The Colts’ move 25 years ago to Indianapolis wasn’t a huge topic among national media guys this week, but an astute Clark Judge of CBS Sports covered it Friday.

Clark’s one of the better NFL writers around, a guy with a calm approach and insightful perspective.

He’s also a guy willing to take a moment and think for himself.

Which is what he did in this piece Friday on Colts Owner and Chief Executive Officer Jim Irsay’s thoughts regarding the events of March of 1984. It was Irsay’s father, Robert, who made the decision to move the Colts from Baltimore, and Irsay recounted the situation — and some pretty touching family stuff — in good detail.

Irsay in the piece said his father didn’t want to leave Baltimore, and you can catch the details in Clark’s well-written story. Irsay also discussed in depth Robert Irsay’s alcoholism, and reading the story, you get an appreciation for how much he admired his father while also understanding clearly his shortcomings.

As is usually the case when Irsay is interviewed, there was a lot interesting in the story, and it’s worth the read. What struck me most about the story — and I credit Clark for this, having pretty deep Baltimore roots – is he gives Irsay the credit he deserves for being one of the NFL’s best owners.

Before 2006, I used to tell people one of the best things that would happen if the Colts made the Super Bowl was it would give the national media a forum to first grasp then relay to the public how underappreciated Irsay is as an owner. For years before the Super Bowl, he was closely associated with his father, and too often, fans nationally didn’t appreciate or realize the difference in the two. Early in the decade, you’d read an occasional piece that talked of the Colts and how their owners moved them from Baltimore when in fact, Robert had died years earlier.

That has changed. Maybe it was the Super Bowl. Or maybe it’s time, but people don’t seem to associate the two as closely anymore. But it struck me during the Super Bowl run and afterward that despite the success, Irsay doesn’t get quite the credit he deserves. Almost certainly it’s because by comparison he’s a fairly l0w-profile owner who generally stays out of the way.

So, if he’s so low-key, why does he deserve credit? Because although Irsay spent years as the Colts’ general manager upon their arrival in Indianapolis, he was smart enough upon assuming ownership to not get heavily involved. He hired one of the game’s best executives, Bill Polian, and gave him control. He hired Jim Mora, and when Mora was fired in January of 2002, Tony Dungy came available days later.

It’s easy to forget now that Dungy didn’t walk from his Tampa offices, and fly immediately to Indianapolis to finish what eventually became almost a fairy-tale story. He also interviewed with Carolina, and seriously considered not coaching. What Irsay did was completely in character.

He didn’t try to be coy. He didn’t try to feel Dungy out. He called Dungy and immediately ceded bargaining power, saying he was the clear first choice for the job and essentially saying whatever Dungy wanted was his.

It wasn’t orthodox, but Irsay’s not orthodox. But he does know what he wants and what he wants mostly is for the Colts to win, and in 2002 he wanted Dungy no matter what it took.

A no-brainer? Sure, now. And Polian looks like a no-brainer now, too, but remember: no decision is a no-brainer before it happens. There were three decisions that set the tone for the Colts’ recent decade of success. Irsay was the primary decision-maker behind two — Polian and Dungy — and months after Polian’s hiring, Polian chose the third, which of course if quarterback Peyton Manning.

Had any of those decisions turned out wrong, doubtless Irsay would be blamed, so you’ve got to give him the credit when they’re right. It’s not something that gets discussed a lot, and that’s why I give Clark Judge a lot of credit, because even with his Baltimore roots, he subjectively read this one just right.