Irsay shouldn't have said it, but he was right
LOS ANGELES — The Indianapolis Colts play the Denver Broncos on Sunday and the game really didn't need any more hype.
Jim Irsay, the owner of the Colts, made truthful statements about Peyton Manning and his overblown legacy in Indianapolis and, for that matter, the NFL.
Manning, to his credit, hasn't said anything negative and hasn't told anyone to watch “The Book of Manning.” In his world, Manning will do his talking on the field on Sunday.
His henchmen, like Todd Helton (former roommate at Tennessee), his former coach Tony Dungy, former GM Bill Polian, and NFL analyst and former player Mark Schlereth, are busy at work backing Manning. They all, of course, have benefited very much from his tenure in the NFL.
If the Broncos win Sunday, so what? It's a regular-season game. Irsay's comments were accurate, and now Peyton's thousands of apologists are beating up on Irsay.
By the way, I would like to also dispel the notion that Peyton Manning built the Lucas Oil Stadium brick by brick. This is a team game, which is something his apologists don't seem to recognize.
It's always been about Manning and now the onslaught continues at various radio stations and television outlets. ESPN has pounded Irsay senseless, and in some cases they've been right.
Was Irsay wrong to make these statements? Yes.
Was he right about Manning? Yes!
On Rose watch:Derrick Rose is purring along and he looks bigger and stronger, and his vertical leap has netted another three inches. But we will be holding our collective breath for awhile when he jumps, glides and cuts like we did when Michael Jordan came back from his foot injury. Chicago Bears great Gale Sayers ran between the tackles and averaged 4.2 yards a carry and led the league in rushing after his knee was completely destroyed, and that was in the prehistoric times of the late 1960s. We talk about Adrian Peterson coming back from his knee surgery. Well, Sayers did it about 45 years ago, so when D-Rose takes the court and flies through the air and someone knocks him to the ground, we will hold our breath at the same time and exhale when he gets up. And if he gets up and plays every time, we will be fine!Program notesListen to The Mike North Pregame Show from 10 a.m. to noon Sundays on WIND 560-AM The Answer.#376; Mike North's column appears each Tuesday and Friday in the Daily Herald, and his video commentary can be found Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at dailyherald.com. For more, visit northtonorth.com. Contact him on Twitter @ north2north.