Decision Time.

How terrible is it that I have a harder time deciding on a team for the super bowl than in a national election?

I was two years old when the Colts were shipped out of Baltimore on Mayflower trucks in the middle of the night. So I was never genuinely pissed off about it. I do remember when I learned about it though. There was a parade in Towson and the Colts' Marching Band went by with great fanfare. I was amazed that adults could have acted so childishly and that someone could abscond with a whole team; it seemed like the city owned the team, not a single man. My dad explained to me that while the Colts changed cities, the marching band stayed behind because it was made up of local citizens and fans. This amused me to no end. Not the fact that a volunteer organization didn't uproot itself, but that they still held the right to call themselves the Colts' Marching Band. I mean, that was the best 'screw you' I'd heard of to date. And yes that subsequent CFL venture, the Baltimore Colts err... Stallions were a damn good jab too. "Hmm, what's better than a colt, but still pretty much the same thing?"

So after all those years of harboring residual dislike, stealing the Browns was quite the cathartic exercise. I voted for the Ravens name (as I recall I also called to vote for the blue M&M that year too) and everyone was pretty happy to have an NFL franchise again; casting away those CFL phenoms no one seemed to remember.

Now, don't interpret my commentary as disparaging to the ravens, cause I like having a hometown team and everything. But I think we shoulda kept the Colt's Marching Band instead of christening them the Baltimore Marching Ravens. I mean how great would it be on those occasions when we played the Colts? The largest NFL affiliated marching band all wearing Colts uniforms and cheering the Ravens. That's like showing up to a street race with a dude's ex-girlfriend.

But back to picking a team for the upcoming bowl, I don't really hate the Colts all that much. And I'm a believer in the "root for the team that beat you" philosophy which brings them to just about even. I like Peyton cause of his commercials where he cheers for everyday people, so they get a small bump for that. But on the other side, my only positive feelings about the Bears come from SNL sketches about Mike Ditka.

And we've got a real heated battle for my favor.

• Baltimore's marching ravens - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia