"Who's The Bad Guy" or "Reason #245 Why Colts Fans Suck"

And so, the worst kept story in the NFL has come to fruition: the Colts have parted ways with the franchise, Peyton Manning. As I wrote here (much to the shock of most who know me), I found myself unexpectedly missing Manning after neck injuries kept him out. I also wondered how he could ever consider coming back when he A) made more money doing nothing last year than I will make in my life, and B) was dealing with a neck injury, not a knee injury, shoulder injury, or something else. Still, as Manning progressed and the Colts fell into their worst season since, well Manning came to the franchise as the number one pick. Suddenly, the Colts had the number one pick. Conundrum, right?

Well, not so much if you are a raging insane person who is so self absorbed that you don't know when you have a good thing. Yes, I'm looking at you Jim Irsay. The same Jim Irsay who caused the city of L.A. to say "thanks for the offer of bringing your team to us, but we'd rather not have to deal with you." Jim Irsay pulled a Jerry Krause. Instead of keeping the core of a winner together, he went nuclear on it. Fire the GM who took your team from decade plus long laughingstock to playoff lock every year. Then can the coaching staff. Then blow up all the team. Finally, cut the franchise player who made it all possible, even though he still wants to play.

And so Jim Irsay has no upset his fan base, polarizing them in favor of Manning. Right? Well, wrong. In fact, 98% of Colts fans seem totally fine to kick Manning to the curb, ignore all he did for the franchise, and move on to the next best thing. Of course, of that 98% over half of these "fans" stopped following football all together last year as their team didn't win. Colts fans have happily joined Jim Irsay in kicking Manning to the curb, and Manning has handled it with class.

I'm most troubled by this because I know that any true fans that would really be okay with kicking their franchise player to the curb. The Celtics wouldn't have done it with Bird, and the Bulls fans certainly wouldn't have done it with Michael. The gambit the Colts are playing is that Luck will be to Manning what Steve Young was to Joe Montana, but what happens if Luck is one of the 50% of QB prospects who don't make it? What if he is more Tim Couch or David Carr, rather than Peyton Manning? What if five years from now the team is drafting there next Manning all over again? And what happens if Peyton goes out and wins again? It's not likely ... history indicates that Manning will probably have a few more years being an above average QB, leading his team to the playoffs, and then will fade ... but wouldn't it have been better for his legacy and the Colts fans if it happened with them? In the end Irsay is the nutcase we thought he was, and the Colts fans are also what we thought they were: shortsighted incompetents who aren't really sports fans. If they were they would be putting up a much bigger stink.