The Dismay in the Disaster

No, this isn't a column about the impending loss of Peyton Manning for what will probably be more than just one game because of a mysterious slow nerve regeneration problem. That's bad enough. This is about something bigger. Peyton Manning will return, whether it be Week 2 (highly unlikely), Week 10 (probably close to the real date) or in 2012 (God Forbid). What won't return is what will probably end up being a bigger loss to me than the loss of Peyton Manning for several games. That said, I'll start with Manning. I first saw the news in a closed off bar at the tail end of an exceptionally entertaining wedding weekend for a long time family friend. I glanced over to the TV screen as it was on ESPNEWS. The bottom half of the screen was cut off, so all I could read was "Peyton Manning to be". The rest was cut off. The sound was fully off. I was left in a state of total speculation. I quickly went online to find any confirmation of what could be happening but found nothing. Immediately my mind raced; what was the missing phrase. To me the most likely scenarios were the two ends of the aray of possibilities, one being "to be... placed on injured reserve," while the other "to be... ready for Week 1." It probably was "to be... reevaluated." but I would never find out.

Later that night I looked again online and saw reports that Manning might need another surgery as the rate of nerve regeneration was going dangerously slow. Then I saw a post from my favorite trusted Colts blogger (Nate Dunlevy from 18to88.com) that Manning will indeed have to undergo another surgery. Within minutes I was at a loss for feelings, let alone words. This was the francise going down. This was one year of Manning's career taken away, and with an aging core that probably only had one or two cracks together as a unit (Freeney, Mathis, Wayne, Clark), to lose one of those years was just devastating. Anyway, the Colts said that Manning is just getting another opinion. I have no idea what to believe, but I am sure he won't play Week 1, and probably not for until the Colts are effectively out of playoff contention. My only real hope is that the Jags stay a mess (cutting Garrard really helps), the Titans Hasselbeck experiment fails (which it easily could), and the Texans defense doesn't get much better under Wade (probably unlikely), and Manning returns around Week 8 with the Colts 3-5, and pulls off a 6-2 type finish and sneak in the playoffs.

Either way, as I said, Manning will be back. Life will go on. Manning wasn't going to play without missing a game forever. I just feel that it was cheapened. It wasn't a ferocious hit that got him. It was his own body failing him in the oddest way possible, a man struck down by himself. I hope this is not a recurring injury. Anyway, now with the Manning part of this out of the way, let's get to what really has me depressed (to some extent, as there is no need to worry about my emotional state).

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I was thrust back into the US last week after spending eight weeks abroad and what I found was a lot of change. The Northeast had experienced an earthquake (which I'm sad I missed) and a massive hurricane (I'm okay with missing that one). There was also one more change which I only found out during my "welcome back to being able to drive" drive that I took last Wednesday night. 94.1 WYSP was shutting down as a classic rock station. No more needed to be said, or as it were, heard, for me to become absolutely nonplussed. I grew up with 94.1. As far as music fm stations went, it was my station. It was the station that introduced me to Van Halen (my favorite band), to the beauty of old classic rock; to Zeppelin, to Sabbath, to Floyd, to the Who. To everyone. I'm a huge classic rock fan while also being an inherently lazy one. I'm not one to put in the work to find bands and music hidden under rocks, or as they were called "indie" groups. I'm under the impression that in a market that is already targeted to a slight niche group (rock fans, which is admittedly a large niche), that the bands that had the most success are most often very successful for a good reason. That said, WYSP made me listen to bands I hadn't heard. They made me listen to Blue Oyster Cult, to Megadeth, to Metallica (which are for more melodic and beautiful than I ever could've imagined), to Alice in Chains, to Cheap Trick, and I can't thank them enough.

It all started with Metallica. I had always thought of Metallica as some loud, dirty band that wasn't worth two listens, but that was because I hadn't really heard them before. Then one day I stumbled upon WYSP playing "Fade to Black." I had no idea it was Metallica until they told me when it was over. I was speechless. The song was truly beautiful. The guitar, the melodies, the riffs. The song was incredible, and I was thinking "This is Metal? This is the music the nation was supposed to be scared of along with Gangsta Rap?". Right after Fade to Black, WYSP played "Don't fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult. They were another band I never listened to, this time because of innocent fear of the "cult" part of their name. I again found the song moving, captivating. I listened to WYSP for an hour and was struck by the heavy beauty of all these songs by all these bands that were heretofore unknown.

