THE HORSESHOE FITS : Chargers Head to America’s Heartland, Where the Colts Are Receiving Unaccustomed Support

The 23-year-old man from Boston walked into a clothing store in downtown Indianapolis. He found a pair of jeans on the rack, tried them on, walked around a few minutes, took them off, then carried them to a young salesman at the cash register.

“I’ll take these,” said the man from Boston.

“Yes sir ,” said the salesman. “Will that be cash or check?”

“Uh, cash,” said the man from Boston.

“Are you sure you don’t want to pay by check?” asked the salesman.

“I’m sure,” said the man from Boston.

“Here, here’s a pen,” said the salesman.

“I said, no check,” said the increasingly irritated man from Boston.

“Don’t you understand?” said the salesman. “I’m just trying to get your autograph . On anything.”

At this, Bill Brooks, a wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts, dropped his jaw and then smiled and reached for the pen.

Yes, he understood. But no, he didn’t think anybody else ever would.

“I will never, ever be ashamed to be an Indianapolis Colt,” he explained later after retelling the story. “But it took something like that to make me realize fans are actually starting to feel the same way.”

The Chargers will arrive in Indianapolis tonight in preparation for a football game Sunday. Things might go a lot better if, like clerks throughout central Indiana, they first pinch themselves.

There’s a first-place sports team here, and the sport isn’t basketball.

People are fawning over a streamlined blue machine that isn’t a Cosworth and isn’t driven by a guy who has to stitch his blood type on his shirt.

One of the most soiled franchises in the history of professional sports is becoming the Midwestern equivalent of a glass of milk.

And if the Chargers can’t swallow that, well, there’s a new guy in town named Eric Dickerson, and he will be more than happy to help it down.

In a matter of seven games, one new coach and one new million-dollar running back, the Indianapolis Colts have gone from Dolts to Jolts, and they are full of the rhetoric to prove it.

“Everybody is talking that Indianapolis is nowhere and that we’ll always be losers,” said Brooks, who had one of the best seasons for a rookie receiver in NFL history last year. “Well, not anymore. America is turning toward the underdog. America is turning toward the Colts.”

Pull your hand from your heart a second and check this: Of their first 45 games after they moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis in the spring of 1984, the Colts won 9. Of their last 10 games, all under Coach Ron Meyer, they have won 7.

This includes victories in four of their last five games, adding up to a 4-3 record, which leaves them tied for the best record in the AFC East.

The Chargers face the Colts in the Hoosier Dome Sunday at 10 a.m. PST. If they don’t understand any of this by then, they will soon hear all about it.

Thanks in part to former Ram running back Dickerson’s home debut--he joined the Colts just in time for last week’s game against the New York Jets in the Meadowlands--there will be a 60,127-seat sellout. It will be the biggest crowd to fill a stadium that looks like an indoor tennis center since the Minnesota Twins won the World Series in Minneapolis’ Metrodome. It will be a crowd on a mission.

“Last year, even when we were 0-13, they were loud,” said Brooks. “I remember times when I couldn’t even hear Jack (Trudeau, Colt quarterback) calling the signals. I had to just guess what he was saying.

“I can’t imagine what it will be like Sunday.”

Said Trudeau: “Yeah, the Metrodome. It can be a lot like the Metrodome.”

The Colts have returned home to cheering airport crowds after three of their last five road games, including last season.

When Meyer won his debut last year, a 28-23 decision over Atlanta after the club had gone 0-13 under Rod Dowhower, there were several hundred at the airport. After the Colts ended the season with a 30-24 victory over the Raiders in Los Angeles, there were several thousand waiting fans.

Then, just last week, after they defeated the Jets, 19-14, there were nearly 1,000 waiting. Sure, some of the guys have big families, but . . .

“We were so used to coming home and going to our houses and having everything be at peace, and then all of this hit us,” Brooks said. “None of us have quite expected it, or gotten used to it.”

Said Trudeau: “Same old story, they love a winner.”

Dickerson notwithstanding--he has gained only 38 yards for these guys so far--the way the Colts have improved has been disarmingly simple.

They have always had potentially good talent. Their starting defense contains five first-round draft picks, and before Dickerson arrived, their starting offense had two first-round picks.

But since 1982, this talent had been led by a couple of legendary dour head coaches in Frank Kush and Dowhower. Nearby has always been the specter of tough owner Bob Irsay, whose organization has led the NFL in one category in the last four seasons: profits.

“There’s been a negative attitude, always an emphasis on the negative and what we were doing wrong,” said Trudeau, who has led the club to two straight victories in place of injured starter Gary Hogeboom, who is healthy and could replace Trudeau Sunday.

“All we’ve ever done is try to find a way not to lose,” Brooks said. “That was always the main thing. Always negative.”

The difference now? Meyer came in last Dec. 1, demanded that each player rewind his mental tape, and has spent the last year erasing.

“Basically same guys, but different attitude,” Trudeau said.

“We’re playing our own game now,” Brooks said. “We aren’t worrying about anybody else.”

Even Meyer has forgotten what he told them to forget. Ask the coach about taking over an 0-13 team, and he says: “I don’t spend much time thinking about that. Six days later, we were a 1-0 team.”

Ask him about the difference in attitude this season, and he says: “I don’t know. I don’t look back to last season.”

Brooks remembers.

“You know what people around town used to say Colts meant?” he asked. “They would say it stood for, ‘Count On Losing This Sunday.’

“That’s rough, real rough, especially for young guys. It was hard to practice. Nobody knew how to take it. “

He laughed. “And now everyone around here is talking about playoffs. We’ll never take the place of the Indy 500, but you know, for now, it’s kind of nice to share that feeling.”

Charger Notes

Safety Mike Davis and backup center Ken Dallafior were added to the Chargers’ 45-man active roster for Sunday’s game. Backup guard Broderick Thompson has been deactivated. The other spot came open when Ty Allert was released earlier this week.