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Opening Arguments

Spoilsports

Can they do that?

ANDERSON, Ind. -- As the Indianapolis Colts warmed up for training camp practice Monday afternoon at Anderson University, safety Tom Zbikowski did a double take at a fan in the front row of the grandstands.

Zach Simmons, 24, Anderson, showed up wearing the black No. 92 jersey of Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison. Simmons is a diehard Steelers fan, with a tattoo on his right shoulder and Terrible Towel in hand.

Zbikowski alerted Colts first-year coach Chuck Pagano, who jogged over to the grandstand before the workout to make Simmons a deal: Put on a No. 12 Andrew Luck jersey . . . or else.

"It's kind of our motto," Pagano said. "You're either all the way in or all the way out."

[. . .]

Simmons was unsure if Pagano was serious about the "or else" part of the proposition, but the coach didn't hesitate when asked if the fan would have been escorted out.

"Absolutely," Pagano said. "He was a Steelers fan. I would have gotten a lot of cheers out of these people."

Not a serious question. I know they can -- it's their team and they can run it however they want to. Just seems a little stuffy and overbearing to me. Will they kick me out of the Bob Dylan concert later this month is I decide to show up with a John Mellencamp T-shirt on?

Really, really, really not serious there.

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