WYSP's tagline was "the rock you grew up with," and although I wasn't really their target audience for that tag, WYSP was the station I grew up with. It was the station I lived with. WYSP played the music I liked and played it all the time. It was a tad more heavy than the other major "classic rock" stations in the NYC/Philly area (102.9 MGK and Q104.3). It was the only one that played Metallica, that played a lot of Guns 'N Roses, that played Van Halen other than just Jump (Unchained was a WYSP favorite). On the weekends, it simulcasted Eddie Trunk's 'That Metal Show', which as a kid I gobbled up, playing it when I was sleeping on Saturday and Sunday nights. WYSP was my radio home, my radio paradise; an oasis where I could listen to real rock amidst a never-ending Sahara of pop.

WYSP is now gone, the "rock I grew up with" is now the "rock I better get on iTunes because I won't be hearing it on radio again." There probably are other rock stations out there that play metal, but do those same ones play Queen and the Doors with equal frequency? That was the true beauty of WYSP. It wasn't for metalheads. It wasn't really for fans of rock in the 60-70's. It was for anyone who liked rock music (The one major group that was kind of ignored on the station was Nirvana, but that's defensible in my eyes since I was never a big fan). WYSP played everything. Their DJs loved everything. Their fans and listeners wanted everything. It was rock all the time and it was amazing. For whatever reason now, it is all gone.

I searched the internet for reasons why WYSP would lose it's face, why it would switch from the best rock station on the East Coast (my appointed title for them) to a simulcast of Philly's sports radio station. I couldn't find any. There was no other explanation other than a lack of ratings, which I guess is the only reason necessary. I guess in the end ratings will be king and lack of them will always spell the end. That said, I will always remember my time listening to WYSP fondly. It opened my eyes to rock music, to hard rock music, to bands I never would have listened to and to songs I never would've blasted in the car when driving. During long night drives they kept me company. When I couldn't get sleep as a 15 year old, the kept me company. WYSP was like family in a weird sense. They were comforting in an obvious sense. They were home, and now WYSP, like so many of the bands they once played, are gone.

Madness 2011: The Ends Justify the Means

Didn't I say that at far as entertainment value, having an All-Cinderella, or even an All-Surprise Final 4 is bad for college basketball? Didn't I say that the 2010 Final 4 would be forgettable, among the lines of the 2006 Final 4, the last one to feature no #1 seeds? I know a lot of people had a different idea - a lot of people thought that March Madness was imbued with new life in a year where all but one #1 seed was gone before the Elite Eight, and the best seed left in the tournament in the Final 4 was a team that went 9-9 in conference. It was a forgettable season of college basketball, with no great team (unlike last year, which had great teams, but teams that lost early, like Kansas and Kentucky). The tournament was highlighted early with odd refereeing decisions capping a glut of close, tightly played games. It was then taken over by two cinderella stories - one a team that lost its best player off of a miracle season and made it back to the Final 4. Amazingly, that wasn't the most ridiculous Cinderella story, with VCU, who's inclusion in the tournament was met with the fury of a thousand winds from Jay Bilas, somehow blowing through their region and making the Final 4 as a #11 seed. Of course, Cinderella's aren't always a great thing, and that point has never had any more evidence than that dud of a Title Game yesterday.

18.8%. That is what Butler shot from the field. I can shoot a higher percentage shooting three pointers in any gym in America. Most NCAA teams could shoot a higher percentage playing against an NBA team. That was an unconscaibly bad display of offense. UCONN's amazing defense and shot blocking and altering should take some credit, but even then, shooting that bad needs help from an impotent offense. Butler could do nothing. Every team, from this years Pitt team to last year's Syracuse team, to Butler's two semifinal opponents Michigan St and VCU, were all wondering "Where was this Butler team then?" Butler rode a magic carpet ride for two tournaments, but that display will probably cloud everything, and it shouldn't. Butler was in the end, who we thought they were. They couldn't play this well, this composed forever. Sooner or later, they would play like a mid-major (especially this year, where they tremendously overachieved). Sooner or later, they would lose the test of wills to a bigger, faster, more athletic team. They met that team, and the result was historic... ally bad.

