Unanswered Questions
Jul 31st
Kids ask all kinds of questions. It’s their nature to be inquisitive, to want to learn as much about everything as it exists in the present day. I remember as a child doing the same thing; I wanted to soak up as much information as possible. It helps a child make sense of things, to understand what is going on around them. My daughter asks questions all the time. What is this? What are they doing? Why does this happen? I try and give her a straight forward answer, “adult answers”, if you will. But sometimes I have to make it easier for her to understand, she is only two years old after all. It is amazing though at this tender age what she comprehends, especially the words and phrases that she uses. One minute she will say something that I am surprised she even understands and the next minute would best be described as simply a child’s imagination. It may not make much sense to me, but to her it does completely. So the question is, what does this have to do with football?
Sports Loyalty and Free Agency
Jul 13th
As I get ready for the new NFL season to start (training camps start in just a few weeks), my attention is drawn to free agency and how much it has changed in sports today. There is no loyalty anymore; it is about chasing dollar signs instead of championships. Player’s attitudes are more set to the mode of sure championships are nice, but I have to get paid, first and foremost. Championships do not seem like the ultimate goal, or maybe they are just now placed a close second. Doesn’t the competitive nature in an athlete want that more than anything, to be on top, to be considered the best, to be a champion? It just seems like a complete reversal from when I was growing up. Michael Jordan, for example, was a competitive bastard that hated to lose at anything, basketball, golf with buddies, playing cards on the plane; it didn’t matter. He would rather humiliate you than lose to you. That is why I am miffed about the world of sports today. What happened to athletes like Jordan that went out every night to take it to you, just to say that they beat you? Now it’s even a rarity for an athlete to stay in one place, unless he is a franchise player; that has become the way of the land, I like to refer to it as “contracts over championships”.
Snow Bowl
Jun 13th
The NFL has recently announced that the 2014 Super Bowl will be played in New York at the new Meadowlands Stadium, home to the AFC New York Jets and NFC New York Giants. This is somewhat surprising, but not a shock by any means. New York has the largest media market and is home to its headquarters in downtown Manhattan. It is a unique opportunity for the league, which traditionally awards the Super Bowl to warm weather host cities or until recently, cold weather cities with new stadiums with a roof or dome. Plus, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the success of the 2014 Super Bowl would determine whether more championships are played at cold-weather sites. My brother-in-law recently asked me what I thought about the subject and after talking through several points; here are some pros and cons. More >
It’s time to retire, Brett…
May 24th
The NFL off-season. Those are words that any hardcore NFL fan dread to hear. Other than the draft and a few good weeks of free agent talk, the rest is filled with a lot of nothing, mostly filler stories and rumors that almost make that time tolerable, almost. And until training camp gets close, there generally isn’t much news involving individual teams, and if there is, it’s usually bad news, arrests and the like. That is unless you need to hear about mandatory workouts and when your new rookies and free agents start practicing; fantasy draft preparation starts early, you got to get your team ready, I get it. That is until Brett Favre decides he hasn’t heard about himself in the news lately. Brett Favre’s annual retirement talk starts and believe me the football world eats it up. Will he play this season? Will it be his last season? Will he come back next year? What is Brett Favre going to do next? And again the world waits in numb anticipation.
And now the news…
May 14th
Today’s society is very different than it’s predecessors. We want information right away, right now, instantly appearing before our eyes. We don’t have time to wait around for news, certainly no time to wait until tomorrow. Call it the internet generation. Instant information. This is definitely not the newspaper generation (we don’t have time for that), waiting for the news to be reported so we could read it tomorrow, that’s what your grandpa and your father did every morning at the kitchen table. Heck, I remember pouring over the sports page every day as a child, reading every box score and every stat of my favorite players, it was kind of a big deal. Before the internet, when you missed a ball game, the stats would not be available until a half of a day later; if you didn’t get the final score, then we would have to wait some more. Now I get a little miffed when my Wi-Fi connection is slow and web pages don’t load quick enough, oh, how times have changed.
Welcome to Indy…
Apr 26th
I love the NFL draft for many reasons. After reading multiple mock drafts from “experts”, it is fun to see how many they actually guessed right, which usually isn’t many. Seeing it play out is fun, since every draft has a few guys who expect to go a lot higher than they do and the looks on their faces are nothing but priceless. Most teams are going to pick on best player available, others though go after specific skill positions and if no one is available when they are on the clock, they trade down or sometimes up or even roll the dice and bet it all gamble (see Tebow, Tim). Actually there is no real science to it, with every bust comes a hidden gem. You have to factor in character and team chemistry as one bad apple spoils the whole batch (insert your favorite team cancer here). But it’s also fun watching proud fathers realizing their son’s dream come true, proud mothers who can only cry with joy for these same son’s and especially girlfriends and/or baby mama’s that pretend like they didn’t just hit the lottery. Ok maybe that was mean, but you can’t tell me it doesn’t happen. The biggest reason though that I love the draft is that it means one real thing, the new NFL season is just around the corner and it’s been a long few months after a bitter defeat in the Super Bowl.
