As the calendar turns to March, I always get excited, because March Madness is around the corner, my birthday is the last day of the month and Summer isn’t too far away.
However, as each year passes, I’m reminded that I’m getting older, and that becomes even more apparent, as some of my favorite players, albeit guys around my age, hang up their cleats or sneakers and move on to the next phase of their lives.
Kobe Bryant is lacing up his sneakers and putting on his No. 24 purple Lakers jersey for the last time in Colorado when the Nuggets host Los Angeles at Pepsi Center on Wednesday night. And has been well chronicled, this is The Black Mamba’s swan song. His sports mortality has been realized. A case can be made that he should’ve walked away a few years ago, but old habits die hard. Also, his last 2 seasons ended with season-ending injuries, and KB wasn’t gonna go out like that.
Nonetheless, at 37 years old, heading into year 20, Kobe Bean Bryant decided this year would be his last. All good things come to an end, and while it hurts to see our heroes hang ‘em up, it’s a fact of life.
So, I say all this to plead to Peyton Manning to do the right thing and call it a career. It seemed academic that Peyton would take some time away, and then a few days before The March 9th deadline ( the day the NFL league year starts and Manning’s final year of his Broncos contract is guaranteed) Peyton would gracefully walk away.
But, Peyton, like Kobe, does things the way he wants. And, apparently, he’s not ready to walk away.
The parallels between Manning and Bryant are remarkable. They both have an undeniable, bordering on maniacal work ethic. They have the highest standard, sometimes unrealistic, for their teammates to meet. Their names are at the top of nearly every record in the books in their respective sports, and their individual rankings on most people’s best of all-time list is at or near the top at their position and in the lore of their sport.
So what’s taking so long? Neither is motivated by money. Peyton is one of the few athletes that could find ways to make more money next year off the field than he would on it, especially considering the pay cut he’ll have to take to play anywhere other than Denver (where he likely won’t be playing anyway).
Kobe Bryant is 3rd on the NBA’s career scoring list. His career scoring average is 25.1 points per game. This season he’s averaging 17.1 points through 60 games. His output this year is a far cry from the guy who scored 81 against Toronto in 2006. In fact, he’s only matched his career scoring average 8 times and only scored more than 30 twice.
Peyton Manning is 1st on the NFL’s All-Time Passing Yards and Touchdowns list. But, going back to the final month of the regular season in 2014, and continuing through Super Bowl 50, which as we all know, his team won, Peyton completed just 16 Touchdowns and threw 24 interceptions (that’s 18 games to be exact). Comparatively, if you look at his entire career, prior to the aforementioned last 13 months, and even including his rookie season in 1998 when he set an NFL single-season interception mark with 28, Peyton threw 526 TDs to 228 interceptions. You don’t have to be a math wizard to realize the magic is gone.
There’s no way Peyton Manning can look in the mirror and think that he has enough left in the tank to be a truly effective quarterback in the NFL. Can he show flashes? Absolutely. We saw that against the Green Bay Packers Halloween weekend. Can he manage a game, and protect the ball, and put his team in the best position to succeed on a given play? No question, he can do that. But, it’s just illogical to think he’ll survive a 16 game season let alone play at a high level and help a team win games.
I’m not one to tell players what to do, but there’s just no realistic scenario that makes sense for Peyton to continue his career on the field. So few players can end their career with a Championship. His boss John Elway did it. His friend Ray Lewis did it, and “The Bus,” Jerome Bettis, did it in his hometown of Detroit.
While it may not have been a perfect performance in Super Bowl 50, Peyton Manning and The Denver Broncos won. He can truly go out on top. Even if he finds a team that wants to bring him in, and reports are there aren’t as many teams banging down his door as he’d expect, there are no guarantees the team will be in a position to contend for a title. So, what’s he chasing at that point? The All-Time wins record? Some records he just has to let go especially because New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady may end up surpassing him in most of those categories. If anyone knows how hard it is to get to the Super Bowl, let alone win it, it’s Peyton Manning.
If he’s not going to walk away for his sake, do it for the sake of all of his fans. In recent years, we’ve seen Derek Jeter call it a Hall of Fame Career. We’ve seen Tiger Woods fall of the map. Kobe Bryant with his 5 rings is set to walk way from basketball, and it just makes too much sense for Peyton to follow suit. I’ll be 38 at the end of the month, and all of the players I’ve just mentioned I’ve admired from a far and cheered their success. Their sports mortality reminds me that we’re all getting older.
I’m just reminded of the old sports adage, “Father Time is Undefeated” That’s no different for Peyton Manning…Thus, I implore you No. 18…please follow Kobe’s lead and ride off into the sunset…