UCONN should not be blamed. They were down 6 early in the second half despite in many ways outplaying Butler, and did not get discouraged. Rather, they came together, and played the most dominant 10 minutes in UCONN history, rolling Butler for a 22-3 run. It was hard to watch, but also beautiful. Here UCONN was, playing Butler's game. Butler loves to play ugly, they love to get into a street fight. For once, Butler met a team who loved a street fight as well. UCONN relishes these physical games, and they always have. Ever since UCONN won the title with Okafor in 2004, they have been defined by their defense and shot-blocking. From Okafor, to Villanueva, to Thabeet. UCONN has always had a great defender down low. That was supposed to be what made this UCONN team different. They weren't supposed to have that. Well, here comes Alex Oriakhi, out of nowhere. The best part, he's only a sophomore. Just hope he doesn't have Hasheem Thabeet's NBA career.

UCONN took advantage of the worst Final 4 talent wise ever. The 2006 Final 4 might have not had a #1 seed, but there was a lot of talent - starting with obviously Florida's starting 5. This Final 4 had a Butler team that overachieved and a VCU team that was a team playing well over its head. Kentucky also overachieved, getting to where its previous team should have. UCONN was well coached, and had a singular great talent. That was enough in 2010, and that shouldn't be the case. It is unfair to call UCONN a true one man team, like Carmelo Anthony's Syracuse, but they are really that at heart. That usually isn't good enough (Carmelo is probably the most dominant college player we have seen this decade). Usually teams have to not only have good players, and a good coach, but be deep with talent and skill. That wasn't necessary to win in 2011, and I hope that does not stay the case. There should be some skill requirement to win a title, and 2011 did not deliver.

Was March Madness 2011 a fun ride? Yes, because it took advantage of a watered-down year in the NCAA to give us true madness, with upsets all over. It was an amazing ride for two weeks. However, it was not for three weeks, and that is the worst part. A tournament like this is only great when it ends great. That was the beauty of the 2005 March Madness, which had crazy games, upsets all over, amazing finishes, but delivered when it gave us the two best teams in the country to finish it off. It happened in 2007, where the first two weekends were pretty wild, especially the middle weekend, and in the end had the two best teams again. This was not the same. This finished with a loud thud. Forget the great exploits of VCU. Forget the amazing run of Butler. Forget all those odd referee decisions. Forget Kentucky's great win over Ohio St, or Arizona running all over Duke (although I'll try hard to not forget that one, since seeing Duke mauled like that was fun). This tournament will always be remembered for a Championship Game ending 53-41. You realize that just one year ago, There was an NFL Playoff game that had two more points scored? That is really the definition of madness.

The #3 Athlete of the 2000s: Peyton Manning

What is there to say that hasn't already been said. What is there to discuss that hasn't already been discussed. Transcendence needs no description. It is fully evident in front of our eyes. Pictures are worth 1000 words, and pictures of Manning, stills or videos, all say the same thing: we are all witness to greatness in its purest form, witnesses to perfection. The position of quarterback will never be played as perfectly as Peyton Manning has played it the last ten years, and as the headline star of the headline sport in the country, Manning earns his spot at number three of the decade for being football's number one.

There are very few totally transcendent athletes in the past ten years. There are no athlete's that can literally bring people to tears with their virtuosity, their sheer brilliance. These words are usually reserved for artists, for painters like Michelangelo, sculptors like Botticelli, musicians like Mozart, or even more recently guitarists like Eddie Van Halen. They are people that elicit the same reaction from observers lucky enough to witness their greatness. It is a simple reaction of, "How in God's name did he do that?". Manning is one of the greatest quarterbacks, obviously, but there were better quarterbacks in the playoffs (Montana, not Brady), and better, more rugged personifications of the leader of men that quarterbacks are so often portrayed as (Grandpa Favre, for one). However, there has never been a better passer, and in a football world where the pass has beaten the run with a club and put it down forever, there is no greater compliment. Watching Manning throw the ball into tiny windows, hitting receivers thought to be covered square in their chest, has been the football equivalent of watching Eddie Van Halen play eruption, or staring agape at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It is beautiful, it is perfect. It is Peyton.

