It turns out the Indianapolis Colts were staying in our hotel on Saturday night – so much for the poor reviews on tripadvisor.com. Since the AFC Championship Game did not start until 3 pm we had plenty of time to sleep in and then go to brunch. I had picked out Patachou on the Park for brunch. My first pick, City Café, is closed for some reason on Sundays – even this Sunday with a major football game taking place.

Obtaining Tickets
On Saturday morning, I emailed a guy on craigslist.org about his ticket in the upper deck he was offering for $145. I asked for face value and he responded stating that if I did not want to pay $145, the lowest he would accept was $125. I was willing to pay his price but he never emailed me back. Thus, he set my “high price” to pay for the event.

Nicole and I took the hotel shuttle to downtown and it dropped us off within a couple of blocks of Lucas Oil Stadium’s ticket office. Since tickets were available at the box office for the last two Colts game I attended this season (the Patriots at Colts and last Saturday night), I wanted to check the box office to see if tickets were available. I walked to the box office as Nicole walked to the restaurant.

As I waited in line, I noticed a large group (about 10 people) collect their tickets. There were no tickets available when I asked if any singles were available. I immediately asked the group if they had an extra and they acted as though they had one. After about one minute (which feels much longer), they said they did. My first thought was that they were affiliated with the team and would give me a ticket for free. No luck on that. But they were affiliated with the team but had not received a free ticket. Instead, I paid face value ($125) for a ticket on the lower level. Not bad considering this was the AFC Championship game and it would take some work to find a ticket for face value anywhere else.

Pre Game Dining and Shopping
After buying my ticket I could now relax and enjoy a nice brunch with Nicole. Patachou on the Park was a great brunch place. Not only did it serve good food, but it was only a few blocks from Lucas Oil Stadium and the shopping areas in downtown.

After brunch, Nicole and I went sopping at Nordstrom. Since Lucas Oil Stadium is located right downtown you can spend as much time as necessary shopping to make the trip “equal” if necessary.

Tickets Part 2
After spending an hour at Nordstrom I walked to the stadium for the game. As I approached the main scalping corner on W. McCarty St. and S. Capitol Ave. there were quite a few people selling tickets and even more asking for tickets – meaning tickets would probably stay higher than face value. One fan sold his pair ($90 face value per ticket) to a scalper for $150 each. Another guy was asking for $200 for his $110 (face value) ticket. Other scalpers were also asking for much more than face.

The Game
This was the second time I have attend an NFL Championship Game. The first time was three years ago when the Chicago Bears hosted the New Orleans Saints.

The game started out poorly for the Jets as referee Tony Corrente called the Jets the Giants during the coin toss.

However, this did not effect the Jets as they started the game with a bang taking a 17-6 lead with only 2:11 left in the second quarter. At first I thought Rex Ryan may be correct in his prediction that the Jets would win the Super Bowl, but then Peyton Manning took over. After the Jets took their 11-point lead, Manning took less than one minute to score a touchdown at 1:13 left in the first half. This was just the beginning as he also drove for two touchdowns in the second half to score 24 unanswered points and lead the Colts to a 30-17 victory. Peyton Manning broke the NFL postseason record by passing for 300 yards in his seventh postseason game – he was tied with Joe Montana and Kurt Warner.

After the two minute warning in the second half, the ushers finally started checking tickets to enter the section I was sitting in – they did not want fans to attempt to get close to the field during the celebration.

Post Game Dining
After the game, I walked back to the hotel in pouring rain to meet Nicole. The one cab I found would not drive me to such a close destination and the hotel shuttle was not at its stop when I walked by.

After resting for a couple of hours, we took the hotel shuttle back downtown and ate at Harry & Izzy’s which is right next door to St. Elmo Steak House (Peyton Manning is a part owner of the partner restaurants).