 |
 |
 |
|
INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 6, 1998) -- They came from places like Knoxville and Nashville, from Bristol and Whitesburg, driving north to Indianapolis to see their favorite son play. Call them Manning's Minions, maybe, or Peyton's Posse. Their bright orange jerseys and caps bobbed in a sea of Colts blue and Miami green in the RCA Dome Sunday. Peyton Manning may have graduated from the University of Tennessee, where his quarterbacking exploits have become the stuff of legend. But he hasn't left his fans behind. They came in droves to watch Manning open his first NFL season against the Miami Dolphins. "We thought we'd come up and let him know he still has some Tennessee fans behind him, try to make him feel at home," said David Carrier, who was perched in an upper deck end zone seat with his brothers Joey and Matthew and their father, Sam. The Carriers, staunch Tennessee supporters, had come up from Bristol. A few sections away, but more than a few rows higher, Dwight and Elaine Stokes and their sons Dustin and Drew had decided to watch Manning open his professional career here rather than go to Tennessee's season opener at Syracuse on Saturday. They'd sent their tickets with a friend to Syracuse, hoping he could sell them. That had been a serious choice: Stokes, a newly elected judge from Sevier County, near Knoxville, has been a Tennessee season ticket holder for 20 years. "Peyton was the greatest thing ever for Tennessee fans, and we think he'll be great for Indianapolis fans," Stokes said. Being new recruits to the ranks of Colts fans, the Tennessee folks could be found mainly in the upper deck, up where the game may be distant but the fans are intense. Up where, unfortunately, they had to put up with the gloating Miami Dolphin supporters. The fish fans. Of course, some of Manning's supporters were fish fans.
Like Amy Yrle and Larry Williams of Knoxville, who demonstrated their split loyalties with split T-shirts. The pair had bought a Tennessee shirt and a Dolphins shirt and cut them in half. A friend sewed the opposite halves together, resulting in two shirts, half-Tennessee and half-Miami. Turning Williams around, Yrle pointed to the appropriate spots on his back and said "we're going to put 13 (Miami quarterback Dan Marino) here and 16 (Manning's Tennessee number) here. We can wear them twice a year." By halftime, Manning had shown he could hit his targets and move the team up and down the field, yet the Colts were trailing 17-3. "It's been a little rough," said David Carrier. "Peyton made one big mistake," said Matthew Carrier, referring to an interception. They agreed that with a few halftime adjustments, the second half might be different. Yet with less than two minutes to go, the Colts had managed only two more field goals and needed eight points to tie the game and send it into overtime. Unfortunately, after a pin-point Miami punt, the Colts were 96 yards from the end zone. But there was hope. Peyton Manning was at the helm. "I've seen him take Tennessee down the field in this amount of time. We'll see what he does here," David Carrier said. There would be no last second heroics this Sunday. First pass incomplete. Second pass intercepted and returned for a Miami touchdown. The Carrier family groaned, and the sea of blue, green and orange began heading for the exits. Even with the 24-15 loss, the trip had been worth it, Carrier said. "We had a good time, and the Indianapolis fans have treated us good, too. "We'll be back." |