Indiana Pacers

I’ve been alive since ‘83, in Indy since ’85 and a Colts fan since I could sit still for more than 30 seconds. My brother and I have been season ticket holders for going on 3 years now, but only because we lucked into a situation where we got to jump to the front of the waiting list. We are deeply immersed in the bandwagon culture that has enveloped the city regarding the Colts. But here’s my take on it:

1. It’s annoying as hell to deal with bandwagon jumpers. They piss you off if you’ve “put in your time.” Especially if their seats are better than yours, or they have the money to tailgate, buy expensive jerseys, etc and you don’t.

2. Every “real” Colts fan says that once Manning retires and this team sucks again, the bandwagon will start to rapidly empty, like it sort of has for the Pacers, and we’ll be back where we were prior to the Polian era (and even for the first few years of the Polian era): constantly wondering if our team will skip town because of ungrateful fans.

However…

3. There’s a certain power to what the Colts have done to farm all these bandwagon jumpers, and I honestly believe that once they’re on, they’re not jumping off…at least not all of them. The Colts phenomenon is unbelievable. The economic, social, and even cultural changes that have occured thanks to them are imeasurable. Yes, once the Colts start back with the yearly crappy records, and/or the NFL pay structure inevitably shifts to favor large markets even more and that catches up with them, people will leave the wagon in droves. Games will be blacked out. But you have to remember what it was like before, when people in our city wouldn’t even give them a chance because they were so used to being Bears fans and the Colts were so alien, and unlikeable because of bad personalities on the team, and just plain bad football. I’m young, but I remember, and even stuff I don’t remember I’ve refreshed myself on (check out Nate Dunlevy’s book, “Blue Blood”).

A few things wil irreparably decimate the Colts in Indy: The economy vs. the cost of tickets, mismanagement (which we’ve been so lucky to avoid to this point) and bad behavior off-the-field, which is something Indianapolis-area residents, given their blue collar disposition, have a hard time stomaching.

That last point is just one of the things that makes the Pacers a (rotten) apple, and the Colts a (delicous) orange. The brawl, the drugs, the fights, the guns, the endless stream of bad media exposure…that’s all something the Colts have done a good job avoiding. But of course there’s more.

The Pacers are in a market that can’t sustain them. They’ve been in the top 10 in attendance just a few times in history, even when they were among the most successful franchises in the NBA every year. They also play in a league that’s only a fraction as globally-popular and successful as the NFL. The cards are stacked against them and there’s very little margin for error (but sadly, the errors have been plenty).

So it’s not the same, is all I’m saying. Indy has grown A TON in both populous and economic prestige since the 80s. Now’s the time for a successful NFL franchise to really capitalize on that. Had the Pacers avoided all the negativity and mismanagement, while they may have never been truly profitable, they could have at least tapped into the new wave of affluent, young Indy buisness-class people who were willing to watch a losing product while it was rebuilding. Now they’re just SOL, probably.

I was more referring to its popularity crossing over all “genres” of sports fans. Men, women, children, young, old…etc