How about those Colt fans AFTER the Super Bowl?

A few fans brave cold to welcome Colts

At airport, truly blue huddle of 11 watches team quietly return

By Kevin O'Neal

Posted: February 9, 2010

The end of the Indianapolis Colts' season came down to 11 people.

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A few truly blue fans braved Monday's chilly temperatures to welcome the Indianapolis Colts back from the Super Bowl. - Charlie Nye / The Star

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Coach Jim Caldwell (center) followed announcer Bob Lamey down the steps of the jet at the airport. - Charlie Nye / The Star

Not the 11 players on the field during the Super Bowl, but the 11 who showed up at Indianapolis International Airport on a cold, snowbound Monday afternoon, when the team returned after its 31-17 defeat Sunday by the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV in South Florida.

"Win or lose, they're still our team," said Karen Calhoun, Brownsburg, who carried a "Where's the parade?" sign.

The small group huddled in the snow outside the closed Express Mail sorting facility at the airport, where the Colts' planes arrived about 4 p.m. -- a Boeing 757 for the official party and an Airbus 330 for the team.

Each plane's arrival was little different from the arrival of a scheduled flight at the main terminal across the airfield. The planes rolled onto the ramp, and the passengers trudged down stairs and onto waiting buses, while crews unloaded equipment into rental trucks.

The buses left without a word from anyone on the team. The closest any of the fans got to the Colts was the other side of a security fence several hundred feet away.

Despite the subdued, isolated arrival, the few who watched from a distance were still enthusiastic about their team.

"We wanted to show our civic pride," said Paul Calhoun, Karen Calhoun's husband, who wore a No. 33 jersey, the number worn by defensive back Melvin Bullitt, who made five tackles Sunday.

"We still beat out 30 other teams," added Marilyn Kurek, Lebanon, who wore a Colts cap and scarf to fend off the 27-degree chill.

Enthusiasm for the team, in spite of the loss, also was shown by Greenwood resident Ceara Robertson, who wore a handmade "I love Pierre" shirt and carried a sign to show she's a fan of wide receiver Pierre Garcon, who caught five passes in the Super Bowl, including the Colts' only touchdown pass of the game.

"He . . . has such grace on the field," Robertson said.

By the time the last buses had left the ramp, the few fans had already walked back to their cars and headed to someplace warm, to wait for next season.