their seats when the Colts arrived for the scheduled 1-hour, 50-minute practice. While it was far from a full house, there were long lines for autographs and hundreds of jerseys.

It was the first time the Colts had been inside Lucas Oil Stadium since January's AFC title game, and the Colts started with a moment of silence to honor Indiana native John Wooden, who died Friday night in Los Angeles. They brought in Josh Moore to sing the national anthem and handed out posters.

Bethea, at least, has a reason. He can't participate until signing the Colts' one-year tender of $2.521 million.

Mathis and Wayne, however, skipped it because they're trying to negotiate new contracts. Both players have two years remaining on the deals they signed in 2006, and Wayne hasissued a statement saying he'd like to finish his career with the Colts. Mathis was in Indy and Thursday for a charity softball game but never made it to practice and declined to comment.

Before leaving the team office, Colts president Bill Polian said through a team spokesman that the Colts have had conversations with agents for Mathis and Wayne and that they're aware the team can't do much until a new labor deal is in place.

Some fans understood.

"I wish they could all be together regardless of what's going on with the contract and, hopefully, it will work itself out," said 47-year-old Bob Murray, who wore Wayne's No. 87 jersey to practice. "It's just doing business, and as hard these guys work, they need to get every penny they