Cathie Rowand | The Journal Gazette
Jeff Shively, left, and Heather Kohlstedt watch the Super Bowl on Sunday at Wrigley Field Bar & Grill.
Fans wear hearts on sleeves, faces
Kelly Soderlund | The Journal Gazette
Colts fans at Buckets Sports Pub & Grub had sad faces and their coats on as the clock counted down Sunday night, but that didn’t stop Nathan Jones and Aaron Desmonds from rubbing it in.
Every time the New Orleans Saints scored a touchdown, the two Kendallville residents grabbed their black and gold balloons, stood up and cheered, seeking out other Saints fans in the bar and yelling “Who Dat,” the catchphrase of the Super Bowl champions this season. Jones, 25, who works in information technology, and Desmonds, 24, the CEO of an antiques store, didn’t care they were in a sea of blue and white as they watched the game.
The two Purdue University graduates held allegiance to Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who graduated from their alma mater.
“We like to stir the pot,” said Andrew Desmonds, 25, of Fort Wayne, who’s a corporate manager for the Fort Wayne Komets and Aaron’s brother.
Indianapolis Colts fans went home disappointed Sunday night as they watched their team’s Super Bowl championship slip away.
Many were outwardly disappointed, but Thomas White, 58, of Fort Wayne, took it in stride.
“It was a good game,” said White, a railroad engineer. “I thought it was destiny that New Orleans won. It was their time.”
Rivalries among friends and families were evident citywide as some held true to their Indianapolis roots while other followed Brees to the Big Easy.
Jeff Shively, a 32-year-old network administrator from Fort Wayne, wore a blue-and-white jester’s hat and painted his face the same colors as he sat at Wrigley Field Bar & Grill.
He sat across from friend and Saints fan Jon Honeywell, 29.
“I’ll be the only one laughing when the Saints pull it out,” Honeywell said prophetically earlier in the night.
Many northeast Indiana residents opted to watch the Super Bowl at bars rather than at home.
Mark and Karen Reilly, of Columbia City, have watched the last four Colts games at Beach Bums Gourmet Burgers & More, 620 W. Washington Center Road, and didn’t want to break that tradition.
The couple sat with Karen’s sister and some of her friends in the restaurant’s bar, watching the jumbo TV mounted on the wall.
Mark, 49, and director of administration for Adaptive Micro-Ware, and Karen, a dean at Ivy Tech Community College-Northeast, wanted to be in a smoke-free environment and couldn’t find it in Columbia City.
“I appreciate the non-smoking atmosphere,” Karen said.
The Super Bowl was cause for more than just watching a football game for Rolando Medina, 41, and Jannette Marquez, 37.
The two hadn’t seen each other in 23 years and reconnected on Facebook. Marquez flew from her home in San Antonio to Fort Wayne to meet with Medina.
They sat side by side at Buckets discussing their first disagreement. Medina is a Saints fan and Marquez is a Colts fan.
Ezekiel Tsamwa, 35, also came a long way to be a Colts fan.
The Fort Wayne nurse’s aide is a native of Malawi but bled blue and white Sunday with a painted face and eyes pinned to the game.
“From the first day I saw the Colts play, I fell in love with them,” Tsamwa said.