A blur of jubilation!

I am sitting at my desk on a Sunday afternoon thinking I should probably take a nap.

I have to admit that even on Tuesday morning, when I was buying the tickets for Saturday night's AFC wild card game between the New York Jets and Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium, it felt weird. The memories of last year's disappointing defeat in the championship game still stung in my noggin. But when Jerome offered to go with me and split expenses, I thought it seemed like a good idea.

After hearing Joe and Evan's opening monologue on WFAN, I left home at 9:20 and hit no traffic on my hour-long journey to Chicago. I picked Jerome up at the Wellington subway stop and drove around the corner to Oakdale St to Carl's apartment to retrieve my Jets hat that I had left at Rebel bar weeks earlier. Then we headed down 90-E to 65-S for 3.5 hours of driving to Indianapolis. I did not plan to stop at all during that entire trip. As we approached Lafayette, Jerome mentioned he wanted to try Chik-Fil-A for grub. I wasn't sure how to take it, maybe I was a little disappointed. I wanted to try Shapiro's deli in Indy and their peppered beef deli sandwich I saw on the Food Network. But certainly we could do worse than Chik-Fil-A, so I agreed. I wolfed down a spicy deluxe with extra pickles and waffle fries, though it took 10 minutes to get my food! Maybe it was my Nick Mangold jersey and they decided to screw with me...

We got to downtown and the temperature was around 27 degrees, so we ruled out outdoor tailgating. For 20 bucks, we parked on Meridian St, two blocks east of the stadium and walked to Claddagh, the same Irish pub I have 15 minutes from my house. When we walked inside, were a little surprised to find 50 Jets fans already partying and drinking. Now it was only 2:30, about six hours before kickoff!

We manged to find a little room and started chatting with folks. I met a guy named Jason and imagine my surprise when he told me he lives in west Aurora. When I told him I lived 20 minutes away, we both stared at each other as if to say "We live this close together and we met in Indy of all places?" I met a group of 7 or 8 people from Long Island. I met a really cool and funny girl named Robin. One older guy tried to set me up with a Chicago girl from that group named Christine. Despite the Jets apparel she was wearing, apparently, she's also a Cowboys and Cubs fan. I couldn't quite grasp that combination of three teams. I even recognized a few people from last year's tailgate like Al, who looks like Steve Somers after a weekend of heavy drinking. I met another couple where the husband is a Jets fan and the wife is a Colts fan. A guy named Adam Ramirez brought me a Fat Tire beer to accompany the Smithwick's and three Bass's I had already poured down my throat.

Jerome actually mentioned how he noticed how so many Jets fans had made their presence felt in the town and had basically taken the bar over. Said he was impressed with us. I know he would not say that just to say it, he would not BS me, so I was pretty proud of that and proud of my fellow Jets fans. He took off around 6 for the stadium. I kept chatting with a lot of guys and we screamed "J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets" at least a dozen times. I think I was already hoarse by the time I left Claddagh around 7.

With five beers in me, and not sure which way to walk, I followed the crowds and somehow stumbled to the stadium. I found my spot in the 15th row of section 632, in the southeast corner. The stadium was showing the final moments of the Seahawks victory over the Saints and the Colts fans' applause was quite loud when Seattle secured the upset. Guess they are still a little upset about the last Super Bowl, I can certainly understand that. Rex Ryan came out ahead of the Jets players and he was booed rather loudly as he rumbled across the field towards the Jets sideline.

I would describe my honest feeling going in to this game as a mixture of excitement, hope, and nervousness, with a touch of dread. I knew the Jets could give the banged up Colts a better game than they did last year. And the passing attack is far better than it was with the addition of Santonio Holmes. But with the Jets defense not playing not as well as it used to, that kept me feeling cautious.

The first half went pretty slow. The first eight possessions were all punts. I was more than fine with a low scoring game, except I knew how quickly the Colts could strike and I knew the Jets would have to get going at some point. Mark Sanchez was overthrowing most of his receivers and I was not feeling good about him at all.

Then with 5:30 left in the half, Peyton Manning finds Pierre Garcon crossing over the middle of the field, and hits him in stride for a 57 yard TD. 7-0. Was uneasy, but I knew the Jets were getting the ball to start the second half, so I was just hoping for a score before halftime. And they drove the field well as Santonio Holmes caught two passes for 29 yards. But three straight times, Sanchez overthrew Dustin Keller, the last one getting intercepted.

