Note to the Indianapolis Colts' game operations crew ... next time you have a day like Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, crank out the Fifth Dimension's classic hit, Let The Sun Shine In.

(Note to you youngsters: the Fifth Dimension was a great group from the '60s, best known for recording the Age of Aquarius. Now then ...). 

Perhaps someone in the local media made this observation. If so, I missed it.

But Sunday was the first time we ever had seen the Colts play a home game in sunshine.

The Colts' fifth home game (which includes two preseason contests) was the first to be played during the day and with the retractable roof on LOS open to the sky.

Of course, their previous 24 seasons in Indy were spent performing beneath the teflon roof of the Hoosier/RCA Dome.

Watching the Horseshoes play through the sun and shadows reminded me of what we've been missing all those years in the Dome, and that's no knock on the Dome.
 
But at its best, football is an outdoors game. And when the sun is out on a perfect, crystal-clear October day, well, it doesn't get much better than that.

Matt Kryger, The Indianapolis Star's outstanding photographer, captured the essence of the scene in the photo above.

Certainly, it didn't hurt the occasion that the Colts won in a romp over Baltimore, 31-3.