The Post-Super Bowl Blues

The Super Bowl has come and gone. Peyton Manning got his championship, and the Colts got their victory celebration in Indy in front of thousands of adoring fans.

Now what? How do we go on without football??

The next couple of weeks are a bit of a wasteland for sports fans. In that space of time, we have not one, but two of the most irrelevant, uninteresting events in all of sports - the professional All-Star Game.

First, you have the NFL Pro Bowl, the worst All-Star Game of them all. In a sport in which players conceal major injuries for weeks so they won't have to lose playing time, players annually fall all over themselves to find any excuse to avoid going. Did you get a paper cut that required a bandage? Hey, call in sick - the conference's fifth alternate at your position is eager and waiting to take your spot in Honolulu.

Then you have the NBA All-Star Game, which might have a little bit of novelty appeal this year, with it being played in Vegas. The problem with the NBA All-Star Game, much like the MLB All-Star Game, is that the most anticipated event isn't the game itself. Like the Home Run Derby in baseball, the Dunk Competition in basketball is the main event. Actually for me, the actual game is third on the list of All-Star related events. First is the Dunk Competition, second is the unveiling of the game's starters and reserves, and then it's the game itself. It's almost anticlimactic, really.

With college basketball's conference tournaments leading into the NCAA Tournament still about a month away, there's about a month of drudgery ahead before we get an exciting event to throw ourselves into. Not that I can't appreciate the NBA and NCAA regular seasons, but after a month of glory that was the NFL playoffs, being plunged back into the routine is a little tough to get used to.

Tony Dungy and the Colts' Final Step

After two long weeks, the Super Bowl is finally just a day away. Instead of trying to break down the game (which would be a fruitless endeavor - go to the real experts on that), I just wanted to be able to write a post expressing my rooting interest for the Colts tomorrow. And it's really nothing against the Chicago Bears - got nothing against them. But it would be so much more satisfying for me to see the Colts win, because it would be the culmination of a long road to success that has been filled with obstacles that could have crippled others. And naturally, a win would taste especially sweet for their venerable leader, Head Coach Tony Dungy.

Much like the Pittsburgh Steelers (in fact, when you look at the two teams and the paths they took to championship status, they're almost mirror images of one another) last year, an Indianapolis win would confirm that you always have a chance when you dig deep and believe in the seemingly impossible.

Who believed that they were championship material at the start of these playoffs, when the defense played like a sieve and they were up against a formidable AFC field? Who believed that they could come back from an 18 point deficit against their longtime tormentors in the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game? And who believed that even with a 38-34 lead in the final minute of the AFC Championship, they would win with the balance of the game in the hands of the Colts defense going against Tom Brady?

Obviously, the Colts believed in themselves - if they didn't, they wouldn't be at the point they're at now. And that's a testament to the leadership that Coach Dungy has provided. In my opinion, getting his team, and himself to persevere and learn from years of professional near-misses and personal tragedies and win a Super Bowl would be a more impressive accomplishment than coaching a team that suddenly rose up and won it all in the span of a year, a la the 1999 Rams.

If the Colts lose, from everything I've heard about Dungy, I feel confident saying that he would not let the loss define him or his legacy - not that he particularly cares about his "legacy." He's too well-rounded of a man to let that happen. But for a man that has gone through the struggles that he has gone through in recent years (watching his old team, the Buccaneers win a Super Bowl the year after he was fired; enduring the Colts' series of playoff failures in recent years; most significantly, somehow carrying on after the suicide of his son last year), he deserves to have a taste of the other side. After putting in all the work that he has, and maintaining his faith in more difficult circumstances than any of us would care to do, it only seems right that he get to have the incomparable feeling of having won a Super Bowl.

If the Colts do in fact win, I hope people will take more from it than just the thrill of having watched a Super Bowl victory. I know that I'll be looking at it as confirmation that no matter how hopeless it seems, any obstacle can be overcome with strength of will and belief in yourself and those around you.

The Charmed Life of the San Diego Chargers

Maybe it's just good karma going their way after the Ryan Leaf draft pick in 1998 went so horribly wrong and shackled them for several years. More likely, it's shrewd and forward-thinking decision-makers. Whatever it is, the San Diego Chargers are at 9-2 after today's win against the Raiders, and hardly has there been a week when it has been more evident the genius of their general manager A.J. Smith and his predecssor, the late John Butler, in putting this formidable team together.

The story starts in 2001, when Smith, then the assistant to Butler, and the Chargers had the top pick in the draft in hand. They seemed to be poised to take Michael Vick, the once-in-a-lifetime, make you do a double-take quarterback out of Virginia Tech. He was supposed to be the quarterback who would usher in a new era of NFL offense, changing the way the game was played. He was a slam-dunk choice, kind of like Reggie Bush was supposed to be in the 2006 draft. Of course, the Chargers defied convential wisdom and passed on Vick, trading the pick to the Falcons, and gaining the opportunity to draft TCU RB LaDainian Tomlinson at #4 overall and Purdue QB Drew Brees with the first pick in the second round. While everyone agreed that they got a couple of good players, the Chargers were lambasted for passing on a chance that they would never have again. At the time, people labeled it an overly-cautious move by the Chargers, who were still smarting from the Leaf debacle just a few years earlier.

Turns out Butler and Smith knew what they were doing. Fast forward 5 years later, and Drew Brees gave the Chargers two Pro Bowl caliber seasons before moving on to New Orleans, where he now leads the NFL in passing yards and is on the short list of MVP candidates. And wouldn't you know it, the leading MVP candidate in the league this year is that other 2001 Chargers draft pick, LaDainian Tomlinson. LT is on pace to break the single-season touchdown record this year, and with a couple more good years, can legitimately be considered among the greatest running backs in NFL history.

Vick on the other hand, who had success earlier in his career, leading the Falcons to the NFC Championship Game two years ago, has fallen on tough times. His raw athletic talent is still very much there and something to behold. However, he constantly faces questions about his quarterbacking ability in the pocket, and seems to be playing in an offensive system ill-suited to his talents. Today, his Falcons were beaten handily by Brees' Saints, a game that was capped off by Vick giving some Atlanta fans the finger as he stomped into the locker room.

Part 2 of the assemblage of the Chargers happened in 2004, when again, the Chargers had the top pick in the draft. When Eli Manning made it clear that he would not suit up for San Diego, the Chargers were able to swap Manning to the Giants for NC State QB Philip Rivers, in addition to the 2005 draft pick that would materialize as DE Shawne Merriman. Who's laughing now? Rivers, who has had to endure questions about his ability as an NFL QB because of his awkward throwing motion, has thrived in his first year as starter, while Manning is looking shakier by the week as the Giants continued their recent slide with a shocking 24-21 come-from-behind loss to the Titans, a loss that was due in no small part to Manning's critical interception late in the game with the score tied. Meanwhile, Merriman is in the midst of a four-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy, but before he was busted, he was looking like a prime candidate for league Defensive Player of the Year.

And wouldn't it be ironic and quite a jab to the Manning family if San Diego was able to overtake Indianapolis and their QB, Peyton Manning, and reach the Super Bowl this year? Who would have thought that the team that drafted Ryan Leaf might reach a Super Bowl before a Peyton Manning-led team did? Very interesting indeed....