I didnt grow up with the Colts.

[WrongBaldy]

My interest in football began a year or two after my interest in baseball. Neither of my parents ever cared for sports, so my interest was initially piqued by my classmates in elementary school during the late 60's. First I became obsessed by the Orioles, then about a year later, the Colts.

Sadly, my first year of fandom culminated in the upset loss to the Jets in SB III. Fortunately, the Colts redeemed themselves two years later by winning SB V. That was a remarkable feat because they turned the ball over SEVEN times and still eked out a win. But I don't really remember the turnovers. Mostly just two plays stick in my mind - the twice-tipped pass that John Mackey took to the house and Jim O'Brien's game-winning field goal in the closing seconds.

I remained a huge Colts fan during the Bert Jones years (still the 2nd best all-time Baltimore QB behind Unitas in my opinion). Those were great times but the Colts never went far in the playoffs because of a weak secondary that got torched repeatedly by the likes of Bradshaw and Stabler in the post season.

Injuries ultimately did in Jones' career, and things really started to go downhill in the Frank Kush era. Even so, I was greatly pissed when Irsay pulled his middle-of-the-night getaway stunt. I pretty much took a 20+ year hiatus from football. My interest in baseball also waned. Even when the Ravens came into being I didn't renew interest right away. That didn't happen until 2006, just in time to see them lose that dreadful playoff game against, of course, the INDY Colts. That single game renewed my hatred of Irsay's Colts, a feeling that really didn't mellow until the Ravens won SB 47. Even today I dislike the Colts, but the feelings aren't so strong now.

I'm once again a fan of Baltimore's NFL franchise. They're just named after a different animal now. For whatever reason, though, my interest in baseball never returned.

Looking back, one can in hindsight reflect on the phenomenon of how being a fan of any professional sport can become such a big part of one's life for such a long time.

Bert jones was a beast

[cjandrze]

I can't relate personally but my mom was PISSED. She used to regale me with stories of Irsay's deception and assholery. I can only imagine the heartbreak.

Same, but my dad. I was 2 when they left.

[HbgPARavenfan]

What was it like growing up as Baltimore Colts fan as a kid?

Just go...

My Dad Hated John Elway his entire life.

[Shas]

My parents were Colts season ticket holders from the time we moved here in '69 until the team left (and have been Ravens season ticket holders since '96--they are 81 and still go to every game).

I didn't have season tickets but still went to a lot of games. My dad would buy a cheap ticket for me in the endzone bleachers under the scoreboard, but then would bring me up to their seats in the first row of the upper deck in section 32, which was pretty close to the 50 yard line. The seating was just a metal beacher, so their "friends" in that row would just slide down and let me squeeze into their row, even though the two guys on the other side of me were Gus and Ted, two, 300-lb bar owners who charted a bus from Dallastown, PA. My first taste of whiskey was from one of their flasks...I was probably 13. Hey, it was cold, particularly on those metal bleachers.

"The Big Wheel" had seats in our section and once he was properly lubricated would come down to our row to start the C O L T S cheer, working his way around the upper deck, with The Spoke in tow.

Most of my memories are along those lines, rather than me recalling specific games or plays. Some of the things that stand out in my memories:

1. The mens room. First time encountering a trough urninal, which makes an impression on a young kid. It was so crowded that we'd stand in line to pee in the sinks.
2. The south end zone. The back corners of the endzone were gravel--the baseball warning track---because of the way they squeezed the field in. The dugouts were boarded up with padded walls, except for a small opening for the players to get to their lockerrooms.
3. The turf. It was basically gone by November--just a dust strip between the hashes. I think I recall them trying to spray paint the dead turf green sometimes.
4. Chance encounters. You'd see players aound town. Went to high school with Art Donovan's daughter. Got Johnny U's autograph when we went to his Golden Arm restuarant.
5. Unitas We Stand game. Clearly remember the plane towing the banner and Johnny going back into the game to throw a late touchdown before being shipped to San Diego.
6. Plane into the stands. We were walking back to the car, standing at the corner of Ednor & 36th. Saw the plane, didn't see the crash. Heard about it on the transistor radio my dad brought to games.
7. Mike Curtis. I clearly recall the fan in a redskins jersey who ran out during a Dolphins game to steal the ball when Curtis knocked the crap out of him with his arm in a cast.

[mmi16]

Born of a Baltimoe family that got relocated many times compliments of the B&O Railroad. First became aware of football when the family was attending a friends home while we were living in Pittsburgh - watching it on a black and white TV in 1953 - I was 7. The family got tranferred back to Baltimore in 1954.

Remember a family picnic in Patapsco State Park on opening day of the 1955 season and hearing on radio Alan Amache's 79 yard TD run the first time he touched the ball in the NFL from a hand off by George Shaw. The Colts upset the Bears 23-17. Checking the records, there were only slightly over 36K in attendence at Memorial Stadium.

