Beech Tree News Network

Did you watch this year’s Super Bowl between the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos?  It was one of the most disappointing games I have ever watched in my life…and my team (the Broncos) won.  Before I go on, I need to offer a few disclaimers: One, I am not an expert on football; Two, I can’t quote stats or percentages or any other measurement of a player’s or team’s viability (the one exception being that Peyton Manning holds the record for most passing touchdowns, just edging out Brett Favre); and Three, I do not have enough knowledge of the game to argue the finer points of a defensive game verses an offensive game.  With that said, I know exactly why the game was a disappointment to me.  It just wasn’t exciting.
    I like sports that have some element of run-n-gun to them.  It’s difficult for me to get interested in golf or baseball because they move so slowly, and it’s hard for me to keep up with whose turn it is.  I love NASCAR, and I really like football.  Speed is the obvious attraction to NASCAR.  With football, it is the excitement of watching the ball sail through the air, holding my breath until it lands safely in the hands of the receiver.  For me, there is nothing in any sport that rivals the satisfaction of seeing a pass connect with a receiver.  I did not get to see that at this year’s Super Bowl, not from either quarter back, and by the fourth quarter, I would have been glad to see even Cam Newton (of the Panthers) connect with a receiver, but it wasn’t to be. 
The contest was a “defensive” game, mostly punts and field goals.  I wanted so badly to see Peyton Manning throw a pass into the hands of Demaryius Thomas, whose mom’s first time to watch her son play professional football in person was on January 14 of this year (she has been incarcerated for the entirety of her son’s career).  Instead, I watched as the Broncos inched their way down the field, counting on their running back and their kicker, as well as defensive linemen, Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware to instigate fumbles and rip the ball from the opposing team’s hands.  They were very effective.  Von Miller was named MVP of the game, and he more than earned it—Cam Newton was sacked six times, mostly by Miller. The stats look really impressive on paper, but not on the TV screen.
Even the announcers calling the game were subdued.  They seemed to struggle to find something relative to talk about.  They pointed out that Peyton was more or less just along for the ride, someone to take the field and make the calls the defensive coach had laid out beforehand then hand off the ball.  I could have done what Peyton Manning did that day.  They praised him for being a team player.  It was like watching a contest between NASCAR drivers Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson in which the race was decided on pit road between the two pit crews—Kyle and Jimmie only there to drive their cars onto pit road. 
This Super Bowl was probably Peyton Manning’s last game.  I, as well as everybody else who follows the game, expect him to retire.  I’m just sorry that the last game I ever saw him play was a game in which he was just going through the motions.  The sports writer, Peter King (Sports Illustrated) said of Peyton and this game, “He was fine with being one of 53, winning a different way.  It felt good.”  Maybe he was.  Maybe he did.  I doubt it, though.
For the first time in my life, I truly understand the axiom, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.”