March
4th – March 10th
-Peyton Manning Moves
On (March
7th): After months of speculation, the Indianapolis Colts
released
Peyton Manning, who has been their starting quarterback since the late
nineties. In a strangely emotional press
conference,
Manning and Colts owner Jim Irsay both
expressed
their dismay at the parting of ways. On
one hand, the news was completely shocking.
In his fourteen seasons in Indianapolis,
Manning took the Colts from the depths of athletic embarrassment and
transformed them into a consistent powerhouse.
Along the way, he amassed over 50,000 passing yards, nearly 400
touchdowns, 4 MVPs (more than anyone in the history of the NFL), was
picked to
the Pro Bowl 11 times, won a Superbowl (of
which he
was the MVP), and became one of the most beloved marketing
personalities in all
of sports, which was synonymous with his status as the Colts’
quarterback. On the other hand, the Colts
had no choice,
as Manning turns 36 this month, has just gone through a
murderer’s row of neck
surgeries (doing things that sound terrifying, like
“fusing” bone together),
and the Colts would have to pay Manning a 28 million bonus to keep him
on the
roster. No one should doubt the
sincerity of the press conference in which Manning’s release was
announced, as Irsay and Manning seemed
visibly torn up about the whole
thing, but this situation was not a tragedy.
While some Colts fans condemn Manning’s release as heresy,
because the
Colts are a small town team that supposedly operates around traditional
ethics
and Midwestern common sense, with loyalty prized above all other
virtues, it’s
important to remember what the Colts actually owe their fans. A competitive team. That’s it.
I’ve read some articles that suggest sports teams owe
nothing to their
fans, as some franchises up and leave a city all together and popular
players
get disposed of fairly frequently, but I tend to think sports
franchises do at
least feel an obligation to compete.
Aside from that, it isn’t the Colts’ job or any
other team’s job to
satisfy the public’s longing for nostalgia.
Everything Peyton Manning has done has been worthy of his future
in the
Hall of Fame. His legacy as the greatest
Colt who ever played has been solidified through years of great play. But that is all in the past.
Moving forward, the Colts have the number one
overall pick in a draft that has a special quarterback prospect in it:
Andrew
Luck. Regardless of how
“right” it looks
seeing Peyton at the helm in Indianapolis,
the Colts had no choice but to bank on the future.
Relying on the past, and all Manning has
accomplished, might get them two or three more competitive years (if
that), but
they would be sacrificing many more seasons of success if Luck turns
out to be
half the player the experts expect him to be.
The absolute worst case scenario is if you hang on to Peyton,
pay him
the 28 million you owe him, draft Luck, and Peyton isn’t the
player he used to
be. Then Indianapolis
would get stuck in the impossible situation of choosing between the
hometown
hero and the rising star. In a situation
like that, both Manning and Luck would suffer.
Instead, the Colts stepped up and did the unpopular thing now to
try and
avoid a sticky situation later. While
Manning’s
release doesn’t assure success for anyone (Luck could be a bust
and Manning
could go fail somewhere else) at least that will be decided from
on-field
production. The second public opinion
controls the actions of an organization, the product declines. The public is fickle – let’s not
get too
misty-eyed over Manning’s departure from the Colts.
Fans love Peyton Manning, but if the Colts
can find a way to win without him, they’ll love Andrew Luck too.
-Gerald Green Looks
Down at the
Rim (March 10th): Look up the
video. Stop what your
doing right now and check out this dunk.
Pick your jaw up off the floor and stop mumbling to yourself,
“Who the
fuck is Gerald Green?” He’s a nobody. He was
drafted straight out of high school by the Celtics in 2005 and has
spent time
with the T-Wolves, the Rockets, and was recently picked up by the Nets. In between these stints in the NBA, he’s
been
a regular in the NBDL and has spent time playing oversees.
Green is just the typical story of a guy with
unlimited athleticism, who never developed the skills necessary to
compete at
the NBA level. There’s
been thousands of guys like him. But in
one regard, perhaps Green stands out above all others: dunking. His Wikipedia
page
shows four basketball-related awards: 2005 McDonald’s
All-American Slam Dunk
Contest Champion, 2007 NBA Slam Dunk Contest Champion, 2008 NBA Slam
Dunk
Contest Runner-Up (to Dwight Howard), and 2008 Rocky Mountain Revue
All-Revue
Team. Besides the surely prestigious
honor of being one of the best basketball players in the Rocky
Mountain area, Gerald Green
has a
dunking resume better than almost anyone.
So, I guess, it shouldn’t be that surprising when he
throws down a dunk
like the one on Saturday night against the Rockets.
But he still is a nobody. Playing on a ten-day contract, it’s
unclear
if he will still be in the NBA in a week.
And when we see exceptional things (LIKE WHEN THE GUY’S
HEAD IS FULLY
ABOVE THE FUCKING RIM!) from unexceptional people, it brings into focus
just
how special professional athletes really are.
This is a guy who can maybe jump higher than any basketball
player on
the planet – and he’s not even worthy of a standard NBA
contract. We all like to critique athletes
on a regular
basis, on how “slow” they look or how “weak”
they are, failing to realize that
these monsters could jump over our fucking houses if they wanted to.