This isn’t an interesting article. It is put forth specifically to shine Peyton Manning. I am making today the Official shine Peyton Manning Day. Partly because of his 300 yard, 4 Touchdown performance this week against the Jags, but mostly because he is the freekin’ man. Let’s face it, if Peyton Manning looked like Cristiano Ronaldo one could argue he is preternatural.

Peyton Manning (god I hope I don’t eat these words) is a role model. He is quietly married, and to date has not had any damaging extracurricular activites as a professional. He has a foundation that helps underprivileged kids. There is even a Children’s Hospital named after him for an undisclosed donation he and his wife made. On top of that, the guy is pretty funny. He uses his awkward, goofy persona to an advantage and pokes fun at himself. His commercials aren’t too bad.

I could spend the rest of the day listing his achievements as a quarterback. He currently owns many NFL records with more to come. He’s won a Super Bowl, and been an MVP 3 times!  One more, (maybe this year) and he’ll have the most MVPs. When it’s all said and done he could go down as the greatest quaterback that ever lived. But he works at his trade. He studies playbook and film like none other, almost to a point of annoyance for teammates.  Now imagine if he was playing in a big market. Everyone knows Peyton Manning, everyone knows he’s just steadily great, but he’s in Indy. How many times have you been out and had someone say, “I’m a Colts fan!”?

Peyton Manning meets my pre-requisites for a professional athlete. If only more guys would follow his example. The NFL’s reputation may change for the better. Ironically, I find more people dislike him because he comes off squeaky clean. Maybe if Peyton shot himself in the leg at a night club he’d have more fans.