Even today, at literally the eleventh hour, I find that I am unable to write a post about Peyton Manning, and his imminent release from the Colts, that says exactly what I want it to say. In his column today, Bob Kravitz (a writer I am coming to admire more and more, mostly because of how many very good and very accurate columns he has written in the last six months about both the whole Peyton Manning thing and the resurgence of the men’s basketball program at Indiana University) implores fans not to blame either Mr. Manning or Colts owner Jim Irsay for the way this has gone down. I think Mr. Kravitz is absolutely right.
It’s sad that it had to happen, but too many things went wrong all at the same time; and much will be written about this in the days and weeks to come, so there will be plenty of time for throwing out ideas and talking about what was, and what might have been. For now, though, I want to point up one thing about Mr. Kravitz’s column that I particularly liked. He makes the suggestion that it would be pretty cool if all of the people in Indianapolis who own #18 jerseys—and notes that there are a lot of people in the city who fit that description—wore those jerseys around town today. I know it’s too late for most people to be picking out what they’re going to wear today—and that many people probably read his column way earlier in the day than I did—but I’m going to second the motion, and I’m going to put on my blue #18 when Jackson and I go out for a walk a little bit later today.
And in my head and my heart, I’m going to be thanking Mr. Manning for everything he has done for Indianapolis, both on the field and off.
Peyton, in the words of Garrison Keillor, “Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.”
No comments:
Post a Comment