It's called "sportsmanship", kidmitter. It used to be very popular back in the day.

His post-game press conference sums it all up: "It's time for the Saints to celebrate. It's their field."

There were 300 people on the field within seconds of the game ending...

He should've fought his way through the human security barriers, the dozens of crowds of photographers, the family members, the reporters, the players, and those lame little rope barriers they put up just to shake Drew Brees' hand for 5 seconds.

/I am sick to my stomach having to defend a Tennessee player

IAmRight: You gotta improve your number guessing, especially when it's for effect. Even during the game being played, there's more than 300 people on those sidelines.

I guess I was looking at it as the comparison to LeBron not shaking hands.

On a basketball court, the players are right next to each other (or, at the most, 60 feet apart) and there really isn't such a rush towards mid-court.

At the Superbowl, the idea of meeting at mid-field is just non-existent.

Nabb1
Thanks! Even if it's a girl, I'm naming the child "Drew." I lost my shiat on the INT, too, and startled my one-year-old in the process. Tracy Porter: forever tarnishing the legacy of hall of fame QBs one week at a time.

It would be harder if Manning hadn't thrown it right to him. Porter anticipated the pass very well, but Manning should have seen him and usually would. He farked up at a critical moment in a big game. Again. As a Colts fan I'm thrilled that they won the Super Bowl a couple years ago, but they've been so good for so many years in the regular season that one may not be enough anymore for Manning to shake the perception that he's a guy who blows it in the big game.

Oh give me a break. Whether or not you hate Manning or not, there is no question he is one of the classiest players in the entire NFL.

As he said, once the game clocks hit 0:00, it is almost impossible to get to the winning team because they are completely surrounded by media/family. The Bears did a similar thing when the Colts won three years ago.

if it was Favre and not Manning this thread would have about 800 replies already, half of which were posted by butthurt Green Bay fans, and the other half by Favre haters all criticizing his leaving of the field and making fun of his pick six

Manning played a decent game and has shown no sign of being a bad sport about this. If there are still any Saints fans out there that are wanting to jump on him for any reason, isn't your Super Bowl enough? Be happy!

Baseball doesnt start for a while. Talk radio needs something to talk about.

/Unfortunately basketball and hockey are not too popular

Does anyone have links to videos of Colts fans throwing tantrums?

Nabb1: Handshake, "Good game, congratulations." That's "celebrating"?

Wow - when Brady or Belichick did it - it was as if the earth was collapsing. Boy Blunder (aka Corky, aka the Giant Thumb) does it and the subby who submits an apologetic headline gets the green light.

Gunny Highway: Baseball doesnt start for a while. Talk radio needs something to talk about.

/Unfortunately basketball and hockey are not too popular

True, hell they got a whole week outta Randy Moss leaving with 3 seconds left.

Peyton is the John Krease of the NFL. Everyone is afraid of his dojo, he kicks ass in the early rounds of the All Valley, but when it comes down to it, a dorky guy half his size still beats him in the finals. He should have met Drew Brees at midfield, if only to have Drew grab his nose and say, "honk".

/Interesting aside, the last two quarterbacks the Chargers drafted have both won Super Bowls while the QB they traded for continues to flame out in the playoffs

HulkHands: /good to see all the NO bandwagoners in here



Get ready for "Who dat" to be the new "Yankees sucks."

Anyways, the Yahoo! blogs continue to show why blogs need to go away. LeBron's controversy is not similar since Manning apparently stuck around to do post-game interviews. James' first interview with the press after the loss to the Magic was back in Cleveland. Then again, in the next few days, maybe Manning will claim that he's not a sore loser because he's a winner.

While we're at it, why didn't Brees go find Manning to tell him he played well before celebrating with the rest of the Saints? Man, what a poor sport!

/Glad Brees won one

BrotherMalcolm: Boy Blunder (aka Corky, aka the Giant Thumb) does it and the subby who submits an apologetic headline gets the green light.

Most of the Colts fans on Fark and the rest of the internet don't blame Manning for his pick 6 either. They have even gone as far as to blame Garcon. That's just heartless. Garcon is from Haiti.

madmann: It's called "sportsmanship", kidmitter. It used to be very popular back in the day.

You may have had a point...like 20 years ago. Today, it's all about the media and advertisers. The second the game ends 1,000 people rush the field to ask, "You just won, how does it feel?" (To which the response is "it feels great, better than expected.")

