Earlier this year, Colts owner Jim Irsay called quarterback Peyton Manning a “politician.”
Irsay likely had no idea how right he was.
More than a month after Irsay ushered Peyton out of town in the face of a $28 million payment, Peyton has called at least one Indianapolis-area writer to thank him for his coverage of Manning over the last 14 years.
Phillip Wilson of the Indianapolis Star explained via Twitter that Peyton “said he hoped he could stay with Colts, but understands the biz.” In a longer item regarding the call that appears on the paper’s website, Wilson writes that Peyton “always” hoped he could stay.
Really? Peyton wanted to stay with a 2-14 team that was going to use the first overall pick on his successor?
Peyton, in our view, wanted out. But he wanted to be sure that it didn’t appear that he wanted out. And now, with the Colts two weeks away from drafting his successor — and with more and more evidence coming to light that Peyton will be more than good enough to play in 2012 — Peyton wants to remind the fans, in not-so-subtle fashion, that Irsay ran Manning out of town, and that Manning would have preferred to stay.
Peyton also told Wilson to tell the fans “how much [Manning] appreciated them.” Hey, Peyton, why not do that yourself, by buying a full-page ad in Wilson’s paper?
The publishers of the Indianapolis Star surely would have appreciated that much more than a phone call.