Word: peyton
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Skepticism about whether pro gaming is a sport--as compared with, say, pro fishing--isn't as important as the question of whether gaming can appeal to viewers. There's a difference between watching Peyton Manning threading a touchdown pass and watching a gamer control a character doing something onscreen...
...just one wish for Super Bowl Sunday; that you have no idea he's even playing in the game. "At the end of the day, I don't want anyone to know who the heck I am," says Mannelly, the long snapper for the Chicago Bears, who will face Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl this Sunday "As long as I do my job, the guys at CBS will have no reason to say my name...
...even among his fans. It's Manning's quest for that one missing part, that one imperfection, that will sustain our attention. "From a fan's perspective, the joy is in the conversation," says sports sociologist Jay Coakley, professor emeritus at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. "Peyton's longing for a Super Bowl keeps the conversation going, and if he wins, that conversation stops." In an age of sports parity, in which seven teams have won World Series titles this decade and about a dozen NFL teams were fighting for playoff spots during the last weeks...
...Peyton need look no further than his father for another player who charmed fans through losing. Poor ol' Archie Manning would have been a Hall of Famer if those Nawlins 'Aints had had any good players. But if Archie had won a Super Bowl, he would be another Bob Griese...
With a fat salary and that "laser-rocket arm" he winks at in a Sprint commercial, Peyton Manning will never be like us. But his championship failure delivers some connection. "It gives us an entry into his humanity, his vulnerability," says Coakley. "He isn't perfect, despite the fact he's so damn good." Peyton's brother Cooper naturally disagrees with any such rationale for cheering on the Bears, who--despite featuring a frighteningly inconsistent quarterback, Rex Grossman--have the type of defense that can shut down Peyton. "Average Joes want heroes," Cooper says. "Average Joes want guys that...