irsay baffonery on display now

[RavenScallywag]

In the 30 for 30 about the Colts Marching Band, there's some pretty terrible Irsay clips. Things like him, at a public event, saying "It's not your GD team, it's my family's team"...the drunken press conference at BWI is just something else. If an owner did that today, I'd have to imagine Goodell would be on the phone with them in a second doing damage control. He couldn't even figure out how to open the door.

We can hate Jim Irsay all we want, but hearing him talk about his father, you can tell he got pretty fucked up from him. When Bob decided to start working with Indy, he called Jim and told him to fly out to Indy that night. The next day after arriving, Jim called him to let him know they arrived, and he said "What the hell are you doing in Indy?" He had been drunk when he told them to do it, so he had no recollection of it.

[Bigfish]

Wow.

I was only 4 when the Colts left, and my father unfortunately had passed...but he ironically along with my mother are actually from Pittsburgh, so he likely would have made me a Steelers fan (yuk!)...so I have zero recollection of the Colts time in here.

I actually remember when I started watching football when i was 9, being shocked when I was told that the Colts used to play in Baltimore.

I missed the most bizarre, stupid and selfish owners in sports history IMHO.

Irsay almost seems like a cartoon character...from the way he actually looked, to his drunken actions.

He was like a combination of early/mid 80's Steinbrenner, the Maloof brothers, Ted Stepien, and unfortunately, Peter Angelos.

Wow...my condolences to the old Colts fans who had to deal with him and the wreckage he left in his wake.

On anger note...what an unfreakingbeleivable first round. So many multi-year pro bowlers, so many HOFers...wow.

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Nice post. I grew up idolizing the colts of the 60s. Much like our beloved Ravens, they were a competitive team always with a great history. I deleted several paragraphs of digressing to stay on point.

Bo Jackson and Eli were divas when drafted, but Elway invented it. Last year the BS chant heard clearly on the broadcast at M&T didn't come close to the "Elway sucks" chat in Memorial stadium for Elway in the first game in Baltimore during his rookie year. It lasted the entire game. From the kick off to the end of the game it was unrelentless and deafening. I'd like to hear an interviewer ask horse mouth what he remembers about that day. I'll doubt you'll find footage of that in the NFL films vault. I can't imagine a more hostile environment from a fan base already pissed at a owner who bought the winningest franchise in NFL history, tear it apart then threaten to move it. The outrage of Colts fans probably reached a crescendo on that day. I was there and Ed who previously posted was there, it was a day in infamy for us. Behind Irskay, Elway will always be #2 on my list of despicable people in the history of Baltimore football. Beating Denver last year with him on the sidelines was most satisfactory to me.

[HoustonRaven]

I watched "Elway to Marino" last night as well.

What a great documentary! Gave me info and insight about the Colts I did not know or was too young to remember.

I agree with Ravenboy and his earlier post. I don't blame Elway one bit for not want to come to Baltimore and work in such dysfunction. And if you watch the documentary, it points out it was Irsay, not Elway, that ruined it.

[ed from Bel Air]

Nice post. I grew up idolizing the colts of the 60s. Much like our beloved Ravens, they were a competitive team always with a great history. I deleted several paragraphs of digressing to stay on point.

Bo Jackson and Eli were divas when drafted, but Elway invented it. Last year the BS chant heard clearly on the broadcast at M&T didn't come close to the "Elway sucks" chat in Memorial stadium for Elway in the first game in Baltimore during his rookie year. It lasted the entire game. From the kick off to the end of the game it was unrelentless and deafening. I'd like to hear an interviewer ask horse mouth what he remembers about that day. I'll doubt you'll find footage of that in the NFL films vault. I can't imagine a more hostile environment from a fan base already pissed at a owner who bought the winningest franchise in NFL history, tear it apart then threaten to move it. The outrage of Colts fans probably reached a crescendo on that day. I was there and Ed who previously posted was there, it was a day in infamy for us. Behind Irskay, Elway will always be #2 on my list of despicable people in the history of Baltimore football. Beating Denver last year with him on the sidelines was most satisfactory to me.

