you get a big blue card

Some friends invited my wife and I to attend Monday night's Colts vs Rams at the RCA Dome in Indy. It was a great game and I am still smiling two days after the game.

In the days leading up to the game I wondered if I should get jerseys to wear at the game. After shopping at two Wal-Marts, a Target and a sports store in a mall it finally occurred to me that I didn't need a jersey, I was going to get a big blue card. I had read in the paper that every fan upon entering the stadium was going to get a blue card to wave during the game. What a great solution. I could satisfy some of the rabid fan(atic) criteria and it wouldn't cost me $50 bucks for jerseys.

We got our cards immediately after being frisked. Yes everyone was frisked. It became instantly obvious that the cards were not popular with every fan. The floor was littered with occasional blue cards all the way to our seats, Rams fans... ya think?

The card was roughly 16x24 inches, Colts blue on one side and white on the other with instructions for its use. Some of the instructions included the following:

1. Hold the card on both sides and shake the card up and down at these points during the game:
a. For Colts player introductions.
b. During the opening kickoff.
c. On EVERY third down play when the Colts are on defense.
d. After the Colts score (touchdown or field goal).

2. Please make sure the blue side of the card is facing away from you. (That's my favorite instruction.) (Duh.) Our goal is to turn the RCA Dome into a sea of blue for the Monday Night Football cameras.

3. Be loud and proud to show the rest of the NFL why Indy has the greatest fans in football and why the RCA Dome is the loudest stadium in the National Football League.

It didn't take people long to figure out that if you complied with the instructions by holding the cards up, you wouldn't see the game and no one else would either. A few more cards hit the floor.

I will say that it was very impressive to see thousands of blue cards waving around the stadium at the start of the game. Then the Colts stumbled, muffed the ball, missed a field goal, and in general scared all the fans half to death. Why do my wife and I always assume at this point in any game that our presence at the game has brought the team bad luck? Meanwhile the Rams scored again and again and again and the blue cards were nearly forgotten, until the game turned into a blowout and restless fans realized that the blue card would make a wonderful massive blue paper airplane whose flight pattern could reach the field.

My blue card is sitting on my desk at the office. I waved it for everyone in the office the next day. Yes, I gloated over being at the game, and getting to witness the Young and Rice record fall to Manning and Harrison. The game delivered everything from fear and surprise to joy and triumph.

I think I'm going to take my blue card to church on Sunday. It would be great if everyone in Indy took their blue card to church and shook the card up and down during the congregational singing, the offering, and if the preacher said something really funny. But be sure to hold the blue side facing away from you.