Every child needs to have that journey of discovery in their life. The time where they strike out on their own, find new mentors and an independent way in the word. The time where they realize that their parents aren’t the superheroes of their youth. That they are mortal and fallible.
For most of us, that time was college. For Peyton Manning, it was at a South Beach bar after a devastating Super Bowl loss to his father’s old team, the New Orleans Saints.
Do as I say, not as I do.
Joe Orton, a sixty-year-old Saints fan, was the first to approach the distraught Peyton downing Maker’s Mark at the bar.
“The poor guy, your heart just went out to him. I just felt it was time to understand who he was and where he came from. So, I bought him another round and we had a good cry for a while.”
It was at that point that the bartender took out a VHS tape marked “New Orleans’ Greatest Disasters Mixtape ‘10.”
Orton went on:
“So, the bartender puts this tape in the bar player. It’s a video montage of Archie Manning being sacked forty or fifty times, Hurricane Katrina news footage, Reggie Bush scenes from “Keeping Up With The Kardashians”, and various Emeril Lagasse cooking shows. All set to “In The Blood” by Better Than Ezra. Man, that’s some powerful stuff right there.”
Soon, the entire bar was in tears and one by one walked up to Peyton, shook his hand, and gave him a heartfelt hug.
“You know, I think he’s going to turn things around. That crazy guy is going to be ok.”
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