At my tailgate we have what we call a "hierarchy of hate". Irsay is always 1, elway 2, Tags 3, Jack Kent Cook 4. I have seen Elway talk about that day, but it was many years ago. He mentioned he could not believe how all those people could hate him so much.

[Ravenswintitle]

I watched "Elway to Marino" last night as well.

What a great documentary! Gave me info and insight about the Colts I did not know or was too young to remember.

I agree with Ravenboy and his earlier post. I don't blame Elway one bit for not want to come to Baltimore and work in such dysfunction. And if you watch the documentary, it points out it was Irsay, not Elway, that ruined it.

I don't blame him either. And it was really eye opening to hear guys like Gil Brandt talk about how much more the Colts could've gotten for Elway if they had done it during the draft. What a bafoon of an owner...

Really great show though, I will watch again. Interesting to see how many teams passed on Marino, who they picked, and how it worked out.

[RustonRifle]

No one should be forced to work in a ---- plant. And that's exactly what Irsay was running here at the end.

I always thought it took balls for Elway to do what he did, but it was a great decision in the long run.

Was it fun beating him last year? Sure.. especially after how they treated Tebow and how much money they gave Huckseed Manning.

But I always loved watching the guy play and never blamed him for the final demise of our Colts.

I believe this as well although Kush was a major part of the Elway's not wanting to come to Baltimore. With Elway or not the team was moving. Irsay was playing preaseason games in other cities exploring a move years before he pulled the trigger. I blame Irsay and our politicians for the move and no one else.

Elway made a great career move and I refuse to be bitter about a player making the right choice. Of course I would rather have seen him with a horseshoe on his helmet.

[Raven Werewolf]

I'm another one of the too young to remember crew but from what I'm reading here and elsewhere it makes some sense I guess. Who in there right mind WOULD want to play for an owner like Irsay? And the Kush guy sounds like a real tyrant so there's another strike against the Colts. Elway does seem like a pompous schmo but I'm not sure I would fault him on this one. Sort of like when TO wouldn't play here --it had nothing to do with our city but rather he didn't trust Kyle Boller as his Qb (and for good reason as it turned out.)

But it kills me that as much of a scumbag as Irsay seemed to be Art (the man who did more for the NFL than Irsay could ever dream of) is still the one that is hated and reviled nationwide. I guess because Jimmy is popular with the media and fans it tends to soften his fathers image or something, I don't know but it's still irritating. Anyway I will be sure to catch the rerun of this because it sounds like a really good watch.

[RavensRule21215]

What a fucking idiot and yet Art is more reviled.

I will say although Elway didn't want to play for Irsay and Kush (which he later clearly stated and he had nothing against Baltimore) he was an arrogant smug SOB that I loved watching lose last year to BALTIMORE.

Fuck Him too

In his own way I think Elway did more to ruin the game than free agency. What a punk. He hadn't even suited up and he was holding a proud franchise hostage with his attitude. I believe in letting bygones be bygones, and I don't invest a lot of energy in things long past, but I do smile a little inside every time he loses.

:)

[rd1z]

Fuck John Elway.

That is all.

[chicagoravensfan]

Great doc. As someone who did not know much of this backstory, one thing that confused me while watching it: Accorsi was steadfast about getting a top 5-6 pick so he could pick Marino. But after Marino slid during the draft, why couldn't he trade with any of the teams in the teens or 20s and get marino plus a future 1st? He alleges there was a vast conspiracy against al davis, but he could have traded for the raiders 26 pick and taken marino ahead of the dolphins. Seemed like a lot of rear-end covering from accorsi.

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[Mista T]

I never understand why some Colts fans got upset with Elway.

Fuck Elway! How could any Baltimore fan ever support that ass-hat?

[moose10101]

I agree and lost my voice too. I also always felt that his refusing to play in Baltimore seem to set off a bad chain of events.

Elway may have been the final nail in the coffin, but the "chain of events" was well under way. Here's the Colts' record before that draft (see a trend?):

1980 - 7-9
1981 - 2-14
1982 - 0-8-1

And Irsay had been peddling the team for more than three years before that draft occurred:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...g=2894,7707742

Irsay would have moved the team even if the Elway debacle had never occurred.

BTW, Kush's reputation was well-deserved. If he were coaching today, he wouldn't last a week before the players would revolt.