I Wore It More than Peyton Manning Did :(

Listening to one of the
Colts' 14 losses this year

The inevitable is happening: The Colts and Peyton Manning are parting ways officially. The handwriting has been on the wall for several months now, but the plug has been pulled. And I'm a little sad.

Peyton did a lot for the Colts, Indianapolis and even Indiana as a whole. Before Peyton came along, the closest the Colts came to a championship was the year of Captain Comeback (aka Jim Harbaugh) took the team to the 1995 AFC Championship game (and lost to the Steelers). If you were to ask anybody in Indiana which pro team in the state would win a championship, most would've said the Pacers. I think some would've bet the Boilers won an NCAA championship before the Horse brought home a Super Bowl.

Celebrating one of the TWO
wins

But then came Peyton. He changed the attitude and helped the team gain in popularity not just because of how good he was, but because of how good of a fit he was.  I firmly believe that pro teams thrive best when their team members reflect the values of the community the team is in. For example, Meta World Peace (aka Ron Artest) did not reflect the blue collar workings of the Hoosier state and didn't last. He ended up in LA, and that seems to be a good fit (at least while he was good). But Peyton is hardworking, methodical and makes the most of every ounce of talent he has. That's a perfect fit for Indiana.

Back when I first got the jersey and
thought: "Man, I'm never gonna need
another Colts jersey!" Idiot.

And while I firmly believe in planning for the future and will cheer on Andrew Luck, a part of me is sad to see Peyton move on. And also sad that I got the Manning jersey after the 2010 season ended, which means that I actually wore this jersey more than Peyton did this last year :(. We'll miss you, but thank you, Peyton!