Monday, February 05, 2007
Peyton Manning, MVP
It may have rained Sunday night, but it didn't ruin his parade, or should we say coronation. Those may have been wet drops instead of confetti falling on him as he picked up the MVP trophy after his Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears 29-17 at Dolphin Stadium, but that's probably appropriate. The loser label that so many had planted on his back was washed away, replaced by this:
Peyton Manning is a Super Bowl champion.
Didn't think you'd ever read that sentence, did you?
Prince played at halftime. The postgame act was much grander, the coronation of a king.
For years, Manning's been ripped for being a guy who puts up gaudy numbers but couldn't win the big one, his playoff failures overshadowing the fact he's the NFL's best quarterback.
Some said his want for big plays superseded the Colts' real intention, which was to win a ring. He was called selfish and some -- you know who you are -- even nicknamed him "Stat Boy."
They can talk that way no more. So all you doubters, and you know who you are, as does Manning himself since he's lived with the constant chatter of his being the next Dan Marino, can take two words to heart:
Shut up.
Manning's not moving onto the boulevard of broken dreams, where guys like Alex Rodriguez and Marino and Dan Fouts and Jim Kelly live. Those are all great players -- regardless if they've won or will win a title -- but Manning can move on up into that special class of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks.
"It was a great team win," Manning said of the sloppily played game. "We did it together."
Indeed that's the case, since the defense did more than its part with a touchdown and four takeaways, but this one means more to him than any other guy with a horseshoe on their helmet. He is the face of the NFL, with the millions of hours of commercials, and the player other players even love to hate.
