Now that we are heading into the seventh week of the NFL season, we are all becoming amazed by what the Denver Broncos are doing with their schedule: destroying it! Right now it is pretty hard to imagine them not in the Super Bowl, but hey, as fantasy teams and gambling can tell you, anything can happen on any given Sunday.
Denver’s path to “the show’’ started last year when Peyton Manning suited up with the number 18 on this chest and back. There has been praise for John Elway for creating this team, there has been some recognition for John Fox for formulating a game plan for Peyton, and then there have been nods of approval of Peyton for making the right choice.
So, Peyton chose the team that could give him the best chance to win a championship, and we are all happy for him. But a similar situation with an athlete switching teams resulted different outcome.
“The Decision” is television special produced by ESPN about Lebron James’s choice of a new team. This kind of attention was a bit much, but people should mad at the network and not the superstar. Since the free agency era has begun in sports it has been a business model to build a team to win championships and a luxury for players to choose their team.
What is the difference between Peyton and Lebron? Lebron wanted to win and Miami gave him the best chance to do so.
There is no question Lebron could get to the finals by himself, but he needs help to win a ring. His first time in the finals he had Larry Hughes as a second option. What would you do: pass it to Larry or keep the ball and take it to the tin? Easy, thanks for coming out Larry, much love, but Lebron’s got this.So, after years of that situation, Lebron left for an easier life in Miami.
Peyton, on the other hand, was cut by the Colts in a mutual decision. He could have taken a pay cut, but that team was on its way out. Indianapolis is still rebuilding in some ways (while their future is very bright) and Peyton didn’t want to be a part of that.
I’m not sure if it’s a race thing or if there is more affection towards football players than basketball players, but let’s be adults here and look at the full picture of sports as a business. Lebron can win his third championship in a row this year and Peyton may win this year’s super bowl. They took a very similar road to get there. You can’t hate on one and not the other, you’re vision and appreciation for sports is so narrow if you do.
I can’t think of any player who carried the burden of the whole team while winning a championship, they all need help. The Bulls were built for Jordan, they didn’t just start winning after he got used to the league and the declining efforts of Magic and Larry.
The whole “hating on Lebron” thing is getting old. He is on a long list of players who have done the same thing, so why do people give him so much hate? If you’re going to hate on Lebron this season don’t forget to hate on Peyton as well.