INDIANAPOLIS — Sunday evening at Lucas Oil Stadium was like a bobblehead doll promotion in reverse. The occasion was Peyton Manning's first game here since he was let go by the Colts and found the Fountain of Youth in Denver. Instead of Colts fans receiving a ceramic reproduction of Manning, they gave Manning roughly 60,000 flesh-and-blood facsimiles of himself.
The fans came from all over, ostensibly to salute Manning, who led the Colts to 11 playoff appearances and one Super Bowl title before multiple neck operations, and a looming $28 million bonus, precipitated his departure. But many of the fans' loyalties were deeply divided, forcing their creative hand. Some people sewed together half of Manning's No. 18 Colts jersey and half of his No. 18 Broncos one. A few wore their Manning Colts jerseys over their Broncos jerseys, leaving the hem of the undergarment visible. One fan, Phillip Sahw, wore the Colts jersey of Manning's replacement, Andrew Luck, with Manning's No. 18 sewn over Luck's No. 12 on the back.
"I'm a huge Peyton Manning fan," Shaw said, echoing a common refrain, "so I want to respect him, but I'm still a Colts fan."
The night started with a 90-second pregame video montage of Manning highlights covering his 14 years as a Colt. The last image showed Manning holding aloft the Vince Lombardi trophy, at which point the crowd rose and applauded him. He took off his helmet and with his eyes pooling, he bobbed his head and touched his heart in acknowledgment of the ovation.
"I truly appreciated that," Manning said of the tribute, which was the idea of the Colts' owner, Jim Irsay. "It's something I'll always remember and I'm very grateful for it."
That ended the Manning portion of the program. The rest of the night belonged largely to Luck, whose preternatural maturity and unpretentiousness calls to mind a younger Manning. Luck, the second-year pro out of Stanford, threw for three touchdowns and ran for another in a 39-33 victory against the Broncos.
Manning also threw for three touchdowns, on 29-of-49 passing. The difference was that for the first time in a game, Manning found himself on the receiving end of Colts linebacker Robert Mathis's hits, and it made for a sad-sack homecoming. Mathis knocked Manning to the ground twice, including from his blind side in the second quarter, causing Manning to cough up the ball. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Broncos' next five possessions ended in punts. "It was a good hit, a healthy one as I would call it," he said.
Manning being Manning, he kept getting back up, and in the fourth quarter, trailing, 33-17, he mounted a comeback that fizzled when two late drives ended in turnovers.
After time ran out, Colts fans morphed back into Manning fans. And the feeling was obviously mutual, as Manning demonstrated by circling the field and leaving no Colts employee's hand unshaken.
Hal and Carol Yeagy can also attest to Manning's lasting ties to the city. The Yeagys, who own the noted downtown blues bar, the Slippery Noodle Inn, received a package unexpectedly in the mail several months ago.
Inside was a No. 18 Indianapolis Colts jersey signed by Manning, who wrote, "To all the good folks at the Noodle, Thanks for the great music, warm hospitality and cold beer."
The first time Manning, who was the first pick of the 1998 draft, stopped by the Meridian Street restaurant after a home game during his rookie year, the staff was locking up. The employee in charge of closing that night did not recognize the face peering at him through the window and waved him off.
Watching the parade of people in white, blue and orange No. 18 jerseys pass by the Slippery Noodle 15 years later en route to the game, it seemed inconceivable that Manning ever went unrecognized on these streets. As much as downtown's Monument Circle, Manning during his decorated tenure here came to symbolize the city of Indianapolis.
Rebecca Toney came to the game wearing a replica of Manning's Broncos jersey. "My passion has always been behind Peyton Manning," she said. "He made people like me watch football who didn't watch it before because of who he is on and off the field."
As is the case with many reunions between exes, there was a bittersweet undercurrent running through it. Irsay, happy to have at his side the laddie Luck, a younger, more athletic, version of Manning, caused hurt feelings when he said the Colts' parting with Manning represented a shift in philosophy aimed at winning more Super Bowls.
Manning spent the week leading up to the game answering questions about his former team through gritted teeth. Unlike other visits he has made here since leaving the Colts, this was not a good-will trip.
"If this were a scenario where all I had to do maybe was come back and wave and smile, kiss a few babies and sign a few autographs, it would be different," Manning said.
After the game, he acknowledged that it had been an emotionally draining week. "In some ways I'm somewhat relieved that this game is over," he said.
In the $30 public parking lot across from the Slippery Noodle, Wayne Gainey stood in front of his Colts blue-and-white school-bus-turned-party-on-wheels. "I was going to wear a black Manning shirt I got in mourning," he said before the game, adding: "He set so many records with the Colts. Now he's breaking more records with the Denver Broncos, and it's heartbreaking."
Gainey is a big fan of Manning's replacement. He nodded affirmatively when his friend, Kevin Stevens, described Luck as "the same person as Peyton in the way he studies the game and the way he gives his teammates credit."
Manning is hardest on himself. Hal Yeagy recalled Manning pulling up a chair at the bar, oftentimes accompanied by his offensive linemen, after home games or upon returning from the road, and "he'd be trying to watch 'SportsCenter' to see how he did in his interviews," he said.
Sometimes Manning graced a second stage, belting out songs to the accompaniment of a sound machine. "He's not a great singer," Yeagy said, "but that's not what he's known for."
The menu at the Slippery Noodle includes a Who's Who list of celebrity diners. The 75 names are a melting pot, including the actor Ernest Borgnine, the rock star Gene Simmons and Tim Tebow, the quarterback who preceded Manning in Denver. Absent from the list is Manning, which figures. His play during his time here made him exceptional, but his normalcy is what made him beloved.
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