Hunter squarely in Colts' corner

ARLINGTON -- Rangers pitcher Tommy Hunter has it all figured out.

His alma mater, the University of Alabama, has already won a national championship in football this year. He believes his beloved Indianapolis Colts will win the Super Bowl on Sunday. All that's left is for the Rangers to win the World Series.

"Would that not be one of the coolest things ever?" Hunter said Thursday at the Ballpark in Arlington.

The Rangers would certainly be on board with that.

Hunter has already witnessed first-hand the Colts winning a Super Bowl. He was sitting in the rain in Miami three years ago today when Peyton Manning led them to a 29-17 victory over the Bears.

He will not be in Miami this weekend, though. He has tickets to the game but has decided not to use them, not with Spring Training less than two weeks away.

"I can't," Hunter said, sitting in the Rangers clubhouse. "I'm leaving this afternoon to go to Arizona. I've got tickets, I've got everything but no. I'm not going to go but no ...

"I'd like to go but I've got a job to do. I've got to make this team. It's a little more important than a football game."

Hunter was 9-6 with a 4.10 ERA in 19 starts for the Rangers last season but does not have a guaranteed spot in the rotation. He is one of a half-dozen or more candidates for the final two spots in the rotation and he admits to being worried about it.

"You'd be nuts if you weren't," said Hunter, who has been working out at the Ballpark daily, throwing with Scott Feldman, Brandon McCarthy and others, and working with conditioning coach Jose Vazquez.

"I feel I have to compete for a job," Hunter said. "I want to go out there early and get going. I want to make this team."

He will watch the Super Bowl, just not in person. Hunter was born and raised in Indianapolis, attending Cathedral High School there. He is a life-long Colts fan and his uncle, Nick Tuttle, has a private suite at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis.

"I've been going to games since I was 4 years old and Jim Harbaugh was Captain Comeback," Hunter said.

He was there once this year with his uncle. Hunter was at the Colts' game on Dec. 27 when they lost to the Jets, 29-15, for their first loss of the season. The Colts, who had already clinched home-field advantage in the playoffs, led in the third quarter before they pulled Manning and other starters. Reserve quarterback Curtis Painter struggled the rest of the way and the Colts ended up losing.

"I felt awfully bad for Curtis Painter," Hunter said. "My uncle was upset when they took the starters out. He wanted the perfect season. I'm looking at it from a professional standpoint. If we had been in that situation, clinched a playoff spot with a week to go, all our starters would be resting for the playoffs. I didn't care for all the booing."

Hunter could relate to what Painter was going through. Hunter said it reminded him of his third Major League start on Aug. 14, 2008, when he allowed nine runs in the second inning against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

"I know the feeling," Hunter said. "It just stinks when 65,000 people are booing you. At least I had 65,000 giving me a standing ovation. They wanted me to come back out."

Hunter can also relate to the feelings of 65,000 Colts fans for another player.

"I like Peyton Manning," Hunter said. "I like him a lot. He just seems to be a great person. Peyton Manning Children's Hospital of Indianapolis ... having a children's hospital named after you shows the kind of guy he is.

"On field, off field, he's the guy. He leads the team. Maybe one day I'll look like him. Everybody's desire is to be like him. He's a good guy to emulate."

He met Manning once, not in Indianapolis but at the University of Tennessee. Hunter's high school team was playing in a tournament there. Manning, who went to Tennessee before being drafted by the Colts, was doing some offseason work there and throwing the football around on a side field. Hunter and some of teammates jumped in and caught a few passes.

"Just one or two," Hunter said. "It was nothing for him but something I'll never forget."

Hunter has a Manning jersey. He might wear it Sunday when he and Derek Holland go find a place to watch the Super Bowl somewhere in the Phoenix area. Or he could wear a Dallas Clark jersey. Or Joseph Addai, Reggie Wayne or Dwight Freeney.

Yes, he has five different Colts jerseys.

"They are different colors so I can coordinate with whatever color they're wearing," he explained. "But I will be somewhere watching the game."