The other, more relevant journalistic path is the future status of Peyton Manning's monkey. Peyton's appearance in the Super Bowl seems to have galvanized the debate over him. I made my peace with Peyton and actually became a fan earlier in the season, but most Peyton-haters have kicked into a new gear. Virtually all of them have become die-hard Chicago fans, exclusively referring to their new team as "Da Bears" with the appropriate fat-guy-in-a-sports-bar accent. Upon hearing that I wanted the Colts to win, an old friend replied: "What?! How can you want the Colts to win?! I hate Peyton Manning. He's a dick. He's just a walking member. Go Bears! Peyton's a fag!" This from a 40-something career woman, a parent, and someone who has virtually no connection with the city of Chicago.
I want the Colts to win because I believe they are objectively the better team. I want Peyton to win because, like I said, I have made my peace with him and I don't want him to suffer Dan Marino's fate: ending up a sports talking head and having to bristle anytime someone makes a point about so-and-so not winning the big one.
And I love how the loss of Edgerrin James meant nothing to the Colts. They just plugged some new guy in behind the top notch O-line with Peyton keeping the D back on its heals and went on as before. Indy's offense is quite probably the best ever. It would be unjust if they end up being discounted by history for never winning the Super Bowl.
I don't want Chicago to win because I don't think Rex Grossman deserves it. And the only thing Tank Johnson deserves is a stiff sentence.
One of the difficulties in evaluating teams is trying to determine what counts more — average performance over the season or performance in recent games. Were you to line up these teams back in, say, late November you would have seen very similar offenses to what you've seen recently: Ungodly greatness from the Colts; flip-a-coin to guess what Bears offense appears. On the defensive side however, things would be very different, we'd be looking at a Bears D that could stop a battleship cold, and we'd see a Colts D that couldn't stop Verne Troyer at running back. But that is not the case of late.
If the defenses hold to recent form, you have to give the Colts the edge. That epic offense of theirs just has too many weapons to shut down.
Article comments
1 - alessandro nicolo
Great piece, David. Lotsa good info. The translation bit was funny. I would add one tiny thing: while it is true CFL rosters are filled with American born players, football at a grass roots level in Canada (especially in Quebec) is growing. I hear Mexico has taken a liking to the game it seems only natural they would be the third country. But for now, at the junior ranks Canada is the only country that rivals America. In fact, they've won back to back World Titles. It shouldn't surprise many since Canadians have been playing football as early as the 19th century and have contributed to the development of the game. Another issue is the small population.
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
YOU CANNOT PREVENT AMAZING FUN MYSTIC SLANT ROUTE PASSES OF TOM BRADY!!! ^_^
3 - david mazzotta
All right, who gave Sussman caffeine?
Alessandro - I had no idea that Canada was so strong in the juniors. I wonder why it doesn't translate to college or pro. Interestingly, the NFL maintains a Canada specifc site where, among other things, they list all the Canadian players in the NFL Currently there are 14, of which 3 are on practice squads.
4 - Tinkerbell
Me and the Liz (dog) are gonna root for the Corn-Fed-One. It's his time.
And can someone please give Sussman his daily allotment of Xanax?
5 - alessandro nicolo
It's the same in baseball. Up to 18 years old Canada produces fine talent but beyond that we don't develop further. The only ones who squeeze through are the Nash's, Walker's and Morneau's of this world. I suspect it comes down to two things: money and commitment. There are other subtle considerations but that would take too long.
6 - Gary Garland
Actually, baseball was wildly popular in Japan long before the first pro league came along in 1936 and the sport has been played in Japan since the 19th century. MLB all star teams toured there many times before the war, the most famous being in 1934, when Babe Ruth came over with Lou Gehrig, Earl Averill and others and it was the impetus from that that helped create the current pro league. So baseball isn't just a postwar phenomenon in Japan. Check out my website and you'll see what I mean.
7 - RJ Elliott
ALL YOUR COMMANDER IN CHIEF BELONG TO US!!!
8 - RJ Elliott
And, yes, that was horribly unoriginal.
Great article, David. Go Colts!
9 - alessandro nicolo
Dave, make that three world junior titles in a row. Canada beat USA 23-13. Mexico beat Japan 25-17 for the bronze medal. Panama and France took part this year in the six team tournament.
10 - david mazzotta
Well, there you are. Total Colts domination as expected. Look at the stats and the score could have easily been a lot more lopsided. Congrats to Dungy and Peyton above all.
A hearfelt thanks to all my readers. You guys rock one and all.
See you in September.
11 - david mazzotta
Oh, by the way -- I'll be spending the rest of the year trying to get the image of Prince behind that sheet play with his, um, guitar, out of my head.