Ari's Take: Indianapolis Celebrates

As my wife was jumping up and down celebrating her hometown team's victory in Super Bowl XLI from afar, Ari was celebrating in the midst of the pandemonium. Here is what he had to say.....

Though the windchill was close to 15 below last night, downtown Indy was rocking--though fairly safely, with only a few arrests. Game was mediocre with many mistakes in the North Miami muck, but the result is all that matters. The Colts were rather resilient, as they were all year. I called 27-17 last week, but close enough.

The archdiocese of Indianapolis and many others have called off school (and perhaps work) today, but I was 15 minutes early to work even though I watched the game in Terre Haute with Maria Sunday night, and thus drove 75 miles home this morning in dark and 20 below (coldest this former So Cal kid has ever felt) to shower, shave, put on coat and tie, unpack, finish typing this e-mail, etc

I do feel a tad "guilty" that I have lived in Circle City for seven months and seen the team win the title and others have waited 23 years. But then again, though I am not a Saint Louis (baseball) Cardinals fan, they are basically the local team in Indy too(and certainly in T.H. where Maria resides and fell in love with them last fall--lucky her! She and I also resided in Florida last year while the UF Gators won the hoops title and I departed one month prior to Miami's NBA crown), so that's two local "Hoosier" teams with titles. Amazing.

And while I will always remain a faithful Denver Bronco fan (the team I've cheered for since 1984), I was cheering for the Colts passionately this season, especially during the playoff run. But more so, I rooted for the CITY of Indianapolis, a fine place of which I am proud to be a resident and state employee. So what's next? Butler (currently 22-2 and top ten nationally) to the final four? A deep playoff run by the Pacers? How about pitchers and catchers reporting in nine days. That warms my heart up.

Parade today at 4:30pm, which is totally bizarre since it will be about 20 below with the windchill (single digits sans windchill), but they aren't wasting time apparently. I actually plan to be at the Pacers game tonight to boo Stephen Jackson as he returns with the Warriors, so I'll at least be indoors. Part of the parade/rally will be in The Dome, but the bulk will be outside. This is because the arrogant NFL as the Pro Bowl Saturday and the players must arrive for this meaningless game by Tuesday night.

Maybe I can "affect change" as I work for the City--particularly the War Memorials Commission--which is in charge of many of the sites where the parade might pass through or even start/end. It should pass one block south of my office around 4:45 or so. COLLLLD!

Here are some good links to blogs, articles and the like:


Colts cheers erupt in Baghdad (cool, very cool, indeed)

Indy celebrates Super Bowl victory (downtown aftermath)

Colts defeat Bears to win Super Bowl XLI (news summary from Indy Star)

Church parties on despite ban (interesting)

Indianapolis' legendary sports columnist, Bob Kravitz' essay (after the PC opening)

Blogging the game (long but intriguing with text messages from Edgerrin James included)

Indianapolis wins Super Bowl XLI (Terre Haute paper recap)

Unbearable defeat for Bears, fans (Chicago Sun-Times)

Bears fall in sloppy Super Bowl (Chicago Tribune)

City, suburbs react (Chicago)

Stomachs sinking all over Chicagoland (Chicago Trib blog)
In Iraq (Chicago focus)

"Super Bowl Sundae" (Rensselaer Republican--town halfway between the two cities where Maria's good friend hails from)


Did you know there were two "African American" coaches in the game last night? I just heard that....for the 157th time! SO demeaning and condescending to focus on that.

AJK