No Longer Peyton's Place

And so, on March 6th, 2012, the Indianapolis Colts have decided to hand the car keys to an undrafted rookie named Andrew Luck. This is gonna be painful, as the keys were held and the car driven masterfully for nearly 15 years by one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game, Peyton Manning.

I remember washing my car in the driveway during the draft of 1998. It was a sunny, slightly chilly day, and I had the radio turned up in anticipation of the Colts drafting the man of my dreams (so to speak!). I listened, I tensed up with anticipation, and let out a sigh of disappointment when they didn't choose,......RYAN LEAF!!!!! Oh well, I thought, Manning will probably be okay as a substitute. THIS, by itself, is likely the single piece of damning evidence that would be used to seal the case against me if I ever applied for a General Manager's position in the NFL!!

To properly pay homage to Peyton is nearly impossible, but I want to at least tip my hat and offer my meaningless thanks for who he's been and what he's done. Among my memories of his time with our city:

-Ummmm,........WINNING THE SUPER BOWL!!!!!!

-Inventing a brand-new type of offense, where reading the defense at the line of scrimmage and calling audibles on practically every play has redefined what's possible offensively.

-Winning at least 11 games every year for 12 straight years.

-Becoming one of the funniest television commercial actors I've ever seen (the Mastercard series was "priceless")

-Setting over 20 all-time NFL passing records, with more to come in future years.

-Being so durable for 13 straight years, that most people couldn't identify out of a police line-up who the Colts back-up quarterback was! (And when we finally found out, we wretched!)

-Conducting the single biggest "Arms Race" with Tom Brady since the USA-Soviet Cold War.

-Making arrogant defensive backs look like diaper-wetting toddlers while picking them apart time after time after time.

-His astounding telepathy with Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne.

-The wonderful relationship he had with Tony Dungy.

But in addition, there's a personal side that I think speaks more highly of Peyton than his football accolades:

-Building a Children's Hospital that serves tons of underprivileged kids.

-Representing our city with class, dignity, a killer work ethic and integrity.

-Fighting through broken jaws, concussions, sprained ankles, dislocated fingers and herniated discs in his neck just to keep playing.

-NEVER making statements that embarassed our city. NEVER appearing in a police mugshot after beating his wife or kids. NEVER throwing teammates under the bus. NEVER "taking it easy" on opponents. NEVER taking all the credit himself. NEVER failing to thrust that credit upon his receivers, offensive line, coaches or defense. NEVER failing to come to the aid of those less fortunate, as was the case with Hurricane Katrina, tons of hospital visits (most of which were never reported), charity bowling tournaments, charity golf fundraisers, and charity events with his dad Archie and brother Eli.

So it's a bittersweet farewell to our knight on a stallion. Unless his new team (which I predict to be Washington) plays the Colts, I'll be cheering like crazy for Peyton to set every record in the book. Releasing him truly is the right decision from a financial and "down-the-road" perspective, but it hurts nonetheless.

Andrew Luck appears to be the real deal, much as Peyton was 15 years ago. If he stays healthy and out of trouble, his career might even approach Peyton's success one day. But for now, I'm in favor of lowering Lucas Oil's flags to half staff, observing a moment of silence, and just smiling while we remember the brilliant gift that this man was to our city.

Thanks, Peyton,.....and keep throwing darts for years to come.