So with the 2010 NFL draft weekend concluded and the picks made, it’s time to welcome in the new season with the unofficial meet and greet of new faces that will be wearing the big blue horseshoe.
*Snore*… flabglabla, what? Oh yeah, the blog.
Apr 21st
This post goes out to reader “betterd” for emailing and stating:
Where are u guys? … COME ON GET IT TOGETHER.
Well betterd, we hear you and everyone else loud and clear, believe me. It’s the off-season, as everyone painfully knows, and we’re doing some revamps to the site. Sorry to fall out of the loop everyone, but we promise that we’re not dead. Well, for the most part, we aren’t dead, though my lovelife is dead as usual… *single tear*
We’ve got some exciting shit on the block, including:
Downtown Indy Video Interviews
A weekly Podcast
A CONTEST EXTRAORDINNAIRE HOW THE F DO YOU SPELL EXTRAORDINNAIRE
And some other new and exciting content coming your way.
Also, Rick lost a bet a while back concerning our Facebook friends… and we’re going to make him pay. So yeah, keep coming by, we’ll be up and running again… sometime soon.
Random News
Mar 27th
There have been several changes around the Colts complex in the past couple weeks. Just to keep you up to date (because that’s what we’re here for), here are some of the random things to note:
The Colts have been awarded two additional compensatory draft picks in the 2010 NFL draft. They will receive two picks in the seventh round (nos. 240th and 246th overall) for losing two unrestricted free agents in Darrell Reid and Hunter Smith and without signing qualifying free agents prior to the 2009 season.
Site changes to come
Mar 24th
Hello our faithful readers. I just wanted to update everyone on some interesting things we have in store for the 12th Horseman in the near future.
1) We’re looking to upgrade our site format. We’ve been experiencing many problems with our current theme as many of you have expressed to us. We’ve heard your cries loud and clear and are looking to actually dish out some cash to make this place top notch.
2) We’re looking to upgrade our staff. Our first go around didn’t exactly pan out, with a bunch of no shows and noncommittals. I’ve posted a few help wanted ads on our Facebook page, but haven’t had any hits on that. If you or someone you know is a knowledgeable and passionate NFL fan and is literate, send them our way and we’ll check them out.
These two things (excuses) are the reason for my absence lately. I’d like to commend Derek and Andrew for holding down the fort for the last week or so, you guys did a great job. Now it’s my responsibility to get us all caught up. Stay tuned.
Ch-Ch-Changes
Mar 20th
The Colts have officially announced their long-anticipated coaching staff changes.
Clyde Christensen (pictured) finally gets his shot at offensive coordinator, replacing Tom Moore. Christensen has been on the Colts staff since Tony Dungy was hired in 2002, mostly as receivers coach, and was the assistant head coach this past season. His last gig as OC came under Dungy in Tampa Bay in 2001.
Continuing the trend of promoting from within, Pete Metzelaars will take over the offensive line for the retired Howard Mudd. The Wabash grad played under current Ball State head coach Stan Parrish, and spent 16 seasons in the league as a player before joining the Colts staff full-time in 2004.
If you’re a college football fan, two familiar names will fill the vacancies left by Christensen and Metzelaars. Ron Turner, who spent eight seasons as head coach at Illinois, will be the Colts’ new receivers coach. Turner seems to be a bit overqualified for the job, considering that he spent two stints as offensive coordinator of the Bears (1993-96, 2005-09). Another successful college coach, Ron Prince, will be the new assistant offensive line coach. Prince has no NFL experience but spent time at Kansas State (head coach 2006-08), and Virginia (offensive coordinator 2001-05) in the college ranks. Before being bumped to OC with the Cavaliers, Turner spent the previous eight seasons as offensive line coach at Alabama A&M, South Carolina State, James Madison, and Cornell.
All of this news pales in comparison to the promotion of Jim Bob Cooter (giggle) to offensive assistant. Cooter was a backup quarterback at Tennessee during his college days before joining the Colts’ staff last season (why didn’t anyone tell me that Jim Bob Cooter was with the team?) As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk said earlier today, Cooter has a bit of a checkered past. At UT, he was arrested for a DUI in 2006. Also, he was facing aggravated burglary charges after climbing into a window and jumping into bed with a woman last summer.
Everyone deserves a second chance, but maybe Cooter’s promotion will make Colts’ fans cool it with the whole “classier than thou” attitude. With huge rosters and coaching staffs, you’re bound to find coaches/players that have had legal trouble at some point on every single NFL team. Let’s hope Cooter’s past transgressions are behind him.
But, getting back to the point, the most interesting news comes from Phil Richards of the Star. He is reporting that Tom Moore will be retained as senior offensive assistant. I’m assuming this may be more of an “advisor” role than a day-to-day task. It’s smart for the Colts to keep Moore in the family to help with the development of Christensen.










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