Published: August 24, 2008 11:02 pm         

From the Press Box: Colts fans, welcome to the great outdoors

INDIANAPOLIS — You just can’t take your eyes off Lucas Oil Stadium. It was the star of the show during its debut Sunday, certainly more so than the mostly listless Indianapolis Colts were.

Not that many noticed the action on the field. Jared Lorenzen started at quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts instead of Jim Sorgi? That’s nice. Hey! Check out Lorenzen out on the replay board, he’s the size of a house ... for real. Wow!

There’s goes that drag racer crossing the stadium in a Lucas Oil ad on the football field-length ad board.

It was a given that Lucas Oil Stadium was going to wow everyone as it opened its doors to the National Football League world on Sunday. Every new generation stadium has bells and whistles that put the past facility to shame and Lucas Oil Stadium is no different.

Bigger is definitely better and though looking at a replay screen that could crush your house is cool, I badly wanted a more simple novelty. Outdoor football. I wanted the 65,333 Colts fans to experience it from the first moment Lucas Oil Stadium’s retractable roof gave them the chance to take the outdoors in.

There’s just something better about playing outside. Though the RCA Dome evolved from its early days, when fans spent more time tossing paper airplanes out of the upper deck than watching the game, to its raucous end, it still sometimes felt like football in vacuum, like a lab experiment that took 25 years to finish.

Outdoor fans are better fans too. In your heart of hearts, doesn’t it make you feel like more of a fan when you have to go outside to watch your team? It’s almost as if the emotional investment you put into rooting for your team is validated by suffering a bit through potential bad weather to see them. The NFL has created an entire myth around weather games — from sub-zero games in Green Bay to monsoons in Miami.

No longer is going to the Colts game like going to the theatre; you might actually have to bundle up.

OK, let’s not get hasty. I’m under no illusions Lucas Oil Stadium’s roof will ever be opened in even sub-40 degree temperatures. There will be no snow games in Indianapolis, but even having to put a jacket on is a step in the right direction for Colts fans.

Somewhat disappointingly, the roof remained closed through pregame warmups, even though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and virtually no prospect of rain. According to most reports, the roof is not to be opened or closed after 90 minutes to game time as per NFL rules, so it appeared the Colts’ outdoor debut would have to wait.

However, Colts owner Jim Irsay surprised the sellout crowd as he ordered the roof open 10 minutes before game time to give Lucas Oil Stadium a fitting grand introduction. The loudest cheer of the night occurred when the north side window opened and the roof began to move.

Ten minutes later there were blue skies over an Indianapolis NFL game for the first time. It was beautiful, and a fitting metaphor, given that the Colts beautiful new home gives them the brightest future they’ve ever had in Indianapolis.

Weird scenes, obvious to mundane, showed themselves at a Colts game for the first time. A stout breeze blew through the Colts banners hanging from the massive, Texas Stadium-style crossbreams over the field. Colts merchandise at a kiosk near the north stadium window swayed in the wind and looked as if they had to be held down to keep from flying into the deck below. It was just weird to see birds flying in the rafters and bugs circling the light standards.

It will be interesting to see how football outdoor-style evolves at Lucas Oil. Based on the strong breeze blowing in from the north, the kicking game could be very interesting as wind will swirl around the closed south end of the stadium, making it potentially hard to judge the gusts from a distance. The Colts’ precision passing game could also be affected if it’s a real stiff wind. Precipitation won’t likely come into play, unless there’s a sudden cloudburst that the quick-closing stadium roof can’t catch — equally unlikely given that it takes just 10 minutes to open or close. It was closed seemingly in secrecy in the third quarter, it was so quiet.

If there’s any disadvantage to Lucas Oil, it’s that the much larger stadium will definitely not hold the noise in nearly as well as the raucous RCA Dome. That will be true even if the roof is closed, but especially when it’s open. Colts fans are going to have to train themselves to be much louder.

Colts fans will get it. After all, they’re outdoor fans now. They’re hearty, they’re tough, they’ve evolved. Lucas Oil Stadium is going to be a lot of fun.



Todd Golden is sports editor of the Tribune-Star. He can be reached at (800) 783-8742 or todd.golden@tribstar.com