Neck surgery kept Peyton Manning from throwing a single pass during the 2011 National Football League season for the Indianapolis Colts, but it may be a key clause in his contract that keeps him from throwing one in 2012.
Manning, 36, and a guaranteed Hall of Famer who might have three or four good years left, health permitting, has an important month coming up. If he is still on the Colts' roster on March 8, he is due for a $28 million bonus.
Payable immediately. On top of the $18 million per year he receives from a five-year contract he signed last July. Ownership says "ouch"; the Manning family counters with "yippee!"
Owner Jim Irsay saw his team suffer through a 2-14 season without Manning this past season, and could logically expect a similar result next year if Manning isn't wearing his No. 18 Colts jersey when the club huddles up for real next September.
But if you owned a business and were due to pay a big chunk of dough to an employee whose health may prevent him from working for you next year, how eager are you going to be to write the cheque?
In April, Irsay's team will likely draft Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, a potential superstar, and the perfect scenario would be for Luck to study under Manning for a couple of years before the Colt great's inevitable retirement a few years down the road.
So what do you do? Cast Manning free before March 8? Trade him (the Jets, reportedly, are salivating at the thought of having Manning in his twilight years)? Pay the $28 million and have him tutor Luck for two or three years, as Brett Favre did with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay? That worked out well, but Favre didn't have a $28 million price tag hanging around his neck while he played out the string with the Packers.
My guess? Irsay will take a big gulp, pay the money to Manning on March 8, and pray nightly that his quarterback is healthy enough to pull double duty the next two years by leading the Colts back into contention, and showing Luck the NFL ropes so that the $28 million pays off in the next decade with a couple of Super Bowl titles.
Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: "The St. Louis Rams have announced they will play a regular season game in London in each of the next three NFL seasons. And from across the pond come the cries "Hey mates, haven't we suffered enough?"
Hough again: "Only 21 days until pitchers and catchers report. So, okay Cubs fans, time to order those 'Countdown to elimination clocks.'"
R.J. Currie of sportsdeke.com has a simple Q and A: "Q: What's the difference between Aussie Open tennis players Li Na and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova? A: Most of the alphabet."
Comedy writer Jerry Perisho: "The Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins visited recently with President Obama at the White House, Monday. There were so many teeth missing in the group photo it looked like an Arkansas Visits Favourite Son Bill Clinton Hoedown."
Comedy writer Jim Barach: "A bill in Florida would require sports teams to house homeless people in their stadiums. Not only would it take thousands of people off the street, it could be the only way the Marlins could ever claim a sellout."
R.J. Currie again: "A University of North Dakota hockey player sucker punched a Minnesota Gopher in the handshake line. Gainer hasn't been this upset since they invented Troy Westwood."
Another one from Currie: "An ESPN reporter suggested Terrell Owens could name his salary in the Canadian Football League. Sure. Just avoid 'paltry' or 'inadequate'; they're taken."
Norman Chad of WashingtonPost.com: "Marty Schottenheimer - fired by the Browns, Chiefs, Redskins and Chargers despite amassing the sixth-most wins in NFL history - interviewed for the coaching job in Tampa Bay. He hasn't had enough? I'm no shrink, but I figure the guy must like getting fired."
Comedian Argus Hamilton, on British Open champ Darren Clarke's love of partying: "National Geographic defines wine country as Napa Valley, the Loire region in France and wherever Darren Clarke is playing this week."
Steve Rushin of SI.com, via Twitter, with hockey salutations: "Happy 110th birthday to Frank Zamboni, who left us in 1988 but still resurfaces periodically."
Greg Cote of the Miami Herald: "LeBron James barrelled into the courtside seat of Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, nearly knocking him backward. Time was, locals wouldn't have cared. Now, there was a moment of panic as Marlins fans worried Loria might sustain an injury to his wallet."
Another one from Cote: "The Colorado Avalanche will auction off their camouflage jerseys in honour of the U.S. military. The Avs are unbeaten in their camouflage jerseys because opponents cannot see them."
Care to comment? E-mail: brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca
