Tyrese Haliburton’s summer will be remembered most for marrying his college sweetheart, Jade, on August 1.
That was very public. But behind the scenes and (mostly) away from cameras, Haliburton locked in on his training and rehab as he makes his way back from a torn right Achilles. That’s received most of his attention.
The other theme of his offseason for the Pacers’ All-NBA guard? He’s attended sporting events at countless venues.
He went to the FIFA World Cup final in New Jersey, participated in WWE at Madison Square Garden, sat courtside for dozens of Fever games, co-hosted a charity softball game at Victory Field, hosted a youth camp back home in Oshkosh, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Wrigley Field before a Brewers-Cubs game, etc.
Next up: Lucas Oil Stadium.
Haliburton is scheduled to attend the Colts’ season-opening game against the Baltimore Ravens and, even more, be the featured guest to strike the anvil before kickoff. It’s something he’s done before — and is happy to do again.
Haliburton has become a regular at Colts games, often sitting in Pat McAfee’s field-level suite. He had a lot of fun at the season kickoff two years ago, climbing on the wall between the suite and the field, then doing the touchdown dance with more than 60,000 fans.
“I’m very happy that Haliburton didn’t get arrested jumping on that (wall) yesterday,” McAfee joked on his show afterward. “Cops did came over and said ‘We’re gonna act like we didn’t see that.’
“The place did go crazy. Absolutely bananas.
“He’s like a kid, 24 years old. He said, ‘That was so cool to be up there on the jumbotron.’”
When Haliburton was acquired by the Pacers in 2022, he shared on Day 1 that he was a free-agent football fan. Since then, he’s rooted for the Colts, along with the 49ers for his former Iowa State classmate Brock Purdy.
He struck the anvil before the Colts’ home opener in 2022 — and will again on Sunday.
Kickoff is shortly after 1 p.m. on CBS.