In Peyton Manning's media day interview on Tuesday, he was asked about what he thinks his 'legacy' will be and how he thinks Sunday's Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks will affect that legacy.
Manning responded, "I've been being asked about my legacy since I was about 25 years old. I'm not sure you can have a legacy when you're 25 years old. Even 37. I'd have to be, like, 70 to have a legacy. I'm not even 100 percent sure what the word even means."
I totally agree with the message Manning is sending to not only the sports media, but the fans of American professional sports.
Legacies are not made because of one game or one play. They are a culmination of a player's entire body of work that should not be analyzed until well after that particular player has retired.
Our sports media has morphed into a sensationalist media structure, emphasizing controversy over the actual athletics they are supposed to be covering. Let Peyton play in a game he has been working his entire life to prepare for, and then after that game is over, then and only then, should we comment on how the outcome of that game affects his legacy going forward.
Manning has already won a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts. The discussion of his greatness should not follow the same discourse as the one for Dan Marino.
Marino, one of the all-time great quarterbacks, will always have the asterisk of never winning a championship next to his name. Manning has won a championship, one more than any of the pundits who call him a choke-artists can claim they have won.
Marino retired in 1999, which has allowed the sports media ample time to consider what the narrative on his career should be. The resounding consensus is that Marino should be known as the greatest quarterback to never win a world championship.
We cannot make those sort of assertions about how Manning's career should be remembered, at least not until Manning has been retired for a few years. Those sorts of decisions should not be made on the Tuesday before Manning starts in his third Super Bowl.
Manning will go down as one of the most prolific passers in NFL history.
He will likely retire holding almost every major statistical category for quarterbacks and will have one of the highest career winning percentages.
On top of all of that, he will be competing in his third Super Bowl, a feat only eleven other NFL quarterbacks have achieved.
The sports media needs to concern themselves less with whether Manning is 'clutch' and what the outcome of actual sporting events are.
I am looking at you Skip Bayless. Sit down and shut up.
-Small is a senior history and political science double major from Zionsville, Ind.