Colts fans show their pride
At their office in Joliet City Hall, Marie Cimino and Kathy Zupancic are inviting visits from fans of the Indianapolis Colts.
Actually, they root for the Colts and only want to see fans of their team.
(Kara Berchem/Staff Photographer)
After Indy won the AFC championship to advance to the Super Bowl, Zupancic put a sign on the door that cautions fans of other teams against entering.
But co-worker Jody Delaney, and the women's supervisor, Lawrence Orr, keep visiting Ciminio and Zupancic, who are data processing programmers in the management and budget department. Delaney and Orr are dropping in as Bear fans in advance of Sunday's Super Bowl.
"I have been teasing her about every day," Delaney said of Zupancic.
"The thing on the door says 'Colt fans only,'" Cimino said. "And if anybody comes in to hassle Kathy, we just say, 'Excuse me.'"
The four have worked together for 18 years, when Zupancic became a city employee. They have not made any bets about the game, instead letting bragging rights be the reward.
About 10 days ago, Cimino and Zupancic put a picture promoting the Colts on their outside window. A few days later, someone taped a copy of the Bears fight song to the window.
"It is all in fun," Zupancic said of the ribbing. "We'll see what happens on Sunday."
Other Indy fans are predicting victory, with Joliet resident Larry Lindholm saying it will be 23-10. Lindholm, 56, became a Colts fan because of Johnny Unitas, the team's Hall of Fame quarterback from 1956 to 1972.
"Growing up, I don't remember anything about the Bears, and on offense they didn't have anybody and later they got Dick Butkus," he said. "But I still couldn't root for them."
Lindholm rooted for the Colts despite their infamous midnight move from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984. In Baltimore, Colts fans never forgave owner Robert Irsay for the move.
As a result, football fans in Baltimore are rooting for the Bears in the Super Bowl. They also want revenge for the Colts beating their Ravens in the AFC playoffs.
Kathy Harvey, a Minooka resident, left her native Baltimore 30 years ago. She isn't interested in the game, but her brother and sister live in Baltimore.
"They are all Raven fans and they will be rooting for the Bears," she said.
"If the Bears win, I have to wear a championship T-shirt and sing the fight song," he said. "But the Colts are going to win by 10 points."
Andy Fuller grew up in Angola, Ind., which is roughly equidistant from Chicago and Indianapolis. In September, he became a local press secretary for U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Morris.
"I think Bears fans are taking this game more seriously than Colts fans," Fuller said. "Being in the Chicago area, I am becoming a Bulls fan. If we have to lose, I am glad it is the Bears. I expect the Colts to win, but I would not be surprised if the Bears win."
Bolingbrook resident Eva Engelmann is from Indianapolis, but rooted for the Bears as a kid. She became a Colts fan when the team moved to Indy.
"If the Bears were playing anyone else, I would root for them," Engelmann said.
Mike Murphy, a Morris native, became a Colts fan after his sister moved to Indianapolis in 1987. His wife, Michelle, has evolved from a casual football fan when they got married 10 years ago, into a big Colts fan.
She wears a Colts jersey to her job at Wal-Mart in Morris. He wears a Colts hat to his job at Caterpillar in Joliet.
They have four children, including daughter Peighton. She was going to be named Peyton, for Colts Quarterback Peyton Manning, if she was a boy, Mike Murphy said.
"I'm hoping for a Colts victory, but I'm a little scared about the Bears special teams, and that could be a turning point," he said. "I made a prediction at work: A 27-20 Colts victory."
Contact reporter Ken O'Brien at (815) 729-6119 or kobrien@scn1.com