Colts Poetry Volume 3: ode to a man’s first win

Hello and welcome to Colts Poetry Volume 3. Each week during the 2023 season I will be writing a new original poem about the Indianapolis Colts, their players and the season at large. I do not claim to be a good poet, as a matter of fact, quite the opposite. But I want to take the opportunity to invite the Stampede Blue community to write a poem of their own in the comments for a chance to be featured in the next weeks edition of Colts Poetry.* This has a chance to be a fun exercise in shared, creative joy or despair as the season unfolds. I look forward to reading your submissions and laughing or crying along. Soon we’ll get to this weeks topic, but first we need to revisit last week’s community submissions.

Our week two topic was 2 Fumbles, 1 Touchdown. DeForrest Buckner and Zaire Franklin’s unlikely multi-forced fumble defensive touchdown masterpiece from week one. There were several submissions to choose from but this week my favorite poem was submitted by coltsforu88:

Whose ball is this I think I know.

His pass was incomplete though;

And all the players are stopping here

To watch if refs with whistles blow.

.

My mighty Colts must think it queer

To stop play now, it is unclear

We stand around to take a break

But don’t look now, here comes Zaire.

.

He reaches to give the ball a shake

As if to him there is no mistake.

The opponent has the ball no more

Oh how easily I scoop; I take.

.

The crowd is fiery, we hear them roar,

But I have a desire to now score,

And yards to go before I soar,

And yards to go before I soar.

Big thanks to coltsforu88 and to everyone who submitted poems. There were several strong contenders again this week. I know this article is coming out a bit late but I’m hopeful to still get a couple submissions in before we get caught up in everything surrounding the Ravens game. So if you’re reading this, submissions might be down this week, it could be your chance to have the winning submission (even if there’s only one submission, a win is a win).

This Week’s Topic:

Shane Steichen getting his first win as an NFL head coach.

Ode to a Man’s First Win

Life is not made of ends and beginnings it is mostly what’s in the middle

Moments come and moments go, some fade while others will last

But those indelible moments are recorded in our minds by chisel

So beginnings and ends will be the only stories we tell of our past

Once the career and memoir are finished, will Steichen remember the moment

Will this be a vital juncture or will it fade with the extravagance of the rest

Old and gray, unstable and frail, will Shane even remember the opponent

The time and place, the final score, none of these things will be on the test

We may be well to remember that life is mostly what’s in the middle

Perhaps the story Shane tells years from now, isn’t what’s important

Shane’s first win, was the last some will see and all else feels superficial

So maybe we take this moment, enjoy it and fight against becoming dormant

We must acknowledge the first of what is sure to be very many

Nothing lasts forever, time is fleeting and the days seem to accelerate

Shane Steichen won his first game as head coach, wins of more there will be plenty

But in this hour we recognize that all we have is now, so for now we must celebrate

Shane Steichen is just 38 years old. If he is a head coach until he retires at age 65 and he averages a winning season (9 games per year) he would finish his career with 243 wins, good for sixth all time. While history tells us that outcome is unlikely, time is on his side. There’s no way I’ll remember every one of his wins and if I’m being honest, I’ll most definitely forget his first one, too. But either way, it’s always good to celebrate the first one.

Now go do it again, coach. We’re all waiting.

*if you use AI to write your poems just tell me, it won’t hurt your chances of getting featured but we will know who to ask for good ChatGPT prompts in the future. Ultimately, I just want to feature fun poems so I don’t care if you or ChatGPT wrote it or if you just ripped off Maya Angelou, changed some words to “Colts” and somehow made it work, I just want to be entertained.