Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Thanks Peyton
**I wrote this post the day after the press conference announcing that Peyton Manning would no longer be playing for the Indianapolis Colts. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to edit it until now and thus am posting much later than planned. The events that have since occurred regarding the Colts will undoubtedly be covered in a future post. On the plus side, the extra time has allowed me to link to post that far more eloquently expresses what I have attempted to state here.
Fight2type has typically been a personal blog centering around, well, me. I've always wanted to write about other things, but frankly with the infrequency at which I have written in the past, it just didn't happen much. Now I am starting to write a bit more, and with such an epic event yesterday (*at the time the post was mostly composed), I feel I must write.
Yesterday afternoon, Indianapolis Colts Quarterback, Peyton Manning, and owner, Jim Irsay, announced that after 14 years, Peyton would be leaving the Indianapolis Colts. I've mentally debated how to approach this subject. Re-cap the press conference, give highlights of game winning throws, analyze the decision that was made? In the end, I think I'd just like to say thank you to Peyton Manning.
For most of my young life Indiana was a basketball state and a racing state. The Colts were there, but they never really did anything. Frequently the games couldn't even be watched on TV because of black outs due to lack of ticket sales. In fact, back then, I didn't even care about football.
For many NFL players, I feel like it's all about them. How many passes can I catch? Whose rushing record can I break? What team will pay me more to come play for them? For Peyton (and obviously, I'm not him, I could be completely wrong) I feel like it was always about playing the best football he could play. He has such a wonderful mind for the game. He studied, he motivated his teammates, he appreciated his fans. Regardless of how many years the Colts have been in Indianapolis, Peyton brought us football.
If it weren't for Peyton, we wouldn't have a Super Bowl title, we wouldn't have a new stadium, we might not even have a team! Without all of those things, we definitely wouldn't have hosted a Super Bowl. He even helped convert this previous football hater (and I do mean HATER) into a ravenous fan with a fantasy team. Peyton put Indy on the map in the football world. Add to that the millions he's put into the city of Indianapolis with the Peyton Manning Children's Hospital, not to mention all the other charities he's contributed to.
So Peyton, thank you! Thank you for countless long bombs into end zone and a couple QB sneaks, for breaking a multitude of franchise and NFL records, for keeping us on the edge of our seats every Sunday, for never running into the stands to punch a fan, for never giving less than 100%, for bringing Indianapolis a Super Bowl title, for making ME a football fan, for all those seconds ticking off the clock as I screamed, "SNAP THE BALL," for openly admiring the men you worked with (except that 'idiot kicker' who deserved to be called an idiot in the moment), for the, literally, laugh out loud commercials ('Can you sign this for my brother, Eli? He's a big fan!), for supporting our city and calling it home. Thank you!
At this point, Colts fans don't know what the future means for you. But this Colts fan (and I'm sure many others) knows what you've meant to us. I won't abandon my team because we've lost an amazing player, but I'll never forget what that player did for our team and our city. Wherever you go, wherever you play, there will be cheers from Indy as that laser-rocket arm throws touchdown passes - as long as you're not playing the Colts! Thanks Peyton, and best of luck. Come back when you're ready to coach!
**A far more eloquent Thank You than mine.
At this point, Colts fans don't know what the future means for you. But this Colts fan (and I'm sure many others) knows what you've meant to us. I won't abandon my team because we've lost an amazing player, but I'll never forget what that player did for our team and our city. Wherever you go, wherever you play, there will be cheers from Indy as that laser-rocket arm throws touchdown passes - as long as you're not playing the Colts! Thanks Peyton, and best of luck. Come back when you're ready to coach!
**A far more eloquent Thank You than mine.
1 Comments:
What a great tribute! I remember sitting in the stands during those early Colts years. They were hard to love back then. Peyton changed all that. He isn't the best quarterback the game has ever seen, but he is probably the best student of the game. In addition, when you look at everything he did in his public life, he might be one of the greatest people to have ever played the game.
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