If Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts beat the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl on Sunday - they're favored by five points - it's quite likely you'll hear references to the victory being their third Super Bowl trophy.
Of course, around these parts, that kind of statement is about as insulting as it is dishonest. Sure, a team wearing helmets with a blue horseshoe on the side will have won three Super Bowls, but counting Baltimore's 1970 victory over the Dallas Cowboys as part of Indianapolis' total is akin to Gisele Bundchen telling people that Tom Brady's and Bridget Moynahan's son is basically her own. (Which she did, by the way.) Maybe the claim has technical merit, but come on. It's flat-out disrespectful.
Still, as much as people around here have embraced the Ravens, it's always going to be hard for some to look at that blue horseshoe and not feel a mixture of nostalgia and anger.
The Baltimore Colts appeared in two Super Bowls and suited up the best quarterback of that era, John Unitas. The Indianapolis Colts, come Sunday, will have appeared in two Super Bowls and suited up the best quarterback of this era, Peyton Manning.
We're not going to pretend we're even remotely objective here, but it did make us wonder how the two squads might stack up historically. In wins and losses, it's almost a dead heat. Before the Colts moved to Indianapolis, they played in 438 games, winning 230. The Indianapolis Colts will be playing their 438th game Sunday. The Indianapolis Colts have won 230 games, also, meaning they will be one victory ahead if they beat the Saints.
In a fictional showdown between franchises, who would have the edge? It seemed like the right time to do a point-by-point breakdown.
Quarterback
Indianapolis Colts: : Peyton Manning
Baltimore Colts: : John Unitas
Analysis: : This is a tough one because Manning is, in some ways, the spiritual heir to Unitas. Manning essentially calls his own plays, much as Unitas did, but in this era that's almost unheard of. Each led the league in quarterback rating three times, but Unitas led the league in touchdown passes in four seasons to Manning's three. Manning is probably the funniest athlete ever to host "Saturday Night Live" - the United Way spoof was nothing short of brilliant - but Unitas' buzz cut came to symbolize an entire era. Manning is the more accurate quarterback and threw for more yards, but remember, too, that in Unitas' day you could more or less assault wide receivers downfield and not get flagged. In this era, if you breathe too hard on Reggie Wayne, pass interference will be called. In the end, we're giving the edge to Unitas, for the simple fact that he was a man's man, and a man of the people, whereas Manning is a lovable football nerd who makes commercials for people. During the offseason, you could find John Unitas at Club 4100 drinking a Jack Daniel's Manhattan with a splash of cherry juice (his special creation), looking like Don Draper from "Mad Men." Manning might as well be Sheldon from "The Big Bang Theory."
EDGE: : Baltimore
Owner
Indianapolis Colts: : Robert Irsay and Jim Irsay
Baltimore Colts: : Carroll Rosenbloom and Robert Irsay
Analysis: : If this were a title fight, it would probably be a third-round TKO. To be fair, Rosenbloom was in charge when the team either signed or drafted future Hall of Famers such as Unitas, Lenny Moore and Raymond Berry, and when the Colts won the 1958 NFL championship, still considered the greatest game ever played. And he did hire Don Shula, who would go on to win more games than any other coach in NFL history. But he also drove Shula away with complaints that Shula "couldn't win the big one," feuded with the press and the fans, and then essentially treated the franchise like a game of Yankee swap when he gave it to his golfing buddy Bob Irsay in exchange for the Los Angeles Rams. (He wanted to move to California because his wife, Georgia Frontiere, demanded he do so.) But he was still a better owner than Irsay. Irsay was perhaps one of the worst owners in professional sports. He was as cheap as he was dishonest. (Can we even really blame John Elway at this point for not wanting to play for him?) All that makes it that much more remarkable that Jim Irsay, Bob Irsay's son, is now rightfully considered one of the best owners in pro sports. Not only is he a decent and honest businessman, but he's also an extremely interesting person, with a passion for music and literature. It's a shame we couldn't have sped up the plan for family succession by 20 years.
EDGE: : Indianapolis
Stadium
Indianapolis Colts: : RCA Dome and Lucas Oil Stadium
Baltimore Colts: : Memorial Stadium
Analysis: : In retrospect, the RCA Dome was appropriately named because it had all the personality of a VCR. Sure, Memorial Stadium wasn't the prettiest girl on the block, but she had personality. There is a reason it was known as the World's Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum during the Colts' heyday. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Colts were, for years, accused of piping in crowd noise to make their home crowd seem more enthusiastic than it was. Lucas Oil Stadium is a nice enough place, perfectly respectable as far as modern stadiums go, if you can get past the fact that it has as much personality as a shopping mall. Memorial Stadium was named to honor veterans of World War I and World War II. Lucas Oil and RCA are corporations. Even if you have to dodge the occasional airplane crash in the upper deck, give us Memorial Stadium any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
EDGE: : Baltimore
Hall of Fame playmakers
Indianapolis Colts: : Marvin Harrison, Edgerrin James, Reggie Wayne
Baltimore Colts: : Lenny Moore, Raymond Berry, John Mackey
Analysis: : Aside from Jim Brown, Moore might have been the best athlete of his era. He was LaDainian Tomlinson before anyone imagined such a thing was possible. Berry has such good hands, he could catch a football if you fired it out of a cannon. Mackey more or less invented the position of playmaking tight end, and he was so explosive with the ball in his hands that the Colts used him one year as a kick returner and he averaged 30.8 yards a return. (Seriously, think about that for a second as you imagine Todd Heap returning kickoffs.) Harrison might go down as the most anonymous superstar in NFL history, but we're deducting points for character, thanks to his alleged involvement in a shooting outside his Philadelphia nightclub in 2008. (The FBI is still investigating.) James and Wayne might be borderline Hall of Famers, but any way to slice it, they're remarkable talents who won a lot of football games and were good teammates. Still, we'll stick with the original Colts. Moore is the only player in NFL history with at least 40 rushing touchdowns and 40 receiving touchdowns, and he did it all in an era when he couldn't even stay in the same hotel as his white teammates.
EDGE: : Baltimore
Pass-rushing nightmares
Indianapolis Colts: : Robert Mathis, Dwight Freeney
Baltimore Colts: : Eugene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb, Art Donovan, Gino Marchetti
Analysis: : They didn't actually keep track of sacks in Donovan, Marchetti and Lipscomb's day, but if they did, it's a safe bet the three of them would have put up numbers that rivaled what Mathis and Freeney are doing today. Drug problems derailed Lipscomb's career and eventually killed him at age 31, but in his prime, he was unlike anything the game had seen to that point - almost like a hybrid of Freeney and Reggie White. Marchetti, a seven-time first-team All-Pro and 11-time Pro Bowl selection, is considered one of the greatest defensive ends in NFL history, in part because he was equally adept at playing the run as he was rushing the passer. That's something even Freeney can't say. Throw in Donovan's hilarious sit-downs with David Letterman and Baltimore wins this one by two touchdowns.
EDGE: : Baltimore
Final analysis
Sure, the Indianapolis Colts have a nice little thing going, and yeah we're over it (for the most part) and have moved on to a healthier relationship with the Ravens. But let's get real. The real Colts will always reside in Baltimore.
Super Bowl 6:28 p.m. Sunday TV: Chs. 13, 9 Line: Colts by 5