By Ryan Palencer
BROWNSBURG — Rick Dieren and his 23-year-old son Nick are looking to do some bonding over the weekend. The men say they’re looking forward to their father-son trip to Miami.
Dieren has been a season ticket holder since the Colts moved to Indianapolis. He said he “eased” his son into the experience.
“I’ve had season tickets since the Colts were here,” Rick said. “When Nick got old enough to enjoy it, that’s just something that we’ve always shared. We have a good relationship, but the Colts games are something that we’ve done for years.”
For someone who was born and bred a Colts fan, a trip to the Super Bowl is very exciting.
“He’s had the tickets since I was a baby, so I’ve always gone,” Nick said. “That’s what I’ve grown up with.”
Though he experienced a few rough years, Rick tells his son that he missed the “lean years” and to “appreciate these years with Peyton.”
The Dierens say they’ll always remember the moment when they realized the Colts were going to win the 2010 AFC Championship.
“This time, when the Colts beat the Jets, I looked at Nick and said, ‘We’re going to the Super Bowl,’” Rick said.
Though he said the same thing when the Colts beat New England in 2007, this time he stressed the “we’re.”
“It was more personal, I guess,” Nick said.
Rick has the trip all planned.
“We’re going to enjoy a couple of days and get used to the weather a little bit,” Rick said. “We’re going to get down there early Sunday and just enjoy the whole day.”
The Dierens left Friday morning and are staying in Boca Raton, about 30 miles north of Sun Life Stadium.
Rick has making the hotel reservations down to a science.
“To tell the truth, each year for the last five years, I have hotel reservations in the town where the Super Bowl is, right after the previous Super Bowl,” he said. “I’m just hoping that the Colts go and hoping that I won the lottery for season ticket holders.”
He said you can always cancel a hotel reservation if your team doesn’t make it, as someone else will soon grab it.
The flight to Florida was a little more difficult.
“I got on the Internet to try to get plane tickets,” Rick said. “As I priced and checked this and that, the prices were going up. We fly back Monday morning and get back in the afternoon, and I have a business meeting in Chicago. I have to jump in my car and just drive.”
ryan.palencer@flyergroup.com
