Neutral students can't 'Bear' Super Bowl talk

For many IU students, Super Bowl Sunday will result in the fulfillment of a lifelong dream of NFL fan glory -- or the torment that comes along with being so close to it.\nThe focus on IU's campus has been set squarely on the Super Bowl since the Bears-Colts matchup was established after the NFL conference championships. But this spotlight has left many in the dark as they experience alienation without an allegiance to a Super Bowl XLI team. \nThis emotional roller coaster will be all but absent for those who aren't football fans or who cheer on teams that have fallen out of contention. These people have had to endure constant talk of the Super Bowl matchup, and freshman Ayrica Harvey said she is exhausted by the coverage.\n"It's the only thing that's on TV and I'm sick of it," Harvey said. "The (Cincinatti) Bengals aren't in the Super Bowl so I don't care."\nConstant chants of "Da Bears" or praise for Colts quarterback Peyton Manning at every corner you turn has angered some.\nThe reaction comes as no surprise to freshman Will Paine, a Nashville, Tenn., native who said he hates all the campus talk -- not to mention the mustached Peyton Manning "laser, rocket arm" commercials.\n"As someone from a neutral state, I'm really getting tired of it," Paine said. "Everyone at IU has a side, and it's pretty frustrating not to have one."\nThough Paine feels the indifference that comes with being neutral on the IU campus, he said he has some admiration -- and doubt -- in the Colts.\n"You have to be proud of the Colts for finally making it," he said. "But I won't be surprised if it becomes a hostile environment in a week if the Colts don't finish after getting over the Patriot hump."\nThough fans whose teams fell earlier in the season may be irritated, the people who have really been left out of conversations and lost in all the hoopla are those who aren't football fans at all.\nIU freshman Amber Daniel spoke for many students when she said: "I don't even like football!"\nThe left-out IU students who are football fans, however, have been noticed by those who have caused the conversation.\nSenior Ryan Moore is an Indianapolis native and a huge Colts fan. Moore, who fashioned the body of Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri to go with his copy-and-pasted head on his Facebook profile, said he believes it is hard to hear about the Super Bowl with no one to cheer for. \n"You have to feel sorry for people being in this Midwestern setting," Moore said. "I'm sure they are left out when their team isn't in it. If their team isn't one of those two, or they don't like football, then they probably get tired of hearing about it. But all I can say is, it sucks to be them.