Irsay is a great owner

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

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.

o


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.

o

[JAFF]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

o


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.

o

Art Modell for starters

[CletusPyle]

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles

o


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.

o

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!

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by CletusPyle

All I can say is that I'm glad that Robert Irsay was an asshole !!! The Indianapolis-Metro area is small compared to many other cities that they compete with, and at the time of the move it was even smaller ...... subsequently, I doubt that Indianapolis would have ever gotten an expansion team, considering the metro sizes and the proximity of Cincinnati and Chicago. This may have been the only way that we could have gotten 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

[rm1369]

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.

[Spike]

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.

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by Spike

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

[rcubed]

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.

[Colts And Orioles]

o


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.

o