Peyton Manning Bowl becoming an absurd soap opera

Coverage of the Peyton Manning Bowl is at a fever pitch already, and we’re not anywhere even near Sunday night yet. The Denver Broncos coming to the Indianapolis Colts for a nationally televised evening contest on NBC is turning into WWE level melodrama. As you’ll hear approximately 27,638,234, 855,340 times between now and 7:30 PM CDT Sunday, this is Peyton Manning’s first return to Indy as a member of the opposition.

Does Indianapolis Colts Owner Jim Irsay have any regrets about parting ways with #18?

Uhm no, he instead struck the first match to light Peyton Manning Bowl fire by saying he wanted more than one Super Bowl ring.

Peyton Manning gave a big no comment in response, but Broncos Coach John Fox said Irsay delivered a “cheap shot” with those comments. Colorado Rockies star Todd Helton went much further:

“Yeah, I have a real problem with that. I think he should shut his mouth personally. It’s getting me a little riled up,” Helton said via The Denver Post.

“I think the guy, (Irsay) just wants to be famous, so he gets one little shot for somebody to know what his name is. To me, that’s just classless,” Helton added. “I hope Peyton goes back and steps on their throat.”

And former Colts President Bill Polian is infuriated over Irsay’s comments. So do you have all that? Enough controversy for the Peyton Manning Bowl yet? Because clearly this game needed more attention. It’s so under-the-radar and overlooked. It’s such a sleeper among the NFL games this weekend.

Current NBC Analyst Tony Dungy was Peyton’s Coach for several years in Indy, he addressed the idea of Irsay having seller’s remorse heading into the Peyton Manning Bowl.

“I can almost guarantee you that if he knew that he was going to be healthy like this and playing this kind of football in hindsight I don’t think he would’ve done it,” Dungy said. “But with everything the way it was at that time — with Andrew being there and being available, knowing the scouting report on Andrew and the percentages of Peyton coming back and playing well at that point it was the right thing to do.”Cris Collinsworth was on the same media call. He expressed similar sentiment.”You always have to put yourself in a position what would I have done given the health uncertainty of Peyton Manning at that time I would have done exactly whatever it is they did.”

Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the world; with regular weekly segments on NBC, CBS and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) , Facebook and RSS feed

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