Peyton Manning, Tim Tebow take spins on NFL?s cutthroat carousel

If nothing else has given you a sense of the what-have-you-done-for-me-since-last-Sunday NFL, allow the Manning-Tebow switch to drive the league?s cut-throat nature home. Everyone is disposable, even high-profile quarterbacks. To a degree, being a fan requires investing your loyalty in organizations instead of individual players, most of whom will work for several teams over relatively short careers. By developing strong connections with stars, fans ignore those bonds will almost surely be shattered because owners and players pursue their individual best interests in the business of sports.

On and off the field, the NFL is all about its bottom line, which is why Manning and Tebow were both sacked.

The end of Manning?s spectacularly successful relationship with Indianapolis, however, was startling, both because of the magnitude of his achievements as a Colt and for the abruptness of his departure.

Manning, who turns 36 on Saturday, sat out last season because of a career-threatening neck problem that reportedly required four surgeries to repair. As part of his Colts contract, Manning would have received a $28 million bonus had he remained with the team. Regardless of Manning?s physical condition, Indianapolis would have had reasonable concerns about writing such a fat check simply because of his age.

The Colts also hold the No. 1 overall pick in next month?s draft, and Stanford?s Andrew Luck is widely considered the best quarterback prospect since Manning was developing his skills long ago at the University of Tennessee.

Given all of that, it made sense for Indianapolis owner Jim Irsay to look toward the future.

The NFL is a young man?s game, and the younger the better when players put their bodies through the equivalent of a car crash on every play. Players on the wrong side of 30 understand their time is running out. Each year, the pipeline from colleges provides 20-somethings who seem to defy the laws of human physiology in being bigger, faster and stronger than the preceding group.

In a league in which contracts are not fully guaranteed, players are easily discarded, and replacement parts are readily available.

Manning faced the same sobering reality everyone in the NFL does at some point.

Then again, Manning is an NFL original. A four-time MVP and a Super Bowl winner, he was the longtime face of the franchise for Indianapolis and its biggest behind-the-scenes power broker as well. In league history, no one team has been more dependent on a single player, NFL people say.

Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=456c366ae7e958ebef50dcb2a740962c

del rio del rio das racist das racist ginger white conrad murray sentencing conrad murray sentencing