So It Goes

So the worst kept secret in the NFL is finally out. Peyton Manning is moving on to somewhere else. Nevermind that it is the logical thing to do. Nevermind that he clearly didn’t want to be here anymore. All of that can come another day. For now we’ll look back and assess his legacy here. Who was Peyton Manning and what did he mean to this city?

I think the biggest legacy he leaves is on the field. Like Reggie Miller, as long as he was in the game you never really thought it was over. Even if you were down 21 in the 4^th quarter you could always think “well, there was that game against Tampa… there was the AFC championship against New England. Just get the ball back to 18 and we got this…” Without a doubt he is the best Indianapolis Colt of all time. Probably ahead of Unitas for best Colt of all time (but let’s let him finish his career first before we go there). He brought unprecedented attention to our city. He made guys like Marvin and Reggie, Saturday and Clark into borderline Hall of Famers. He made total nobodies like Dominic Rhodes and Pierre Garcon into household names. He almost singlehandedly reshaped the NFL into a passer’s wet dream. He brought us two Super Bowl appearances, a new stadium, and a hometown Super Bowl. He made us believe that we could and should compete with anyone.

The guy is indisputably the biggest sports personality to grace Indy with his presence. And yet, therein lies the rub for me. As an Indianapolis resident most of my life, Peyton was always our guy. I’m not sure if we were ever Peyton’s town though. It always felt as if he was some International Super Star who just happened to be gracing our small city with his presence and talents. We were always just a place where he played football and did occasional commercial shoots.

Maybe it was a byproduct of his Superstar status. Maybe it was a result of his preference for an almost strange code of privacy. Maybe it was the national appearances, the fact that he was always clearly a son of New Orleans and Tennessee more than a Hoosier.

I saw Reggie Miller a few times around town. He used to go to the movies and my friend would greet him. He came through the drive through at the Burger King I worked at in high school. Everyone knew he cheated on his wife so she burned his house down. Everyone knew where his house was. Jim Harbaugh came and spoke to my school. People I know saw him at pool parties. Edgerrin James and Ron Artest used to come in the bookstore where I worked and would always be gracious and super friendly. Jeff George’s mom was friends with my mom. I saw him at the Holy Spirit Festival. My parents went to his draft party. Jermaine O’Neal was well known around town and owned a few clubs. Dallas Clark lives down the street from a friend of mine and is known to toss footballs with neighborhood kids. A friend of mine used to babysit Antonio Davis’s kids, and he lived not far from my parents. I saw Tony Dungy around town, at Pacers games, at the Indy 500. My point here is this: I never once saw Peyton Manning. Other than the Hoosier Dome or Lucas Oil, I was never once in a place at the same time as him (that I knew of). I never knew anyone who saw Peyton at a bar or a restaurant. Whenever he WOULD go somewhere it was through the back door, to a private room. He would show up at various exclusive events and take some pictures and then disappear. Whether it was his own aloofness, or maybe his over the top professionalism, the guy was never ever one of us. Never a Hoosier. Don’t let any national sports writer tell you otherwise. Sure he was goofy, he was great on SNL. But he was a regular guy like George Clooney was a regular guy. He was always bigger than us, and we all knew it.

Reggie Miller made this town his own. He came from LA of all places and made himself an honorary Hoosier. He defended our town when Knick fans called us hicks. He even gave up a couple chances at a ring to protect his legacy in this city because we meant that much to him. Jermaine O’Neal still wishes things had turned out better for him in Indy, ask him. He’s been very vocal on the subject. Ron Artest apologized to our city the minute he won a ring because he knew how great the fans here were, and how bad he hurt us. He still owns a house here. Reggie Wayne nearly broke down after his last game here, and couldn’t keep from gushing over how much he loves this town and the people here. How he considers Indianapolis his home now.

Of course his generosity to charities like the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital is invaluable. The guy had plenty of charitable causes in and around Indy that he gave millions of dollars to, and for that he should be commended. At the same time though, his charitable donations never seemed to go above and beyond. It was never to a point that ATHLETE A wouldn’t give to CITY B where he played.

Peyton has kept his entire life from Colts fans. There were always rumors of a Tiger Woods scandal being around the corner since no one ever saw him or his wife together. But the truth was that no one ever saw them, so we had to make up our own story. Hell, the guy didn’t even want anyone to know that he had kids until they had already been born for a week! He hid his surgery from us, and what he did tell us he lied about. He snuck in and out of training camp. One is left to wonder how much Irsay and Polian knew about his health before this season. Peyton made it a point to give them (and, let’s be honest here… himself) this $28 million out clause. Polian clearly thought he was coming back sometime during the season, he has said so. Ultimately it cost him his job. Irsay clearly wanted to keep him here as long as he could. Throughout his last strange season here, and to some extent his entire career, everything about him was secret and back alley leaks to national press members. It seemed as if Chris Mortenson knew more about Peyton’s situation than the owner! Did he ever once sit down with the local media and let us know what was going on? Aside from one interview with Kravitz, I don’t remember anything. I’m sure more will come out tomorrow when the official announcement comes but has Peyton ever tried to make amends to the fans here? He is as much to blame for this disaster of a season as Polian was. He led the Colts to think he would be there and then bailed out at the last second. He is the guy who never let the Colts draft a respectable back up, and then never let the back up they had have any reps. And that was all great when he was there. The minute he wasn’t, it all fell like a house of cards.

It will be years before we can properly assess Manning’s full legacy in Indianapolis. Will he, like some stars who leave their markets, put the town where he played in the rear view and disappear into celebrity? Play out a few years somewhere else, move back to New Orleans and replace Terry Bradshaw at FOX (I kind of hope so for that last part at least)? Will he come back in a few years and help run the team like Larry Bird and John Elway? Will his departure be so rocky that he cuts all ties with his former team and city ala Marshall Faulk (don’t even get me started on Marshall Faulk)? Will the team with Andrew Luck be a total bust, or will they pick up where Peyton left off and create a new era of greatness in Indianapolis? All of these things will ultimately affect how we view his legacy in Indianapolis, and all of them have yet to be decided.

In the end, I will miss watching Peyton Manning playing for my team. With him on the field I always felt we were going to win. He is arguably the greatest quarterback of all time, and I am proud that he represented my city in such a professional manner on and off the field. But I won’t miss Peyton Manning the person. I have no idea who that is. And that is just the way he wants it.