all aboard the Peyton Manning love train!

[insert noise like a cat throwing up a hair ball here]

(sorry Stacy. i know you guys are huge Peyton fans, but on my honor, i would have this very same rant if the QB of topic was Tom Brady. cross my heart. i hate gushing over any player when the season has barely finished drawing its first breath.)

rah rah Peyton Manning rah rah Super Bowl champions rah rah sending a message.
seriously.

this is the first. game. of. the. season.
yes, the Colts looked good last night. is there even one lone football fan out there shocked by that? i didn't think so. i know they're good. you know they're good. apparently John Madden had no freaking clue. oh. wait. that's not a surprise either.

but really.
this does not make them the team to beat.
this does not "send a message to the rest of the NFL."
this does not mean they are the Super Bowl Champions.

this is Week One.
only two teams have played. one was going to lose.
the Colts are the *defending* Champions. fresh slate. i detest when teams (yes, even my Patriots with the *three* Championships they won) are still being called the Champions when the new season starts. that's the past. when that football is kicked off for the first time that next summer fall, there is no Champion. only last year's Champion.
you would think the Colts won it all again last night or something.

we've seen one. game.
what i've learned is:
that the Colts are still good (an unfortunate fact, for me, but one which i willingly acknowledge).
that Drew Brees has some steadying to do (but i believe he'll get it done, because, after all, it's only Week One!)
that there are still fifteen other games to be played this week (not to mention the other sixteen weeks following this one).
that if Tiki Barber still wanted the spotlight focused on him, he shouldn't have retired.
that John Madden is still annoying as hell.

let the Peyton Manning fawning commence.
::rolls eyes::
an article on Pats Pulpit wisley warned last February:
Winning It All Is a Double-Edged Sword
Warning to Indianapolis Colts fans: Beware the Double-Edged Sword.
There's nothing like winning the Super Bowl, as you now know, and contrary to popular belief, it does not get old. You don't take it for granted -- you can't. If anything, every game, regular season or playoffs, takes on that much more significance, makes your heart pound that much harder and faster, makes you fans all the more rabid.
But, beware. Getting back to the Big Game gets harder, and there are myriad reasons....
Despite all the pratfalls and pitfalls, it's unlikely the Colts will collapse the way Pittsburgh did. I expect Indy to compete for a top seed again in 2007. But the road gets a lot steeper, a lot bumpier, a lot more perilous.
A wise man congratulated his players who won a Super Bowl. "No one can ever take that away from you."
Enjoy this feeling. Then watch your back. All glory is fleeting.

oh and do you think Al Michaels could have found a way to work in the word 'phenomenal' just one more time? =P