When the first half concluded, I headed to the outside concourse and called Amy. I wasn't thrilled, but I knew the game wasn't over. More than anything, I was frustrated with the Jet offense's inability to get anything going. Bless her heart, she calmed me down a little, but I decided to stay in the concourse and watch the game from there instead of from my seat. Going into third quarter, I was happy to be within a score, but I knew the Jets could not afford to fall much farther behind. They had to make a statement on their opening drive and that's exactly what they did. Antonio Cromartie with a 40 yard kick return. Ten plays, 63 yards, 5 minutes, finished off by a LaDainian Tomlinson 1-yard TD run. 7-7. The Colts come right back with nine plays that lead to an Adam Vinateri field goal, and the Colts led 10-7. But I noticed that the Jets seems to be playing more and more physical. I think everyone in the stadium knew the Colts would not pull away late like last year. This would be a struggle.

And then the Jets began the ultimate drive of the game. 17 plays over 10 minutes, capped off by Tomlinson's second 1-yard score. With ten minutes left, the Jets led by 4. Using their bend-don't break-defense, the Jets allowed two 3rd down conversions, before finally getting a stop on their 14. Vinatieri came in for a chip shot field goal and the score was 14-13 Jets.

So with 4:37, the Jets needed two first downs for the win. Two Shonn Greene runs set up 3rd and 5. On that play, Mark Sanchez rolled to his right and found Holmes all alone and he dropped the ball. That was a huge blow to me. A great opportunity that had been wasted. So Steve Weatherford punts, but after he kicked the ball away, one of the Colts players ran into him and basically throws him to the ground. Roughing the kicker, automatic first down for the Jets. I was floored. Two runs set up another 3rd and 5. From their own 35, Sanchez unleashes a bomb down the right sideline. Braylon Edwards had a step on the DB, but the ball was overthrown. A lot of people hated that play call. It was a great chance to put the game away, it just didn't work. So I will not blame Schotty for the call, because it should have worked and it almost did.

I went back up the stairs to my seat and got my jacket. With 2:36 and from their own 20, Manning goes to work. He finds Jacob Tamme on two straight plays for a pair of first downs. I headed back downstairs, I was feeling unlucky standing there. So it was back to the concourse. A 12-yard pass to Blair White put the ball in field goal range. Up 1 point and with that kicker, I am feeling very queasy by now. But the defense did hold up and that set up a 50-yard field goal attempt with just one minute on the clock. He drilled it and it probably would have been good from 70 yards. 16-14 Colts.

When Vinatieri made the kick, I was upset. But I honestly felt if the Jets could get a good kick return, they could win. They were driving the ball very effectively in the second half and they had all their timeouts. Cromartie takes the ball from the end zone all the way out to the 46. So basically, the Jets needed to pick up 20 or so yards over 45 seconds for a reasonable attempt, albeit from a somewhat unreliable kicker in Nick Folk. Braylon Edwards caught a 9 yard pass over the middle, and Holmes caught another one near the sideline for an 11 yard gain, putting the Jets on the Indy 34. Tomlinson ran for two and Indy inexplicably calls their final timeout with 29 seconds left. Even Peyton Manning was shown on the sideline looking completely baffled with his hands up in the air. The next play shows why Rex Ryan is so different than Herm Edwards, Eric Mangini, Rich Kotite, Al Groh, etc. and so many other Jets coaches who couldn't get the job done well enough. He not only coaches to win, he knows when to take a chance. Sanchez throws deep and Braylon Edwards makes a tumbling sideline catch for 18 yards.

The Jets let the clock run to three seconds and take their final timeout. And in comes Nick Folk. This kicker has taken a lot of abuse from Jets fans who never wanted to lose Jay Feely. I felt differently. I liked Feely, but I never got over those two missed field goal in Indy last year. Especially the second one, which propelled the Colts TD drive late in the first half from which the Jets never recovered. I held hands with two other Jets fans. The snap from Ton Purdum was good, Weatherford held the ball in place. And Folk drilled the ball right in between the uprights as the clock read 0:00. The Jets had won 17-16.

I jumped and screamed, with some restraint, and extended my arms out like wings and "flew" through the concourse just like Holmes does when he scores. I ran up to every person wearing green I could find and hugged them. That game was so exhilarating and that much more so, considering last year's disappointment. I even took pictures of people with the field and scoreboard in the background. But this was probably the most obnoxious that I got. I looked around me and saw the "All In" signs that the Colts fans had been waving the whole game. So several times I screamed "All in is now All OVAHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Jerome and I decided to wait a while before leaving to let the traffic dissipate a little. We went back to Claddagh, which by now, was twice as busy as it had been when we left. There were about 20 of us trying to fight our way inside at the same time. Together, we started chanting "ALL IN, ALL IN, ALL IN!" I was surprised to see a lot of Colts fans inside, even more than there were before the game. We each had a beer (I threw in a 5-hour energy) and took off around midnight.

We drove four hours, stopping just once for gasoline and a Dasani. I dropped Jerome off on the west side around 2:20 am. I pushed on, stumbled through the front door off my home in St. Charles at 3:15 am and passed out in bed wearing my long johns and my green Play like a Jet! t-shirt. Nothing could have been more appropriate.