The numbers have to be mentioned at some point. They just have to because they are insane. Of course, excuses from Manning detractors will be made that he plays in a passing league (true, but so does everyone else, and no one else comes close), and that he has weapons (true from the years 2004-2006, before and after he has at most three good players around him). Even considering every point, his numbers for the 2000s are baffling: 160 games played (1st all time for any decade ever), 115 wins (1st), 65.9 Completion Percentage (2nd to Young, 90s), 42,254 yards (by far the most all time), 314 tds (by far the most all time), and a QB rating of 98.2 (highest for any decade). By any measure, he has put up the greatest statistical decade for any QB ever, and some of those numbers, like yards and TDs, he's not even close. In the decade, he threw for 4,000 yards nine times (three more times than anyone else has in a CAREER), and had eight straight seasons (2002-2009) of a completion percentage of at least 65.0, posting one higher than 66.6 (two completions in three attempts, an extremely high rate) six times. He has gotten a QB rating of over 98.0 in six of the last seven seasons, and the only other one was in 2008 when he played half the year on a left knee missing a bursa sac and inflamed, in which he had a rating of 95.0 and was the league MVP. Speaking of MVPs, he won the award four times in the decade, more than any other player in a career, and was runner up one other time. He's also four times had a perfect passer rating of 158.3 (something about as rare as a perfect game in baseball) four times in the decade, including in the playoffs against Denver. He has been the best QB statistically ever, and really his numbers this decade were mindboggling.

Except to dwell purely on the numbers is leaving the best part of the transformation Manning has undertaken in the decade out. He's no longer just a stat-monster (of course, the stats are still flying in bunches), but he has become the team. The Colts cannot run the ball. At all. They are below average at run defense, and fluctuate between average and good at pass defense. Those are combinations usually reserved for teams that go 8-8. Manning has led the Colts to 12 wins an astonishing seven years in a row, which is, again, more 12 win seasons put up by a QB in an entire career. For comparison, Brady has only had four such seasons in his career. Warner has had two. Favre comes closest with six. Manning is a stat-monster, sure, but he's also a winner above all, alot like fellow top-5 athlete Martin Brodeur. He has transformed himself into the ultimate winner, a guy that will just not let his team that should hover around .500 do anything worse that 12-4 and have a legitimate shot at a Super Bowl.

The year was 2008. Manning started the season without getting a single snap in training camp and had two knee surgeries to remove an infected bursa sac. The Colts themselves were playing without three of their alleged starting o-lineman, including Jeff Saturday, their star center, and had in their places, a two rookies and a second year sixth round pick. They were playing against the Minnesota Vikings, a team with arguably the best defensive line. Manning was a sitting duck, getting hammered time and time again as his o-line was too battered to keep the Viking's Williams Wall from applying major pressure, and he was too injured to escape their grasp. The Colts were doing nothing on offense because of the patchwork line, down 15-0 in Minnesota in the 3rd Quarter. Manning knew the team could not go down 0-2 on the season, he knew that it was his time to pull a Montana and literally bring the team back from the dead. He did just that, throwing for 200 second half yards, and somehow leading the Colts to a 18-15 win. These types of wins have become commonplace ever since the league decided to all stop blitzing him after his 49 td 121.1 passer rating blitzkrieg in 2004. The league adapted to Manning's brilliance starting in 2005, and Manning brilliance outworked them again. He started to stop putting up 4 tds a game, he started just killing teams instead by outgunning them mentally. Every coach was outworked by a player at the peak of his powers. This Minnesota game would be repeated so many times.



There was the Jets game in 2006 when the Jets had five different leads, but lost when Manning put up two TDs in the last 5 minutes. There was the Broncos game in 2006, when Manning, against a defense that had allowed just two TDs in the first 5 games, put up 28 in the second half to beat the Broncos in Mile High 34-31. There was the 2007 game against Tennessee, when he put up 321 yards against what would become the league's best pass defense to win 22-20 in Nashville. There was the game when he beat the Jaguars, winner of four straight, in 2007 by throwing to Wayne, Clark and Aaron Moorehead and Ben Utecht. There was the 2008 game in Heinz against the best defense to grace a football field since the legendary 2002 Bucs, where Manning put up 240 yards and three tds to beat the eventual champs in their building 24-20. There was the game two weeks later when he led a game winning field goal drive in 30 seconds to beat the Chargers in San Diego (yes, he can beat the Chargers). There was the game in 2008 where he was 29-34 to lead a comeback in Jacksonville in 2008, when the Colts were down 14-, to win 31-24 to clinch a playoff spot and a 3rd MVP. There was the game in 2009 where he held the ball for 14 minutes total and led the Colts to 27 points with 302 yards on just 14 completions to beat Miami in Miami. There was the game against New England where he scalped the Pats to the tune of twenty-one fourth quarter points to erase a 31-14 deficit. There was the game two weeks later when he led another 17 point comeback in Houston. Then he essentially mirrored his 2008 performance with a 23-30, 308 yard 4 td fourth quarter comeback against Jacksonville to lock up another MVP and home-field advantage.

