DAN TESSITORE

Peyton Manning is a great quarterback. I saw the game yesterday, and he was pretty damn impressive. But I don't understand the rabid devotion and blue-faced fandom. He's not from Indianapolis, he's from New Orleans. He didn't play for Indiana University, he played for Tennessee. I don't care enough to look it up, but I'm willing to bet this is true of most star players for most teams in every sport. So if you're a Colts fan, why doesn't the back of your over-priced jersey read IRSAY, the owner who's money is the reason Manning plays for your city?

I'm not a rainmaker when it comes to the sports parade. I watch the occasional game and enjoy it. I like the NCAA basketball tournament and throw my five bucks in the pool at my local watering hole. But I don't kid myself that it's not a parade, a kind of Plato's Cave where we watch a game, and a multi-millionaire in a glass booth up top watches us watch his money.

But I have friends in Indianapolis, and so to them I say, "Congratulations." I'm happy that you're happy that your favorite team is going to the big game where, God willing, their hearts will be ripped from their chests, carried back to New Orleans, and eaten raw on Fat Tuesday.

Go Ravens.