by Bruno Somerset

Created on: February 03, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

The reaction to Payton Manning reaching the Super Bowl this year reminds me of the year that John Elway's Broncos defeated the Green Bay Packers. Everyone outside of Wisconsin wanted to see Elway win the Big One in order to cement his place among the all-time greats. The same is true for most outside of Illinois today.

I personally don't think that Manning has to have a championship ring to go down as one of the greatest ever, but society tends to disagree. Mention Dan Marino, Don Mattingly, or Karl Malone, and the first thing most sports fans will say is: "One of the best ever, but he never won a championship". But not every great player can have the good fortune of Michael Jordan or Derek Jeter or Tom Brady.

Ultimately, I think Manning will lead the Colts to victory on Sunday, and I'll be as happy for Tony Dungy as for Peyton. Good guys who do things the right way don't often prevail anymore. This time two of them will.

Learn more about this author, Bruno Somerset.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.