How One Colts Fan Follows the Team from Prison
 

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Antonio Barnes has been a Colts fan since they played in Baltimore ........ Glenn Doughty, Nesby Glasgow, Lydell Mitchell, and Curtis Dickey are some of names that come off of the top of his head when asked about the origins of his Colts fandom.

He also vividly remembers March 17th of 1984 ........ the night in which the Colts, under the threat of eminent domain, fled the city of Baltimore and arrived in their new home in Indianapolis.

Barnes stayed loyal to his team, in spite of the change in venue from his home city of Baltimore to Indianapolis. His jobs in prison include cook (his shift starts at 4 AM), tutoring the mentally handicapped, and suicide watch. He is serving a life sentence for conspiracy to commit murder. His life in crime began at the age of 12.

In Barnes' mind, he deserves what he has gotten ........ he detests the 17 year-old punk criminal that he once was. In fact, unlike many of his fellow criminals, Barnes DID NOT become a drug dealer out of necessity. He never went hungry as a child, he always had a roof over his head, his family had a television, and his parents even took him to Colts games at Memorial Stadium on Sundays. But it wasn't his parents, or even the Baltimore Colts players that Barnes looked up to ........ it was the hot-shot street hustlers manning the corners of his neighborhood, with their flashy cars and attractive women. For making this choice, Barnes wound up paying the ultimate price. He has accepted his fate, and is doing whatever he can to salvage his wasted life.



A Life Sentence, and a Life Reformed: How One Colts Fan Follows from Prison

(By Zak Keefer)

https://www.indystar.com/story/sport...on/2274831002/



https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2...unds&auto=webp


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I date back as far as you do dude. But WTF!

Holy shit, being imprisoned is punishment enough, but imagine being imprisoned somewhere that aired every Jaguars game...

That's why they make those hooks that bend down with enough weight.

At least he gets to watch the Colts twice a year. It could be worse. He could be in New England.

Fuck Baltimore

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If there were no Baltimore Colts in the first place, there would be no Indianapolis Colts in the 2nd place.

Indianapolis might not have a football team at all, and if they did, they wouldn't be named "the Colts."


That's the origins of the team that you root for every week, month, and year.

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Bullshit. Indianapolis would have gotten a team just like any other expansion team. You might as well start digging up info on the Miami Seahawks because they were the origin of the Colts.

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As I just stated, if they had gotten an expansion team, they would not have been named "the Colts." Also, you have no proof that Indianapolis would have gotten an expansion franchise had the Baltimore Colts not moved there. At best, they would have had a 50 percent chance in the expansions of 1994 and 2002 that eventually went to Jacksonville, Carolina, and Houston.

Also, the origins of the franchise ARE NOT in Miami. The Miami Seahawks were a team from the old AAFC that folded in 1947. Several businessmen took over the nucleus of that folded team, and moved them to Baltimore. THAT Baltimore Colts franchise folded in 1950, after only one season in the NFL. They have nothing to do with the current Colts franchise, which began in 1953, just as the expansion Washington Senators in 1961 (now the Texas Rangers) have nothing to do with the original Washington Senators (whom are now the Minnesota Twins.) 8 of the players on that original 1953 Colts team played for the defunct Dallas Texans in 1952, but that team folded (not moved from one city to another, like the Rams, the Cardinals, the Raiders, and the Colts have done.)


So you are wrong about your assertion about this franchise having its origins in Miami, just as you were wrong several weeks ago when you facetiously called the Baltimore Colts team "the Browns", when in fact the Ravens are the transplanted Browns, not the 1953-1983 Colts.


That will be the day when YOU school me on football history.

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Either way, his premise about not giving a rat's patoot about Baltimore is spot on.

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No, itsn't.

As I previously stated, there would be no Indianapolis Colts had there not been a Baltimore Colts in the first place. You can thank the city of Baltimore for being stupid enough to threaten Robert Irsay with eminent domain, but the team that you now know and love would not exist in its current form had things not played out the way that they did.

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The city and the residents, not the team.

It seems that you are the only bright spot in that place.

I'm sure Cleveland agrees.

I'll add this

Fuck Unitas, Fuck Jones, Fuck Morral and anyone else who played for the Colts before 1984. They had nothing to do with the team coming to Indy.... If I ever buy the Colts all those fuckers names are coming out of the ring of honor.

I'd say fuck Bob Irsay but he did outsmart the city of Baltimore. The only person from before 1984 that I am OK with is Jim Irsay....

I'm sorry, but I don't share your sentiment.

It's a free world.... I wish they would have just renamed the team when they came here. Then we wouldnt have to hear about the Browns

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And Jim Irsay's favorite Colts team ever was ........ the 1975 Baltimore Colts.

In 2009, Irsay held a reunion at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in which 39 of the 53 surviving members of that 1975 Colts team showed up at Lucas Oil Stadium for that reunion, including Bert Jones, Lydell Mitchell, Mike Curtis, John Dutton, and Fred Cook.


You can read all about it in this book.



https://books.google.com/books/conte...fife=w200-h300




Here are 2 of Irsay's guests at said reunion (Bert Jones and Lydell Mitchell.)



http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j6...pszhecrtrj.jpg


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Easier for you to say. I was a Baltimore Colts fan that needed a team to follow. I never jumped ship when the team moved, so I have lived through all of the lean years just like you. I like Irsay just believe in the shoe, and everything it represents from 1953 and on.

Unitas, Berry, Ameche, Moore, Donovan, Marchetti, Parker, Jones, Mitchell, Carr, Dutton...why would you not want to accept legends like this?

