16 Jan 2004
Proud to be a Hoosier

I'm not what anybody would classify as a huge sports fan - I kinda follow professional football, and root for the home team, of course, but mostly the antics of athletes just disgust me. It's drug dealing, wife beating, drunk driving - you name it. There's an old joke that the best way to get a National Football League team to stand up for the national anthem is to say "Will the defendant please rise."

But this years edition of the Indianapolis Colts seems to be somewhat different.

They're going to New England this weekend, to face what is arguably the best team in football right now, with the prize being a trip to the Super Bowl representing their conference. Of course, the Colts aren't doing too bad themselves: their offense has been noting short of remarkable in the two playoff games so far. And a big part of the late season offensive fireworks can be attributed to the emergence of Brandon Stokley.

This talented receiver spent the better part of the year recovering from injuries - he wasn't a serious part of the offense until December. Since then: he's caught touchdown pass after touchdown pass. But this week Mr. Stokley faces a bigger challenge than beating a defence to the end zone. His month old son is hospitalized with meningitis.

Stokley missed a practice this week to be with his son. He practiced some the following day as a break.

Coach Dungy will not say if he'll start in the championship game Sunday or not - nor even if he'll travel with the team. Rumor has it the Colts postponed leaving Indy until Saturday so as to give the situation time to shake itself out.

The only update Dungy gave was that Stokley's son was stable and doing fine.
Dungy was unsure whether Stokley's presence at practice Thursday was an indication he would practice again Friday or even if he would play in Sunday's AFC championship game at New England.
Dungy is leaving that decision up to Stokley, who has become a major contributor for the Colts in the past month.

In a sports mad world of "win at all costs", where one expects to read of the stars brushes with the law, the actions of these men and this team make me proud to be from the same state.

The headline over at Sports Illustrated says it all: Family First

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