When fat Peter King said the name Peyton Manning at halftime last night, I just shut the TV off. As the writer Gerry Callahan said in the Boston Herald a couple of weeks ago, Manning is the winner of every award that doesn't matter.

 

Big deal, so he set all kinds of records this year. 

 

What has he won?

 

Disclaimer: I live in the Boston area so I may be biased (but...I do think that the DH ruined baseball and that a DH does not belong in the Hall of Fame)...

 

I give you David Ortiz, DH of the Boston Red Sox:

   - hit .300 with 30 HR and 100 RBI

   - stepped up after the Boston Marathon and delivered the best line- "This is OUR (...ing) city."

   - when the Sox were down and out against the Tigers in the ALCS, he hit a Grand Slam in the 8th to bring them from the brink of defeat. A Grand Slam.

   - had arguably the best World Series in history, all things considered, and led them to the Championship over the St. Louis Cardinals.

   - in that World Series, he memorably pulled all his teammates together in the dugout and reminded them of the importance of the moment and they went on to rally and win that game and turn the Series around.

   - he is in his homeland Dominican Republic right now, hosting his annual golf tournament. All of the proceeds go to help underprivileged kids there and in Boston get health care.

   - he is ubiquitous in the Boston area, visiting hospitals, participating in benefits, you name it

   - he is the face of the Boston Red Sox franchise and will be for years

 

Peyton Manning deserves lots of credit for another regular season for the ages and he sells lots of pizzas and Buicks but David Ortiz stood head and shoulders above him this year.

 

 

I know SI's SOTY isn't a big deal but I though Ortiz was a lead pipe cinch to get it. In the 3-4 minutes I spent thinking about it, I considered Phil Mickelson, maybe John Harbaugh, or some soccer player I never heard of or a Lindsey Vonn type, someone whose name I knew but not their accomplishments,

 

I never even thought of Jughead. He deserves it about as much as Eben Britton, IMO.

 

OMG, Peyton Manning. Why not just pick Goofy Sue, the greyhound who won a record 8 straight races at the Seabrook, NH dog track this summer? At least she won something.

 

 

     

 

 

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