New England Patriots

Game day in Indy

By Gary Dzen

1 minute to read

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INDIANAPOLIS — A few notes from Indy, where the town is painted blue in preparation for tonight’s Sunday Night Football showdown between the Patriots and Colts.

  • A few Patriots fans made the early, early trip from Logan with me this morning. We were joined by some Colts fans on our layover in Baltimore. Football fans and non-fans alike were greeted by a giant light-up “Go Colts” sign upon exiting the airport in Indianapolis.
  • Tailgaters were starting to assemble outside Lucas Oil Stadium around noon. Going to be a long day for some of those folks.

    The stadium is surrounded by warehouses in downtown Indianapolis. It would be like Gillette Stadium being located where the Gillette factory is in South Boston. It’s obviously more urban than Gillette, but Boston is a much larger city. Farm land for miles and miles on the flight in.

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  • Speaking of farm land, and Indiana, Larry Bird is the Fall 2009/Winter 2010 coverboy for the Indianapolis visitor’s guide, which features a “Why we love hoops” cover story. Last night’s Pacers win over the Celtics did not make this edition, though we do get this nugget from Bird on his high school playing days in French Lick: “That time was probably the most rewarding for me of everything I’ve done. It was so pure back then. It wasn’t money. It wasn’t really fame. It was just trying to be a starter on a varsity team one day.”
  • Besides Bird’s friendly face greeting New England folks on the magazine cover, there’s a familiar Boston spot, Champions sports bar (of Copley Marriott fame), located in the downtown Indy Marriott.

    The people here are beyond friendly. There was one person ahead of me in the hotel check-in line and someone asked me if I was OK, if I needed anything. I toughed out the two-minute wait.

    It will be interesting to see how friendly those folks are to Tom Brady and Co. this evening.

    Keep it here for more updates throughout the day (and of course the game). You can also follow @GlobePatriots, @GlobeGaryDzen, @AdamKilgoreBG, and @AlbertBreer on Twitter.

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