Peyton Favre or Brett Manning

After losing a Super Bowl everyone thought he should win, I wonder if Peyton Manning is fast becoming the next Brett Farve.

You may say no way. Peyton Manning is beloved. He’s one of the most respected players in the game. He’s a true team leader and one of the hardest working guys in the game. On top of that, he’s probably the most marketable player in the NFL (and top five in all of sports). If you saw his MasterCard commercials or SNL guest spot, you’d know he’s also a very funny guy. On the other hand, Favre is a guy whom you either love or hate. He is a guy who always makes the big mistake or fails to come through in the clutch. An indecisive and selfish man who doesn’t know when to call it quits and turned his back on an entire city that loved and defended him to the death. What an a**hole.

But if you remember back, before all that happened in 2008, Brett Favre was beloved. He was one of the most respected players in the game. CNNSI’s man of the year. A guy who loved to play the game and always had fun out there (as shown by his smile and boyish like demeanor on the field). And in Green Bay, Wisconsin - Favre was king. He was the equivalent of Nick Serrano in the ROFFL. And if you watched “There’s Something About Mary”, you’d know that he had a sense of humor about him. Also, if you watched the MNF game against Oakland when he played so brilliantly and courageously after losing his father, you’d know that it was hard to be a critic of his. He was almost untouchable. But all that changed when he got into an ugly and bitter divorce with the Packers leading to his trade to the Jets.

My question is will that same fate happen to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts?

Sure, Peyton will sign an extension that will allow him to play out the remainder of his career at Indy. But wasn’t Favre supposed to play out the remainder of his career at Green Bay. But what if Peyton wants to play until he’s 40? What if he retires and decides he can’t be away from the game just like Favre?

Is it fair to make that assumption? Well if you look deep into the similarities of both players’ careers, then you can see similar career paths.

Let's take a look at each player's stats:

Super Bowl record:
Peyton Manning: 1-1
Super Bowl XLIV (Loss) – 31/45, 333 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Super Bowl XLI (Win) – 25/38, 247 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

Brett Favre: 1-1
Super Bowl XXXII (Loss) – 25/42, 256 yards, 3 TD’S, 1 INT
Super Bowl XXXI (Win) – 14/27, 246 yards, 2 TD’s, 12 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD

Regular season:

Peyton Manning:
12 seasons with Indianapolis (he’ll be 37 if/when he plays his 16th season)
192 consecutive games started
50,128 yards
366 TDs
4 regular season MVP’s

Brett Favre:
16 seasons with Green Bay
286 consecutive games started
69,329 yards
497 TDs
3 regular season MVP’s

A couple of interesting things stand out:
· Brett Favre was actually better in the Super Bowl, yet both will be defined by winning only one super bowl.
· And Peyton has a chance to break every single regular season record that Brett Favre holds. And from what I hear and read, Peyton knows very well about his place in history. And he wants to be known as the greatest quarterback ever.

And that is what I see as the potential key to Peyton emulating Favre’s end of career path. If Peyton wants to break the record for consecutive games started or yards thrown or TD’s thrown, then he’ll have to play into his late 30’s/early 40’s. And if Peyton doesn’t win that second title, and falls short several more times, then the criticism will start to weigh on him.

If the script unfolds as such, then as the years go by, I truly believe the rumblings will grow with intensity. The only way for Peyton to stop them is to win another title and know when to gracefully bow out. As a Peyton fan, I for one hope he wins at least one more title and retired as a Colt. Because as much as I love seeing Favre play, I wish he would have retired as a Green Bay Packer. And I really hope I’m wrong on this.

From Paris With Love

One of the most deceptive action movie title ever...

When I told my co-workers I was attending the New York premiere for this movie and taking my girlfriend, they all thought I was some romantic sweetheart. Well, I am...but this is not that kind of movie.

The action movie stars John Travolta (if Vincent Vega had eaten Tony Manero), the dude (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) from the Showtime original production, "The Tudors" (although I remember him more for being the fourth MI5 agent in Mission Impossible 3 and another celebrity with a sex addiction), and directed by Pierre Morel (the guy who directed "Taken", not 'Transporter 3"...so don't get your hopes up).

Anyhow, the premiere is what you would expect. Just a giant suckfest for all the people involved and behind the film. Seriously, I bet "Gigli and Daddy Day Care 2" received standing ovations during their premiere's. But for the suckers like me, it's just a reason to wait outside in the cold to try and secure a seat. In my case, I secured a front row seat...and a neck cramp. The premiere was supposed to start at 7:30, but Travolta was late. So in his place to make the fans act like paparrazi was none other than Wolverine. Probably one of the nicest guys in movies. He just kept politely saying, "OK folks. Please take your seats, the movie's about to start." Did anybody listen...of course not. People kept snapping pictures, trying to grab an autograph, and screaming to their friends, "Yo, I got a picture with Wolverine." I kept waiting for Hugh to jump out of his seat and protract his adamantium claws, maybe rip off his shirt and growl or roar. But no, those kind of things only happen in origin films. So after Hugh Jackman was escorted away by security, we only had to wait another 45 minutes before Travlota decided to two step his way into the theater.

No public addresss though from Chili Palmer, only from Pierre Morel. Pierre seemed like a nice guy. While thanking the audience, he said all that was needed to be said about the movie as a whole.

"I like to make my movie very compact."

That should be the tagline for "From Paris With Love". Compact action scenes. Compact story. I won't bother going into further detail about the movie. Basically, if you enjoyed Transporter 2 and 3 (or the lesser seen District B13), then you'll enjoy this movie. Travolta has a great role, one that makes the character have no flaws and always comes out on the winning end of every fight, conversation, argument, thought, and action. No wonder why he decided to play this role (that and the huge ass paycheck he got). But I just wanted to say three things about the experience/movie.

1. During the opening credits, the crowd went crazy (clapping, shouting as if this were a sporting event) when the names popped up. The biggest roar went for Travolta, Rhys-Meyers, and Morel. But the other actors and actresses got a small roar as well. But that was only from their entourage, family, or agents. I thought that was funny. But apparently it wasn't funny to some guy sitting next to me. He thought it was stupid. So his response. Cheer and clap for every credit afterwards. I mean every credit...cinematographer, casting by, executive producer, you get the point. He didn't stop until the very beginning when they flashed an Audi product placement into the film. That was when his lady friend put the kibash on his unfunny antics. I love it when that kind of stuff doesn't happen to me.

2. Travolta absolutely puts shame to one of his most classic lines. If you've seen the trailer, you know what I'm talking about. If not, let's just say it has to do with Pulp Fiction. Quentin Tarantino's head must have exploded when he saw/heard this.

3. What I loved best about this movie is the senseless use of what I like to call "The Specialist action scene". For those of you not old enough to know, there was a 1994 movie starring Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone called (yep, you guessed it), "The Specialist". The movie is ridiculous and over the top, but there was a great scene in the movie where Stallone is riding on the bus. He sees a pregnant woman standing and gives up his seat. Only there are some street thugs on the bus who decide to mess with her. So he does the only logical thing. He beats the crap out of them, culminating in throwing one thug out the back window. It's pointless, has nothing to do with the story, but it shows that Stallone is a badass. Well I thought Hollywood had decided that this was poor screenwriting, but I guess the writer of "From Paris with Love" never got that memo. Terrible scene.

So why would I go through all this trouble to watch a movie and experience a premiere to just bitch about it? Well, I won two free tickets and thought I was some sort of VIP. And that's why I'm the sucker. Somebody beat me up for no apparent reason. Just picture me sitting on a bus picking on pregnant women...