Of course, even before his talent level around him finally caught up, he was busy doing the same thing to less fanfare. There was the 2000 game against the Patriots where he put up a perfect passer rating, bringing the Colts back from down 16-7 in the third quarter against Belichick, winning 30-23. There was the game in 2001 where he outdueled Trent Green in his KC prime in Arrowhead, putting up 28 second half points to win 35-28. There was the game in 2002 where he put up 150 second half yards in a blizzard in Mile High to lead a come-from-behind win 23-20. Then, of course, there was the amazing comeback from down 35-14 with five minutes to go against the defending Super Bowl champions and best defense in the league Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa. And finally, there was the game in 2003 where he led the Colts back from down 31-10 in the third quarter against the Patriots and came up one yard short of winning 41-38. Of course, there was the flawless, mistake-free promise to win the division later that year in Tennessee against a great Titans team. Then, in 2004, when his defense failed him most and allowed 45 points, he put up 472 yards and 5 tds against Kansas City, or when he had a run of 5-4-5-4-6 tds in five straight games. Peyton has been the master in close games, in tight games, in blowouts, in comebacks and in slugfests. He is the master, period.

There have long been doubts and jeers pointed towards Peyton because of his "playoff failures". These did have some merit to them pre-2003, when he lost all his three playoff games. But since, they are ridiculous, and are purely the last grasp that some deranged Brady-fan clings to when falling of Mt. Manning. Since 2003, when he finally had a team with enough talent that an average QB like Jake Plummer could have led them to 10 wins (while Manning led them to 12+), Manning has gone 9-6 in the playoffs, with only Brady winning more playoff games. Manning has, in the last seven years, won a playoff game four times (03, 04, 06, 09), reached three AFC Championship Games, two Super Bowls and won a title. In each of his last four playoff losses, against the Steelers in '05, Chargers in '07 and '08 and the Saints in Super Bowl XLIV, Manning has put up over 290 yards, with the last three each eclipsing the 310 mark. He threw for 402 yards in a loss, where both of his interceptions first touched Colts receivers and bounced off, and a game in which his team was ludicrously banged up (and even a QB like Philip Rivers would have led to about a 7-9 record) and lost in overtime he threw for 310. Then, he threw for 333, the third most ever for a Super Bowl loser. These playoff losses cannot be blamed on Manning. In 2008, and 2009, the Colts don't even sniff the playoffs or the Super Bowl, respectively, without Manning and with a QB like Rivers or Brady. Manning himself won three extra games for those teams. Manning was those teams.

The playoffs are where legends are made, and truthfully, the Manning legend as an all-time great can be built from the playoffs using just two games, the two games that define Manning more than any other, and his two greatest performances to boot. They were both in the highest of pressure situations, and both included comebacks against top defenses. They were the identical cases of the 2006 and 2009 AFC Championship Games. First, the '09 version. Down 11 points to the Jets with 2 minutes to go against the best defense in the league, as well as the best pass defense since the ludicrously good 2002 Bucs unit, Manning displayed probably his best quality game. He unleashed hell on the league's best defense, torching a team that up to that point allowed a paltry 166 yards passing, Manning threw for 377. Against a team that on average allowed 14 points, Manning put up 30, 24 coming in the games last 32 minutes. Against a team that normally allowed 260 total yards, Manning and the Colts put up 460. It was brilliance, it was beautiful, it was total Manning. Never once did he lose his cool, never once did he force anything, never once did he panic. The opportunity was there. The Colts were playing badly at home in a playoff game. Unlike his rival Brady, who two weeks had a similar situation against Baltimore and decided to throw up one of the worst performances in QB playoff history, Manning maned up and decided to stop messing around and just owned Rex Ryan and the Jets.

