Why? From Payton to Peyton

Why is it that, as a fan of a sport I have never played, a fan of a team that plays in a city in which I do not live, I am so affected by this team's loss in the Super Bowl?

The only thing that makes it a little easier is that the loss comes to a coach, Tony Dungy, and a quarterback, Peyton Manning, who seem to have the utmost integrity and character. I would have cheered them on had they not been playing Chicago. So, good for them.

But, back to the original question...which I can only attempt to answer for myself.

When I was 10 years old and still questioning why my father spent so much time watching footall, I was introduced, if only by media, to people that were larger than life, but connected to football. Brian Piccolo and Walter Payton.

I didn't fall in love with football and I didn't understand the heart of an athlete until Brian Piccolo and Walter Payton. Tonight's loss hurts because 23 years ago the Bears' jersey was what I connected with my initial conceptualization of who and what I wanted to be as a person and an athlete.

There has been a short string of other athletes that have shown me how to play and live to celebrate character, integrity, ethics, family, but few like those I was introduced to when I was 10.

...Luckily, what I learned to be the heart of an athlete is reflected in the man who did lead his team to victory tonight. Even though the Bears lost, what I learned from Walter Payton at 10, I see carried out in one of the few, Peyton Manning, today.

Now...what about Rex Grossman...

A whole other blog!