First game I can remember attending was the Dec. 23, 1956 game against the Redskins (game had been scheduled for earlier in the year but the date conflicted with the Naval Academy's contract for use of Memorial Stadium which specified that no football game could be played at the stadium either the weekend before or the weekedn following Navy's game). The Colts won on a 'walk off' 53 yard TD catch by Jim Mutschler on a pass from Unitas.

Recall the rain game in 1958 where the Colt hammered the Packers 56-0 - sitting in the upper deck from the opening kickoff to the final gun. (Family never believed in leaving early.)

The emotional swings in the 1958 Championship game had me crying one minute and cheering the next. The family got transferred to Northeast Indiana following the game and the family went to the College All-star Game held at Soldier Field in Chicago between the NFL Champion Colts and the college all-stars.

Continued living out of state until 1972 when my employer transferred me to Baltimore. Held and used Colts season tickets from 1977 through 1982, gave the rights to the tickets to a neighbor for the 1983 season.

Will never root for the Indianapolis Irsays. The COLTS are a BALTIMORE tradition. The Raven's have become a BALTIMORE tradition.

[L. G. Dupre]

The late 1950s were a magical time and featured an uncommon cluster of great players, each distinct in his own way: Unitas, Moore, Parker, Berry on offense and Marchetti, Donovan and Big Daddy Lipscomb on defense. The team was relatively weak at linebacker and did not have a good kicker, but the stars elevated the team to an exciting level. The 1960 team, which started 6-2 and got ravaged by injuries and fell to 6-6, had a better roster than either team in the championship game that year, Green Bay and Philadelphia.

I was a kid in northern Virginia banging on the top of our black and white TV set, tweaking the rabbit ears, trying to get a good picture out of WMAR, channel 2. I remember being able to see Lenny Moore's spats through a fuzzy picture. Moore made the greatest catch I ever saw, with 11 seconds left in 1960 against Detroit and to take the lead, beating Night Train Lane on a dive in the end zone on a long ball fron Unitas. Lenny was horizontal when he made the catch, not far above the ground. The ball was below his body when it hit his hands. (The Lions won on the next possession, on a long bomb to Jim Gibbons, which was caught because Carl Tassef went for the interception and missed, instead of easily knocking the ball away. Coach Weeb Ewbank never forgave Tassef for that.)

The great comback against SF in 1958 and the two championship games in 1958 and 1959 were priceless. I am always grateful for those, which no one can ever take away from you.

I was at the 59 championship game but not at that Lions game because it wasn’t my father’s turn to use the third seat he shared with a friend. We lived three blocks from the stadium. I was peeling potatoes with a paring knife, listening to the game on the radio when Gibbons caught that ball. Almost cut off my thumb.


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[rhapsody]

I was at the 59 championship game but not at that Lions game because it wasn’t my father’s turn to use the third seat he shared with a friend. We lived three blocks from the stadium. I was peeling potatoes with a paring knife, listening to the game on the radio when Gibbons caught that ball. Almost cut off my thumb.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yep, I will never forget that feeling of devastation. I think the Colts would have been something like 7-3 and still in first place if they had won. But they were already reeling from severe injuries and were helpless in losing their two West Coast games to close out the season.

Speaking of your moniker, I remember the extreme tension in the second half of the 58 championship game when the offense was stalling and the Giants went ahead 17-14 with two scores. I kept urging Unitas to throw to Dupre. I always liked LG and was disappointed when the Colts left him unprotected after the 59 season, when the new Dallas Cowboys franchise was stocked with veterans from around the league.

[ravenfever]

My Dad Hated John Elway his entire life.

I know we all hated Elway for dissing the Colt's but with hindsight being 20-20 he definitely made the right call. If he played for the Colt's (especially the way Irsay was handling the team) no way in hell he would have been the player he was with Denver.

[Culex]

I grew up with my parents. Can't imagine what being raised by members of the Baltimore Colts is like.

[Real Fan Dan]

I remember listening to Chuck Thompson call a Colts game with avid attention like nothing else mattered in the whole world. "Quarterback Jones under center. Lydell Mitchell the back in a standard Pro Set, Raymond Chester the TE, Carr and Doughty the wide-outs." If we pulled up to our house while the game was on, nobody would go in, everybody would be crammed in that car, tense as hell, pleading with our beloved Colts through the radio, waiting to hear what would happen next.

Walking to Memorial and stopping at the Stadium Lounge to buy huge Pit Ham sandwiches.

Getting all fired up when the Big Wheel and Spoke came by our section to lead C-O-L-T-S cheers. At my grandmothers house in Hamilton, we would run outside after a TD and you could hear that cheer 2-3 miles away. The tradition Big Wheel started in Memorial Stadium is the reason why I do the R-A-V-E-N-S cheer today.

Watching Art Donavan throw kegs of beer around like nothin' at his liquor store up the street from us. Johnny Unitas staying with our Colts Corral at the Ocean City Convention, drinking beer and shooting the crap with our members in our hospitality room like he was our neighbor. Oh yeah - they were. Magic time in Baltimore.

[Real Fan Dan]

The Ravens Roosts remember the Colts.

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[BcRaven]

Question : Do (former) Colts fans or Cleveland Browns fans hate John Elway more?

... Bc