I’m sure that any of you who happened to compete in a Punt, Pass and Kick competition in grade school or middle school will remember fondly those hours you spent practicing the backyard, pretending to be your favorite NFL player as you punted, passed and kicked your parents and friends into exhaustion. I bet some of you even went so far as to have your folks buy you a jersey of your favorite player (mine? Tom Tupa, he both punted and passed!), so you could wear it while practicing and making your mother apoplectic with all of the grass stains you accumulated on your brand-new jersey.

Well, 14 year-old Anny Grant was honored, along with several other finalists from different age groups, during the Colts/Bolts game on Sunday. Actually, it’s probably more right to say that they attempted to honor her. Colts fans had other ideas.

Apparently, upon seeing even the hint of the Patriots jersey that she wore, Colts fans, who hate New England with a rabid, hoosier-ish fervor, decided that the only appropriate way to respond was to”boo” a 14 year-old girl.

See, the Patriots and the Colts have become bitter rivals over the past half-decade. If you’re at all a NFL fan, you then of course understand that this completely absolves the Colts fans from any rebuke for “booing” a 14 year-old girl because she happens to be wearing a Patriots jersey. They simply either cannot help themselves, and even if they could, they’re practically obligated to “boo” to properly represent their fandom.

Another, more likely scenario, since Indiana is among the fattest states in the nation, is that many of the Colts fans were suffering from loss of vision. It’s not as far out there as it sounds. Perhaps, just perhaps, the vast majority of the fans at the RCA Dome on Sunday were suffering from adult-onset diabetes, their blood-sugar levels were a bit too high (due to one to many bags of caramel corn, no doubt), they subsequently suffered from mass vision-loss and their “boos” were just cries of displeasure at realizing that they would not only not be able to watch the fourth quarter of the game, but that this was probably going to ruin both their drive home and the Indy 500.

Wilford Brimley does NOT approve! (image blatantly stolen from EDSBS, because they’re awesome!)

Perhaps.

But, this little tale does have a happy ending.

“Grant also returned from school today and heard a phone message from Andre Tippett, the Patriots’ executive director of community affairs and a former star linebacker. She called back and was ecstatic when Tippett extended the invitation to the game - plus tickets for her, her parents and two brothers. She says she knows the boos in Indianapolis weren’t directed at her personally … but rather at the New England jersey she was wearing.”

You stay classy, New England!