MKRob Sports

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning started heading towards the locker room before time even expired in Super Bowl XLIV. He didn’t shake hands, he didn’t answer questions, he just left the field, while the Saints knelt the ball and ran down the clock.

It was barely a footnote to the Super Bowl, but compare the non-fallout over Manning to LeBron James doing the same after being eliminated in last year’s NBA playoffs.

Peyton Manning’s explanation for not shaking anyone’s hand is, “The stage is being set up for the celebration and it was time for the Saints to celebrate at midfield,” Manning said as the reason for not shaking hands. “They deserved the moment.”

I have two issues with Manning not shaking hands, first I believe its poor sportsmanship because other players on the Colts found a way to shake hands, why didn’t Manning? And my second issue is that LeBron James got hammered for doing the same thing last year in the NBA Playoffs and if James can get hammered, so should Manning.

As the leader of the Indianapolis Colts and face of the NFL, Manning should have been a man about the situation and gone over and at least shook hands with quarterback Drew Brees, who Manning says he likes, catch some of the other Saints on the way in and go about his business.

He should not be exempt from shaking hands just because his name is Peyton Manning. I would like to ask him if Rex Grossman or any of the other players shook hands with him after his Super Bowl win against the Bears in 2007. Manning isn’t the first and won’t be last quarterback to lose a Super Bowl, so he needs to learn to take the loss like a man, don’t hate, congratulate.

I really hope Manning isn’t going to add Pop Warner football to any of his list of commercials because he’s the last one that can tell a Pop Warner player that they need to exercise sportsmanship. Is this the kind of example we want to set for the little leaguers out there who may now say, “If Peyton Manning doesn’t have to shake hands, why should I?” Come on Manning, SHAKE HANDS, SHOW GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP!!!