If the teams lined up like little league and manning blew it off, it'd be one thing, but after the game is total chaos. Expecting manning to search his way through that mess to find Brees and sean peyton and say, "eh..good game."

The Indy fans are being so incredibly classy that it doesn't matter. Just kidding. Make your way over to some ESPN message boards and listen to the whining about Peyton being blocked in the back on the pick-six.

Peyton's a sore loser, and has no one to throw under the bus for this loss. If this was any other QB they would be getting killed in the media over it. But because it's Peyton "he just wanted to win the game really bad".

rjs983: Make your way over to some ESPN message boards

There's your problem.

I don't blame Peyton for being insanely pissed at himself for that mistake. As a perfectionist in the biggest game--evar, it must have been particularly galling. Between that and the chaos, he probably figured it was best to GTFO. His reputation is strong enough that this flap is little more than a blip.

Sportsmanship with a capital "S" is a sort of living myth. It's different for everyone.

Everyone goes on camera with their banal and insincere compliments to anyone they can think of at that particular moment. Everyone repeats the same bullsh*t they've memorized watching athletes on the same networks when they were kids.

And then the curtain gets pulled back for brief moments on cable; locker room pep talks that sound less like Any Given Sunday and more like Glengarry Glenn Ross. And the two images of the same people don't reconcile.

But wouldn't it be more interesting if we were given that level of access during the seasons, rather than short HBO specials and muted rumors?

These people want to f*cking win. They want to do well. They want to make more money. They make themselves angry. They get pissed off at each other. The only things they are permitted to say are those same old "gee golly gosh that sure was a fun game and aw jeez I was sure as heckfire impressed with all those other great people..."

This isn't politics. It's sports. It's competition refined to its purist form.

We're so goddamned sheltered that we start to get used to the myth.

And then Manning walks off the field, visibly upset.
LeBron James walks off the court, ashamed with his own failure.

And we get pissed off that they didn't do the little dog and pony show with which we've become so comfortable.

One day there will be an athlete that isn't going to care about the bullsh*t and yet is smart enough to avoid getting fines. This person is going to answer with mostly short phrases if not one word answers. People will again see it's just a person at work. Someone recognizable. Someone that reminds them of somebody they know.

And then this sh*t will end.

Because nobody knows a 300lb violent Ned Flanders.

I'm pretty sure that immediately after the game, the camera showed Brees trying to fight his way through the crowd to midfield and you could hear him picked up on a mic saying "Let me get to Peyton" or asking where he was or something. I was confused myself when we never got the typical camera shot of them shaking hands somewhere. I figured it never happened but not because Peyton just left.

I was going to point out that anyone giving Manning a pass should have done the same when Belichick stormed away after his Super Bowl loss. After all, Belichick lost a perfect season with that. But given the amount of Patriots hate on Fark, knew that to be unlikely. Then when I Googled it I was reminded that Belichick jumped ship with time still left on the clock, so it's not an even parallel anyway.

The Colts didn't lose because of Peyton, they lost because of Payton. Out-Coached, especially in that second half.

I don't have a problem with anything players do at the end of a highly emotional, contested game. Want to say congrats? Good, that's classy and shows grace. Want to walk off the field? Hey, no biggie - you lost and it's understandable you don't want to be around anyone at the moment. You want to punch a sh*t talking scrub who's dancing around you like the Berries'n'Creme Skittles leprechaun? I have no problems with that, lord knows how many times I've wanted to do that and I still don't understand how all these roided up players keep those emotions in check.

But just know that whatever you do, when you are a player of Peyton's statute, everything you do and say can and will be used against you in the court of 24/7 media. And it will likely be spun in a bad light.

Seeing as he threw the INT to put them behind by 14 with 3 minutes to go. I don't blame him for being pissed enough at himself to gtfoff the field.

if i was manning, i'd of ran off the field as well.

who dat!!!

GimpyNip: BrotherMalcolm: Boy Blunder (aka Corky, aka the Giant Thumb) does it and the subby who submits an apologetic headline gets the green light.

Most of the Colts fans on Fark and the rest of the internet don't blame Manning for his pick 6 either. They have even gone as far as to blame Garcon. That's just heartless. Garcon is from Haiti.

Those F'n Haitians....can't build a house or build that can stand after being shaken and can't catch a simple pass from the greatest commercial spokesmen either!