Good for Irsay. But I dont care

I have never been a Baltimore fan..... I was a Steeler fan before the colts moved. Hated the Baltimorons

After all these years, the narrative is still misunderstood. Baltimore Colts fans didn’t control whether their team stayed or moved. Baltimore Colts fans didn’t just reside in Baltimore, they were Marylanders (eastern and western shore), Delawareans, Pennsylvanians, etc. They loved their team. When the move occurred, hearts were broken. Some of us continued to follow the team and others couldn’t forgive and forget. For those of who remained a fan throughout, all Colts history is important, not just the Baltimore era or Indy era.

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This is what our beloved Peyton Manning had to say about wearing the same uniform as Johnny Unitas.


"I make no comparison to him. I hold him in such regard that it's an honor to wear the same uniform. The fact that my number is one below his, and the fact that I wear the same horseshoe helmet inspires me. He as the ultimate field general. He called his own plays, and was in complete control out there. He was aggressive, and utterly fearless. He was convinced that if you did things right and had worked on them, it didn't matter what the situation was. I asked him about the Jim Mutscheller play from the 1958 championship game. He said,. 'If it's there and and you execute it, it's the right call.' I have the same mentality. I make a lot of my own calls, As my offensive coordinator Tom Moore says, 'No guts, no blue chips.' If you call a play you believe in, what does it matter if it's 1st and 10 on the opening drive of the 2nd half, or if it's 4th and 5 with 30 seconds to go? If this is the play you believe in, this is the play you call. You make it work. That's Unitas."


https://books.google.com/books?id=8E...Unitas&f=false


Also from Peyton Manning:


I still look to Baltimore for our history. That is why it was always such a big deal when we visited the Ravens, because Johnny U would be on the sideline. I always made a point of going over to him. He told me that he liked the way that I [played the game. I consider that the ultimate compliment."


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Still don’t care

Remember when Peyton intended to wear the black high tops to honor Johnny.

Remember when Unitas and the other Baltimorons were upset that Irsay took the name and the records from Baltimore????

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...lings/1810527/

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You said that you don't care about anything about the Colts prior to 1984, with the exception of Jim Irsay.

I just gave you two glaring examples of why the entire history of the franchise (since 1953) is extremely important to BOTH Jim Irsay AND the most famous player of the Indianapolis era to ever wear the uniform, Peyton Manning ....... and you sit there like a child with his fingers in his ears, continually saying, "I don't care. I dont' care. I don't care."


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None of what you quoted has anything to do with the Indianapolis Colts. Without any of the the things you quoted the team would still be here and be the same team

The only common denominator is Jim Irsay. If he would have retired or sold the team after moving here in 1983 the team would still be here

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Yes, it does. As I stated earlier, the only reason why the Indianapolis Colts exist in the first place is because the Baltimore Colts existed in the first place, and moved there overnight under threat of eminent domain. That is a fact, not speculation.

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But what you seem to not see is that the history of Unitas Joes and all of the other players have nothing to do with the move.

They had nothing to do with all the AFC South Titles. Nothing to do with the regular season winning streaks. Nothing to do with the Super Bowl win. Nothing..... not one damn thing

They have nothing to do with the Indianapolis Colts

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OK, Puck.

I'll side with the sentiments of Peyton Manning and Jim Irsay, and you can side with whichever sentiments you want to side with.

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At the time, I’m sure a player, who proudly wore the uniform, was more than a little heartbroken. I’m not trying to change your opinion. It is what it is. However, Peyton’s comments represent his admiration for the player Johnny Unitas was, regardless of the city he played in. I think Peyton’s comments are well-worth considering.

He says nice things about a lot of players. No matter what team Unitas was a great player. He was a Baltimore Colts player. Not an Indianapolis Colts player

I agree with what he said. The history should have stayed in Baltimore

WTF was Manning suppose to say? Seriously dude he had nothing to do with Manning being here or being great anymore than Marino did. Manning learned the traits of many great QBs.

You could wipe out every good player that ever played for Baltimore and replace them with JAGs and it wouldn’t make any difference to where we are now

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Exactly what he did say, which is that he feels a kinship with and has an admiration for the Baltimore Colts teams and all of the players that came before him.

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The Indianapolis Colts and the Baltimore Colts are one franchise. Period.

You not liking it and/or your suppositions about wiping out the records and replacing them means nothing, except to you.


https://www.pro-football-reference.c.../clt/index.htm


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So if Peyton said it it must be true. Huh? Who gives a fuck?

You been drinking? LOL :cool:

Nope

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Not according to Peyton Manning ........ according to the NFL, the official record books, and history.


https://www.pro-football-reference.c.../clt/index.htm


You can live in whatever alternate reality that you want to live in, and believe that the Baltimore Colts and the Indianapolis Colts are 2 separate franchises if you want to. Have fun.


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I can’t separate the team into two separate franchises nor do I want to. My love for the Colts included a group a players who wore the horseshoe in both the cities of Baltimore and Indianapolis. Some of those men in turn played with men who predated the Indy squads and others who post dated the Baltimore squads. To me it’s a neverending chain of links that cross generations as well as two cities. And god forbid they move again, while pained, I will continue to cheer them on. Unless of course they move to the land of the Massholes.:cool:

At the game today and I realized that none of the Baltimoreons are actually in the Ring of Honor unless they played in Indy....

So I withdrew my bid to buy the Colts.....

Seems that Irsay must agree with me