Changing Of The Guard

Once written, twice true? People are lining up to bid Peyton Manning adieu. Should they? Well, based on the past 6 weeks, it appears that Father Time has caught up with Manning. Personally, I do not think that he thinks it is time to expect him to walk away. Peyton has a lot of Pride and his performance versus Indy is not the way he will want to end his career. Paraphrasing the great Marcellus Wallace, “When thinking about your future, you may feel a slight sting. That’s pride f&&ing with you. F&&k pride. Pride never helps you. It only hurts you.”. I believe that he will come back for one more season and attempt to end it on a healthy note versus being hobbled. Strained quad? Torn quad? Hard to say, but he will be back.

Getting back to Sunday, it is apparent though that Andrew Luck is the new AFC gunslinger. It was obvious all season long but things do not change over-night. The coronation takes some time and culminates with an underdog triumph. That has now taken place and, fittingly, he now opposes King II of the Hill; Tom Brady. A true storybook would have Luck also beating Brady to take his newly earned spot on top, but it doesn’t happen like that in real-life sports. There is always more than one hurdle to the top and you cannot leap them all the first time once the wheels are in motion. You get to the last hurdle, get knocked back, re-group and then try again. So, Luck will run into the Brady wall this weekend and will come back next season for another attempt. There is no doubt that he will pass Brady, and pass him soon, but it is not this year. With Peyton on the way out, “The Game” in the AFC will now be New England vs. Indy until Brady rides off into the sunset. The way the Patriots have handled the Colts in the past few years, it may take another 2-3 years before Luck clears that last hurdle.

Aside for the demise of Manning, it was a busy weekend in sports.

• Yes, Cowboys fans, it was an incompletion. Dez did not take 3 steps and make a football move as you have exaggeratedly argued. It was all one process and he did not complete it. Now, if that silly rule was not in place and it was a judgment call, then, Hell yeah, he caught it. But, the NFL is full of silly rules and they have to be followed consistently. I loved the Tweet by the Lions afterwards, btw.
• I am an avid fisherman and a mediocre swimmer. This tale from former Dolphins fullback Rob Conrad guarantees that I will wear a life jacket when out fishing solo from now on. What a great story!
• The writing was on the wall all season for Jim Harbaugh, regardless of how well his teams had done previously, but I did not see John Fox parting ways with the Broncos. This man can coach. I just hope my Bears can lure him in.
• Shame on me. I was fooled the prior week by CBS in thinking that their pre-game show was about football and not advertising but I still went back this week and was caught in that trap again. I hope James Brown can get out of his contract cuz he has no business on that joke of a show. Strahan fits perfectly on it though. The bit they did with Katy Perry was embarrassing enough….maybe they should focus on her two true assets…but was the plug for the movie “American Sniper” really necessary? I thought they filled time between segments with commercials. I didn’t know that they ran commercials as segments? Also, Pepsi pushing the halftime show as “Hyped”?! Can you overstate the obvious any more? The best part of a Super Bowl party is being surrounded by food and drink so it is easy to pass on the commercial time and halftime with sustenance and actually enjoy the evening.