- I know, I know football season is over and we should grab the suntan lotion, Sox hats, mini fans and shift all of our attention toFort Myers. But does the football season every really end? We go from Super Bowl to free agency to the draft.

The story that will dominate the headlines for at least the next couple of weeks is the status of Peyton Manning. The status of his health and his status as quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts. Owner Jim Irsay came out this week to say he would welcome Peyton back but made it very clear that the future hall of famer would have to restructure his contract and that he’d have to be healthy enough to man the QB position.

The sentiment among Colts fans during Super Bowl week was that it would be weird seeing Peyton in another uniform but they’d welcome another franchise quarterback in the form of Andrew Luck. My feeling mingling in Indy was that these folks are one of the luckiest fan groups in NFL history. No pun intended.

I grew up a Vikings fan. A franchise that has drafted exactly ONE franchise quarterback in the clubs first ever draft. Fran Tarkenton in 1961 (also drafted by the AFL’s Boston Patriots) Tommy Kramer, haha! Daunte Culpepper, lasted only six years. I am talking about a viable rock solid Super Bowl contending QB under center for more than a decade.

The Colts made one of the smartest moves of all-time in taking Manning over Ryan Leaf with the first pick in 1998. Sure Peyton has played Robin to Tom Brady’s Batman but can you really argue with the amount of success Manning has had in his 14 years in Indy?  Now it’s time to make another smart move and let Peyton walk so that Luck can take the reigns. How many teams have the chance to grab back-to-back franchise quarterback’s that could potentially turn into a 30 year span of dominance at the most important position in all of sports. Even a rational Patriots fan would have to agree that if a similar situation plays out here in a couple years it would be worth suffering through a terrible season before sending an aging Brady off into the sunset.

-        I like every other sports fan logged onto You Tube to watch Whitney Houston’s 1991 Super Bowl rendition of the National Anthem. I was also stunned when Twitter blew up about how the iconic event was lip synced. I didn’t want to believe it but SI.com’s Peter King spoke with former Super Bowl director Jim Steeg who confirmed that it was indeed taped a week earlier. I felt both guilty and smart when I walked around the newsroom breaking the news to my co-workers. I got a mixture of anger and disbelief but in the end we all decided it didn’t take away from the moment or her brilliance.

- As mentioned the big four in Rhode Island have struggled this year to say the least. As I write this PC, URI, Bryant and Brown have gone a combined 6-41 in conference play.  As ugly as this winter has been on the big stage some great things are happening on the D3 level. Big ups to theRhode IslandCollegewomen and the Salve Regina men. Both grabbed regular season conference titles last night and both will host when March Madness gets a head start with conference tourneys next week.