For More on the 2009 Title Game, check out the earlier post: "The Beatification of Manning" (http://loungingpass.blogspot.com/2010/01/beatification.html)

However, nothing is more Manning than his epic 2006 AFC Championship Game win against the Patriots. Down 21-3 to his biggest rival, backed up to his own 12 with just 2 minutes remaining in the half, Manning put up 35 points on the best defensive mastermind of his generation, ruthlessly tearing through the Patriots flaccid defense to the tune of 349 yards, with 186 of them coming in half number two, which he entered down 21-6. It was the biggest comeback in Title Game history, and it was against the most resourceful defense in the NFL, playing with the pride of a Dynasty to defend. Manning, against the team that had caused him so much heartbreak and agony, and had trounced him time and time again, laid out the heavy machinery and broke Belichick and killed the Pats dynasty. It was the greatest game of Manning's life, and it was a defining one too. Here was a man discounted and blitzed early in his career and in the game, down 21-3. Manning made his comeback, went on to capture the ring and stake his claim on top of the NFL world.

Manning's legacy is not done, nor is it complete. He will have many more years to win another ring and forever silence his critics. He will eventually pass Favre to claim hold of all the major passing categories for a career. He will most likely eventually take his place on top of the Mt. Olympus of QBs, joining or knocking off Joe Montana. However, that is for the future. This is about the past 10 years, and those alone have been something to behold; a decade of dominance and influence. It is Manning's brilliance that made the no-huddle popular. It is Manning's brilliance that has influenced a whole pack of young QBs who wing it around like him, call plays and audible like him, and who throw for 4,000 yards like him. It was his singular brilliance on that Sunday Night in the old RCA Dome that killed the hated Patriots Dynasty. It is his personality and charisma that has allowed himself to transcend the caging helmet of a football player/mercenary and become the leading ambassador for the NFL. Jim L. Mora once said of Manning, "we played greatness today." No, Jim, you are wrong. You, and the rest of the NFL, played greatness for ten straight years.

The Beatification

Jay Feely split the uprights, 17-6 Jets. Down 11, to the NFL's best defense, and I was not the least bit nervous, and the sole reason is the man pulling the trigger for the league's version of an AK-47. Manning. That was all I needed to know and to see to make me feel like this normally large lead was just the Colts spotting a team points. I've seen Manning come back from 35-14, 27-10, 31-14, 17-0, 15-0 and 31-10. I've seen him come back from 21-3 in that same round of the playoffs, against a team with a better offense and a defense led by a more master-mindery mastermind. I've seen him lead the largest comeback in Championship Game history. This was nothing. I was not surprised that within 10 game minutes, the Colts were up, sweeping the leg of any Karate-Kid like upset that the Jets were planning. It was over. Manning had come, the game was done.

Pierre Garcon was great and so was Austin Collie, but in the end it is all about Manning. The Jets did a great job of taking out Manning's top-2 targets, contracts and injuries "took out" two other top Manning targets by week 2 (Marvin and Anthony Gonzalez (remember him, you will next year)). Manning just passed to a second-year player with three catches coming into this year, and a 24-year old rookie. I now laugh at the heated debate that media people were able to have about two years ago. Brady vs Manning defined a decade, but that decade ended a bit too soon. That debate has been put to rest. I don't think anyone rationally can say that Brady is the better player. Essentially, Manning had his Welker (Gonzo) out for the year, and lost his Gaffney (Harrison 2008 version), and was left throwing to his Moss (Wayne) and Sam Aiken and Julian Edelmen for a whole year. All Manning did was win a fourth MVP and win every game he played in. He came back from down 17 twice, including doing it in one quarter. He won a game where his offense had the ball for 15 minutes. He led four straught fourth quarter comebacks and seven overall. He hasn't been beaten. He is now beatified, a Saint of football. The last step is almost here.

Rex Ryan was football's hottest defensive mind. He had schemes and blitzes that could put nightmares in any QB's head. He was cocky and cool, confidence spewing from that gregarious gut. He was helpless. Rex Ryan could have tried whatever he wanted, Manning was not going to be stopped. Manning's throw to Austin Collie was as beautiful a throw of any I have ever seen. I have really watched the NFL for 10 years now, and each Sunday I watch Manning play is one more day that I am spoiled. Manning will not play forever, and when he eventually retires, I will have to watch the Jim Harbuagh's and Jeff George's of the world QB the Colts. However, when those dark days come, I can always pop up this game (I will go to any length to get it on DVD), and watch QB as it is meant to be played.