With the Reds enjoying their first off day this month (though you could certainly argue that they've barely been present at a game yet in September), I've got nothing better to do with my leisure sports-watching-time than check out my hometown Colts take on my fellow Boilermaker Drew Brees and the Saints in the NFL opener. I sort of want both sides to win, but mostly I don't care. I obliged the Indianapolis mayor's request to wear Colts gear to work, but I'll be asleep before the game is over and probably won't find out the final score unless someone happens to mention it in the office tomorrow.

I'm working downtown, literally on Monument Circle, where the big Faith Hill and Kelly Clarkson concert happened before the game. Yesterday, the windows in my office building shook so violently during the sound checks that they took the loose interior windows out of their frames. Today, many of my coworkers were staying late at the building to check out the concert from the roof of the building or the window offices. I heard one woman complaining that she tried to get close to the stage before the concert started, but they wouldn't let her in. She said the concert organizers had given passes only to people they thought would look good in crowd shots from the concert that made it on t.v.

As I left the office building at a little after 2 p.m. this afternoon (early to beat the rush of the concert that started at 5:15), the streets were so crowded that I could not walk to the parking garage. I had to push and dodge around the throngs of blue, the people so excited and happy about the start of their sport. And while I care very little about football, the energy of the crowd touched me. I wish I had some excitement about my sport; some reason to hope for the future.

That's awfully glum sounding. Surely there's a bright side here. At least the Reds can't lose tonight.