Perhaps I should not say I had a loss of interest in the Colts after the Super Bowl defeat, maybe it was more of a loss of motivation in rooting for them. This progression maybe fueled by a parallel in that the Colts never seemed to recover from that loss as well—mostly seen in the following season of play. The 2010 season would mimic that which I had seen several times before. I barely recall the season, outside of Peyton and the Colts struggling in the second half of the season. The only real key memory I even have of the season was the three game losing streak they suffered at the hands of the Eagles, Chargers, and Cowboys. The poor performance made me think back to how spoiled I was by their play in the “good old days”, when I would get mad if Peyton didn’t throw more than two touchdowns and beat the team by over two scores. The Colts snapped the losing streak on a Thursday night game against the Titans, a game which I kept up with at a school sanctioned graduate student Christmas party that was particularly awkward event—complete with trivial small talk and fake laughs to unfunny jokes. The fried cheese sticks were pretty good, if I recall. Nevertheless, I looked at the Colts victory in that game and shrugged my shoulders. First off, they barely pulled the victory off, only winning by two points, and I figured it was only a matter of time before Peyton would get things back to the way they should be.
That feeling, one of complete apathy to the Colts fortunes, would never occur in the past. In the old days, if the Colts had a three game losing streak that wasn’t due to late season complacency, I would have had an aneurysm freaking out about the potential of the team. Finishing the season 10-6—the worst record the Colts had finished a season with since I started following them, the Colts won their division only through sheer luck and incompetence of their division rivals. More importantly, the Colts would meet the Jets in their first game of the playoffs, a rematch of a playoff game from the previous season. For the first time ever, I expected the Colts to lose a playoff game. 3G, recently graduated from college and now living in Chicago—although we were not dating any longer, came to my place to watch the game. Sure enough, the Colts lost. She was heartbroken; but I nonchalantly accepted the loss, telling her that “the Colts were terrible this year”. Little did I know that game would be the last time I saw Peyton in a Colts uniform.
The rest of the postseason went without much ado. I watched the NFC championship game with 3G in Chicago and afterwards never saw her again. I watched the Super Bowl, which hosted the Steelers and Packers, with a group of people. In a complete contrast from the previous season, I watched the game with an almost bored demeanor.
Most of the offseason went without much news until word started going around that Peyton had a neck surgery that may hinder his playing time. As the days went by, the news continued to snowball. People began speculating that Peyton would miss the preseason, which evolved into Peyton probably missing the first few games. While sports media would not and could not on principle admit to it, I knew Peyton would miss the season just by these few words. Sure enough, I was right. He missed the entire preseason and finally snapped his consecutive games started streak by missing the first game of the season. Expectedly, that game was a loss. As weeks and games went on without Peyton, what would not be said became increasingly evident. Peyton was going to miss the season.
This realization came as a shock to me originally, as I had to get used to the idea of not having my favorite player to root for, but I saw this as a possible opportunity. This season would serve as a proving ground to show how important Peyton was to the success of the Colts. In a betraying fashion, I secretly rooted against the Colts so they could improve their draft status. I also made the prediction that the Colts would win no more than 3 games, a bold statement when most of the people I discussed football with figured the Colts to win at the very least five games. I overestimated the season—as the Colts would finish the season 2-14, obviously miss the playoffs, lock up the first pick of the draft.
The consequences of the season were more devastating than I thought they would be. The Colts fired most of their coaching staff and Bill Polian, the general manager who originally drafted Peyton. I interpreted the change in staff as rebuilding, and it would only be a matter of time before they made a decision on Peyton. Soon after firing their coaching staff, they announced what would ultimately prove Peyton’s fate: they planned on drafting Andrew Luck, the starlet quarterback coming out of Stanford, with their pick.
And then, the Colts announced they would release Peyton. Press conference on Wednesday, they said. I watched it, making sure to be around a television at noon on March 7th. The owner of the team, Jim Irsay, and Peyton came out and met gave short tear filled speeches. It was over, and shortly after Peyton started investigating new teams to join.
I decided to write this during the conference. Although it’s hard to admit, Peyton and the Colts have been a nontrivial part of my life for the past six and a half years. Every year, I would sit there and look forward to a new season. Most of the time, outside of that first season, I looked at games with pessimism yet unbridled confidence. The one season where my confidence in the team reached fantastic wound up sucking out my fervor for the team. Looking back on it, it only makes sense that Peyton would leave soon after.
I started working on this thinking that my descriptions of my experiences with the Peyton Manning led Colts would be chance to reminisce with the good memories I have of the team. Now that I have examined most of the major ones, I see that there were just as many, if not more, times where I acted poorly due to the petty nature of my fandomship of Manning and the Colts. I staunchly and without fail defended Manning as a near deity, getting into many arguments and being insufferable about something that was so unimportant in life. Being a fan of a team is superficially benign; but if one gets too invested into something, he can and will begin to suffer for it. Peyton joining a new team is a new beginning, not only for him, but also for me as well. I can use his transition as symbol for a chance to change myself. Nothing is permanent, and things can be changed, refurbished, and set with time.
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