We have reached the point in the pre-Super Bowl wind cycle where everyone arrives in the host city and begins to take stock of it. In Indianapolis, that means cringing at a giant set of Roman numerals in Monument Circle and a fresh round of “oh my goshes” about the Peyton Manning standoff.
Welcome to the home of Super Bowl XLVI, site of the epic rematch between Tom Brady and Eli Manning – brought to you by a third quarterback who hasn’t even taken a snap this season. One’s rival and the other’s brother no less.
Yes, sports fans, Peyton Manning has done his best D.B. Cooper in successfully hijacking the buildup to the Super Bowl, thanks to the messy divorce seemingly taking place between the icon and the franchise that happens to be hosting this year’s battle royale.
Don’t even try to fight it: Even if Manning and Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay stop sniping at one other publicly for the next seven days, there’s too much conspicuous chest-puffing, too much intrigue and too many media folk in need of stories to avoid the inevitable.
The “oh my goshes” aren’t about any actual news because even though the latest whisper campaign has Manning headed for neck-induced retirement, as far as we know Manning’s vertebrae are pretty much in the same state as they were in yesterday. The Colts’ owner, Jim Irsay, shed little light on anything as he spoke at a news conference that officially kicked off Peyton Manning Circus Week, but clearly the decision on Manning isn’t being made before Sunday.
By all rights, we should be focusing our energies on Brady, who’s trying to match Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana – one of his boyhood idols – by scoring a fourth Super Bowl ring. Or we should be obsessing about Peyton’s kid brother, Eli, as he closes in on superstardom and a possible second championship in five seasons.
Hype knows no justice, however. While the two participating quarterbacks will be probed, and testaments to their triumphs proliferated, neither player is likely to feed us the red meat that we crave. Sure, some of their New England Patriots and New York Giants teammates may say something shocking, but no one else on the respective rosters can compete with the city’s biggest star.
Back in May 2008, when Indianapolis was awarded its first Super Bowl, Irsay had reason to be excited. His team, with Manning at the helm, was a perennial contender, and he had legitimate dreams of becoming the first NFL owner to hoist the Lombardi trophy in his home stadium. Either way, it would be a chance to showcase the city and its sparkling new facility, Lucas Oil Stadium, with a retractable roof to keep fans warm in the heart of winter.
Now? The future home of Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III will play host to Media Day on Tuesday, and to the game on Super Sunday, and it suddenly seems like there’s a huge hole in the stadium.
Eventually, things should circle back to the game being played — including the Manning who is actually playing in the Super Bowl (Eli) — although all sanity will take a break on Tuesday for Media Day, which, to my amazement, 7,000 people bought tickets to watch. They will certainly not be getting money for their entertainment dollars from the two coaches.
Yes, there is a semi-rational argument to be made that the Giants’ Tom Coughlin could make the Hall of Fame if he wins this Super Bowl and the Patriots’ Bill Belichick regularly torments his players in film sessions, but neither is a guy you want to sit in a stadium seat and listen to from a quarter-mile away.
So I guess you can’t blame folks for being hungry for news from this City’s biggest story. And for what it’s worth, he showed up in the hallway and put it bluntly:
@BrandonTierney: Peyton Manning moments ago: “I’m not retiring.”
Phew. Maybe now we can get back to the real stories.
