Published: February 04, 2007 12:00 am      

Super Spirit: Hoosiers fired up over first Super Bowl

McKenzie Gill, Nicholas Kirchgessner and Spencer Pearson are ready for the Indianapolis Colts to play in the Super Bowl.

Each wore blue Colts clothing Friday. Typically, they’d be in uniforms.

But this is a special occasion. On Sunday, they’ll have their respective parties to attend.

And they won’t have to go to go to bed before the game ends.

McKenzie, Nicholas and Spencer are fourth-graders at St. Paul School in Sellersburg. Like the other eight Catholic schools in Floyd and Clark counties, they won’t have classes Monday.

“We’re very lucky,” McKenzie said.

It’s just one way Hoosiers are commemorating an Indiana team’s first appearance in the Super Bowl.

The three are in a key age group for sports fans, said Randy Roberts, a professor of history at Purdue University who has written about sports history.

“They’re likely to become sports fans for life,” Roberts said Friday.

Children ages 10 to 12 often haven’t made strong ties to athletics teams, Roberts said.

A Super Bowl appearance — success, in other words — is likely to draw young fans toward the team. Those young fans often keep their loyalties throughout their lives, Roberts said.

The children said they were Colts’ fans before last month, when the team earned its first Super Bowl appearance. In fact, Nicholas said he screamed through his family’s Sellersburg house when the Colts beat the New England Patriots for the AFC Championship, earning the Super Bowl berth.

Spencer was awestruck.

“I could hardly believe it,” Spencer said.

The Colts successes are the reason why McKenzie likes them.

“I like them because they’re a good team,” she said.

That wasn’t always the case. The Colts had failed to reach the Super Bowl every season since the franchise relocated from Baltimore in 1984, and some of those seasons were quite forgettable.

Hoosiers statewide have divided loyalties, Roberts said.

In northeast Indiana, football fans might support the Cleveland Browns. In southwestern Indiana, fans might support the St. Louis Rams, he said. There are many Bengals fans in Southern Indiana.

In the northwest corner of Indiana, fans might support the Chicago Bears.

Yes, the Bears — the Colts’ Super Bowl opponent.

“I think there are a lot of Bears’ fans in the northwest part of the state,” Roberts said.

Indiana’s diverse football loyalties stems partly from the fact that the Colts came after many older fans had already developed loyalties to other NFL teams, Roberts said. Like the St. Paul students, today’s Bears’ fans were likely Bears fans before the Colts shipped out of Baltimore.

Also, Roberts said, the Bears are a archetypal blue-collar team. The Colts have white-collar team aspects, Roberts said, calling quarterback Peyton Manning an “IBM computer.”

Super Bowl XLI appearance means most to Indianapolis, converting it from a “fly-over” city to national focus, Roberts said.

“It’s a great civic event,” Roberts said. “It’s going to attract all sorts of attention on Indianapolis.”

The Roman Catholic Archdioceses of Indianapolis — over the Catholic schools in Southern Indiana — called off school on Monday to recognize as such, said Joe Peters, associate executive director in the archdioceses Office of Catholic Education.

Archbishop Daniel Buechlein made the decision to honor the achievements of the Colts, Manning and Coach Tony Dungy, Peters said.

Parents’ reaction was mixed, Peters said.

“Some were for it, some were against it,” Peters said. “The kids were for it.”

The missed day of school must be made up later in the school year. The make-up day is up to individual schools.

“It’s a once in a lifetime thing,” Peters said of the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl appearance, and a possible win, would grow the Colts’ fan base — in Indianapolis and throughout the state, Roberts said.

But what if they lose?

“I just hope they do good next year,” McKenzie said.