Your coworkers and friends will be talking about the big game all week—they mean the Super Bowl, the championship game of American football. You may not know your “laces out” from your face mask, but we’ll at least get you caught up enough to make small talk.

• Season History – The Indianapolis Colts are the winners of the American Football Conference, or AFC, making them the “Conference Champs” and one of two teams to go to the Super Bowl. (The other is the Chicago Bears, the NFC champs.)

Faking it at the watercooler: The Colts beat the New England Patriots in the final play-off game to go on to the Super Bowl. The Patriots, or “Pats,” have won several Super Bowls in the last few years, making them something of a force. In the last play-off game, the Colts were not looking good, down 21 points to 3, but were able to fight their way back to a win in the second half of the game. This gives you license to say that the Colts “really earned it.”

• The Numbers – The Colts ended their season with a 12-4 record. (Twelve wins, four losses.) Their record last year was even better—fourteen and two—but they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the play-offs.

This is the third time the Colts have made it to the Super Bowl, although the two previous appearances, including a win at Super Bowl V, were as the “Baltimore Colts.” (They moved.)

Faking it at the watercooler – You don’t need to know too much about the raw numbers. Just remember this is the third time the Colts have made it to a Super Bowl—but the first since they moved to Indianapolis.

Bonus “Faking it”: Because of the way the Colts ended up leaving for Indianapolis—we’re talking moving trucks in the middle of the night here—people in Baltimore aren’t generally big fans of the team.

• The Players – Without a doubt, you must know the name of the Colts’ quarterback: It is “Peyton Manning.” (Mad Magazine-style mnemonic: (”Paint-On Man Ring.”) Manning is one of the most respected quarterbacks in the NFL, yet this is his first Super Bowl appearance since he started playing for the Colts in ‘98.

Quarterbacks are the central figure of a team’s offense and both throw and hand-off the ball to other players. They very rarely run the football. If they are tackled before they can throw or hand off the ball, it is known as a “sack.”

Fake it at the watercooler: Peyton Manning has never made it to a Super Bowl, which is somewhat ridiculous considering how good he is. You have two ways to go with this: Either comment on how Manning “finally gets the chance for the ring he deserves”—Super Bowl winners each get a special gargantuan ring—or comment how you “wonder if it will take that long for Eli to get his shot.” Eli Manning, Peyton Manning’s little brother, is the starting quarterback for the New York Giants.

• The Coach – The Colts’ head coach is Tony Dungy. Chicago Bears’ head coach Lovie Smith used to work for Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay. That makes this year’s match-up especially friendly. Hugs all around.

Faking it at the watercooler: Dungy and Smith are not only friends—they are the first two black head coaches to head to the Super Bowl. That they’ve done it together is especially cool and is worth mentioning, as long as you aren’t an idiot about it.

Related: Faking it at the Watercooler: Super Bowl XLI Primer [Dethroner]
Faking It at the Watercooler: Chicago Bears Primer [Dethroner]

More data: 2006 Indianapolis Colts Season [Wikipedia]