Flashback---The Peyton Manning Autograph

If you are a regular reader you know that we are all diehard Indianapolis Colts fans.  It was very devastating this year when they released Peyton Manning.  He was great to watch and we will miss him.

All of this got me thinking back.  I remembered a funny story about our oldest son who is the biggest Peyton Manning fan in the entire universe. That is not an exaggeration either.  He even knows his birthday, shoe size, and kids names. He has always been kind of a shy and quiet kid. Nicolas was trying for several years to get Manning's autograph and was never successful.  We were at training camp right after it moved back to Anderson University.  Practice was over and everyone was leaving. He was standing there telling me about how he wished he could just get Peyton's autograph.  There was a guy standing next to us that spoke up and said "Hey kid, he is over there signing on the other side of the field, you better run over and get it NOW!".  Up to that point, I have never seen him run that fast!

I was walking around to the other side to wait for him.  The crowd was huge and I thought we would be there for a while.  I wondered over to the bleachers and climbed up far enough to see if I could spot him in the crowd.  I could not see him but I could hear the big security guy by Manning yelling at someone,  "KID!!!!  Calm down!!!  Take a step back!  KID!!!!  KID!!!" He kept saying it more forcefully "KID!!!   TAKE A STEP BACK!  YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN!" I wondered what all the trouble was down there, but I didn't think much of it.  And then the guy continued on ""KID!!!   TAKE A STEP BACK! CALM DOWN!!!" I am starting to think to myself...what kind of knucklehead kid is causing trouble down there?  I snapped a quick shot of the commotion with my camera.  I could not see the kid causing trouble.  The guy in the large floppy Colt's hat to the right of  Peyton is the guy that was yelling at the kid.

Then just after a couple of minutes I see Nicolas walking back towards me staring at his autograph Superbowl ball with a huge smile on his face.  After a moment Nicolas asked me "Did you hear that security guy yelling at me?  There is no way I was walking away without an autograph this time."  I have to admit, I laughed....  Then we promptly left!  Here is the autograph:

This I believe was at the 2010 Training Camp.  He never did get Peyton Manning's autograph again.   It sits encased in a plastic container (heavily guarded with lasers and motion detectors) and is forever cherished by my goofy kid,  This is a memory I don't think I will ever forget.


How we did hate to see Manning go.  Now Nicolas keeps asking me to take him to Denver.....