Luck eager to get started in Indianapolis

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For the first time, maybe in Lucas Oil Stadium history, no No. 18 jerseys were spotted in the crowd.

Instead, they were dressed in No. 12, jerseys that went on sale almost the moment NFL commissioner Roger Goodell uttered Luck’s name.

“Our (two) stores were open till 11 p.m. (Thursday) and we had people waiting there for the commissioner’s announcement,” said Jeremy Coffman, director of the Colts’ pro shop. “Business was very brisk.”

Coffman estimated the two stores sold a couple of hundred jerseys, at $115 each, Thursday night. He brought a couple hundred more to Friday night’s draft party at the stadium.

Fans couldn’t wait to get a glimpse of their next big hope.

“How lucky can you be to have one franchise quarterback and go straight to another one,” said Beau Benjamin, an Indy native who was wearing a Colts’ No. 12 jersey that he won in a contest. “So we’ve got high hopes of another 10 to 15 years of winning. And now we’ve got Coby Fleener to add to that. How excited can anybody be? Or Lucky. No pun intended.”

The Colts certainly aren’t staying away from the puns.

On Thursday, Pagano said he felt like the luckiest man in the world. On Friday, Irsay also used the term lucky.

But the luckiest guy on the field Friday may have been 9-year-old Holden Harless of Anderson, Ind., who overcame life-saving surgery to remove a tumor in his spinal cord three years ago at Riley Hospital for Children. Long a Manning fan, he says he’s now a Luck fan after catching Luck’s first pass inside Lucas Oil Stadium.

All Luck has to do now is convert the rest of the city.

“Big shoes may be an understatement,” he said. “What he (Manning) did is obviously legendary for this city, for the state, really. If I woke up every morning trying to compare myself to Peyton, I think I’d go crazy. That’s not even possible. You can’t, and I realize that, so I’m just going to go out and do the best I can.”