There’s something to be said for being relevant.
Yesterday, a video began making the rounds on the Internet that featured Peyton Manning’s latest commercial for Gatorade. This time around, the Broncos quarterback doesn’t go for humor, as he has so well in the past. Instead, he’s playing the role of main attraction, offering fans a chance to catch a pass from No. 18. It seems like a cool idea.
But to a lot of people in Denver, this latest advertisement will be another reason to scoff. Their position is simple: Once again, Manning is busy pitching a product – just like he has in the past for Nationwide, Papa John’s, Buick and other national brands – instead of flying under the radar and licking his wounds after another disappointing end to the season.
On the surface, the curmudgeon crowd has a bit of a point. After all, any time an athlete moves on from a defeat – whether it’s via vacation, making a movie cameo, popping up in the tabloids with their Hollywood girlfriend or appearing in a commercial – it’s a little off-putting; it’s just another sign that they don’t live and die with each game quite the same as fans.
But it’s also pretty ridiculous. It’s a based on the asinine notion that an athlete should sit in a dark room and sulk throughout the offseason if his team doesn’t win the championship, living the life of a hermit because they are supposed to be embarrassed that they weren’t able to reach their ultimate goal.
At the end of the day, anyone who thinks an athlete should disappear after a tough loss is taking things way too seriously. They’re also living in the past, a regrettable place where setbacks on the playing field caused death threats (Scott Norwood), decades of public shaming (Bill Buckner) and even suicide (Donnie Moore). The outcome of a game should never have that much riding on it.
Which brings us back to Manning. While Broncos fans certainly haven’t hit those kinds of nutty extremes, at least not in any way that has been made public, there are still plenty of them who are on the fringe; there is still a prevailing notion that No. 18 should dial it down a notch or two, humbly choosing to skip public appearances as some sort of penance for losing to the Colts.
But that sort of thinking is failing to realize the true goal in professional sports, which – believe it or not – isn’t all about winning. While that’s nice, and is certainly something to aspire toward, it’s not what fans should be worried about.
Instead, it’s all about being relevant.
Before hitting “send” on that nasty email about the blue-ribbon generation ruining America, think about it for a minute. Winning a championship is difficult; only one out of 30 or 32 teams (depending on the sport) reaches that pinnacle every season. But far more than that number of franchises can claim to have had a “successful” season.
Don’t agree? Then, answer this question: Have the New England Patriots only had four good seasons during their run of domination since the turn of the century? Of course not; they’ve arguably been the most successful team in pro sports.
The two years they went to the Super Bowl and lost, including an 18-0 run that came up one game short, weren’t utter failures. The season in which they went 11-5 after losing Tom Brady in the season opener wasn’t, either, even though they didn’t make the playoffs that year. And those campaigns in which they got bested in the playoffs were disappointing, but not disasters; sometimes, the other team just has a better day.
Of course, that’s easy to say when there are four relatively new Lombardi Trophies sitting in the trophy case. For Broncos fans, it’s a little more difficult to have that kind of perspective; it’s pushing 20 years since Denver was home to the Super Bowl champs.
But fans in the Mile High City can certainly look at other local franchises for some perspective. They provide plenty of evidence that it’s not all about titles.
Wasn’t it better when the Nuggets were winning 50-plus games every year, appearing on national TV every week, and boasting talented-but-maddening players like Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith and Nene?
Didn’t it make for a better summer when the Rockies were hanging in the race, trying to chase down the leaders in the National League West and clawing their way toward a wild card berth?
Wasn’t the spring sports calendar more enjoyable when the upstart Avalanche were getting ousted in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the jerk-filled Minnesota Wild, taking the series to a dramatic seventh game before falling?
Of course it was. In all three instances, the option of being in the mix was better than being an also-ran. By every measure imaginable, being in the conversation was better than being on the outside looking in.
And that’s what makes the Manning bashers so maddening. Yes, it would be great if the Broncos had a Super Bowl trophy (or two) to show for the quarterback’s three years in Denver. Sure, it would be nice if that fateful February day in New York had gone better than it did. But that’s being kind of greedy; it’s also quickly forgetting how painful the Kyle Orton era was to endure.
There’s nothing wrong with going 38-10 in the regular season, earning two No. 1 seeds and three first-round byes, and advancing to a Super Bowl. It’s pretty fun to watch the greatest offense in NFL history break record after record on a weekly basis. And it’s pretty cool to see a guy from the local team appear on the 40th anniversary episode of Saturday Night Live, the finale of The Late Show with David Letterman and countless national commercials.
Thanks to Manning, the Broncos are in the mix; the number of times they’ll appear on national TV in 2015 is evidence of that fact. Thanks to No. 18, Denver is on the sports map, something that isn’t really the case at the moment in any other sport. And thanks to the future Hall of Fame quarterback, there’s reason to have championship aspirations in the Mile High City.
There’s something to be said for being relevant.
