have eventually built the new stadium that the Colts needed somewhere between about 1988 and 1994. When Irsay said "I'm not moving the damned team", I think he meant, at least for the time being ....... until the city of Baltimore forced his hand by threatening to take the team away from him within 48 hours.

o

Jim is passionate and there is no question he wants to win. The team isn’t just a financial asset for him - he is a truly dedicated fan of the team. That alone puts him in the upper echelon of owners to me. But what truly makes him great is the balance he strikes with his involvement. Being involved enough to set a tone while understanding that others know better how to build his vision. That can be difficult for someone in his position. The team has had an excellent off-season and I don’t think that would be the case if Jim didn’t get involved after the Jacksonville loss or if he didn’t allow Ballard to do his thing after Jim made his expectations known.

I will be forever grateful to Jim Irsay for pushing Ballard and Reich to get Wentz the hell out of here. Cowturd called Irsay too impulsive, I call it being one smart SOB. I wouldn't trade Irsay for any other owner in football.

o


He also made on of the hardest decisions in the history of NFL ownership/management, and that was to part ways with a still prime Peyton Manning to make way for a young rookie named Andrew Luck. I wanted to cry when it happened, and I thought that it was the wrong move, but I was the one who was wrong ...... Manning should have won a Super Bowl in his first season with the Broncos in 2012 if not for a brain-freeze by their defensive backs when they had the divisional playoff game against the Ravens in the bag, and the Colts had a proverbial Montana-to-Young continuation with Manning-to-Luck and went from 2-14 in 2011 to 11-5 in 2012.

o

Irsay is a good dude as well. watching Pat McAfee show and out of the blue irsay tells pat that during a half time this season, if pat can kick a 35 yard FG and throw a 35 yard TD to reggie, irsay will donate $3M to charity.

YEP, THIS IS A GREAT OWNER!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLenmVlBjz0

Seeing how pissed how he still can get is fabulous. That man cares and was off the wall angry. Not only that he focused his anger where it needed to be. Wentz failed not for a lack of trying, he just doesn’t have it. Love the man.

LOL....again, who gets that interview out of Irsay besides McAfee? I was laughing so hard I was crying!:D

Me too... helluva a great guy IMHO and the guy that makes being a fan so good regardless of record. An owner who has the smarts and really gives a shit!