Peyton Manning and The Super Bowl

There are so many moments from yesterday that I'll remember for longer than necessary, especially considering that my team wasn't playing. Just as a preface, allow me to recall the first season of Peyton Manning's career. In an earlier post I mentioned the one football team with whom I lived and died, the 1998 Jets. The Jets started that season with Glen Foley as their quarterback, lost the opener 36-30 against the 49ers in overtime; a game in which he threw for 450 yards. They lost the next game before Foley went down with an injury. Next, they brought in the aging Vinny Testaverde who won the next two games before Foley returned. Foley was just awful in the next game, so Testaverde was handed the reins of a 2-3 team destined for mediocrity. Needless to say, Testaverde led those New York Jets to a 10-1 finish before they finally lost to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship game. The one game they lost during their last eleven was to a lowly 4-12 Indianapolis Colts team led by rookie quarterback Peyton Manning. The Jets led 21-13 at halftime largely because Aaron Glenn returned a missed field goal 104 yards from his own end zone at the end of the first half. When Manning led his team to a second half comeback, even though his team was already eliminated from playoff contention, I thought to myself "geez, I really really don't want to have to play this guy twice every year for the next ten years." It's not often that you get to watch a legend in the making. Anyway, after so many failures despite a Hall of Fame career, Peyton Manning is finally going to the Super Bowl. Even though I'm impartial about the success of the Colts, I found myself rooting for them yesterday, mostly because I hate the Patriots, but also because Manning has this charisma about him, which is essential to the NFL, and if he had lost his career would have been over, figuratively speaking. After the Colts took the lead with a minute left, and Tom Brady trotted onto the field with his sights set on another game-winning drive, you could just tell what was going on inside Manning's head, "Uh oh, here he comes. Not again." The cameras panned to Manning sitting on the sidelines with his head in his hands as Brady led his team to the Colts' 45 yard line. I kept pointing at him and telling my friend, "look at him sitting there; he's a mess." But really, I was a mess. Regardless of the fact that I had money on the Patriots, I still would have been steamed had Brady led his team into the end zone. When Marlon Jackson intercepted Tom Brady with 16 seconds left, icing the game, I was relieved. Peyton Manning was finally going to the Super Bowl where he would join the Chicago Bears who won earlier in the day. (Just as a side point, the NFC Championship trophy is called the George Halas trophy, and the current owners of the Chicago Bears are the McCaskey family. Virginia McCaskey, formerly Virginia Halas is George Halas's daughter. Can you imagine being handed a trophy named in memory of your father, a pioneer in the desegregation of football; the man who's name is attached to the street on which the football Hall of Fame is found in Canton, Ohio?) I don't think you realize what that means. Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts are going to Miami to play against the Chicago Bears for the Vince Lombardi trophy. Talk about the game's greatest star finally playing on the biggest stage in American sports, with 75,000,000 people watching. It didn't really hit me this morning how emotional I was about the whole business. On Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN radio, they replayed Jackson's interception announced by the Colts' radio broadcaster shouting, "...throws it undernea-INTERCEPTED BY MARLON JACKSON, MARLON'S GOT IT! WE'RE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!" I remembered what I loved about football, what it means to play in the Super Bowl, and how much I want the Jets to get there someday soon. I started thinking about my good buddy who's a huge Bears fan, and how excited he must be to see his team play for the championship. I remember what a wreck I was during the baseball playoffs this year, but if I had to wait two weeks before my team played in the one game that would decide everything, I really think I would be utterly incapacitated for the entire duration. I can't wait.