Was Manning a poor sport?
 

The key play in the Indianapolis Colts' Super Bowl XLIV loss was the interception that Peyton Manning threw on a pass intended for Reggie Wayne.

And so it's no surprise that Manning and Wayne weren't in particularly good spirits after the game, and that they went straight to the locker room instead of sticking around on the field afterward to offer post-game handshakes to the Saints.

But while it may not be surprising, Manning has been accused of "poor sportsmanship" for going to the leaving the field before offering congratulations to the Saints. And Wayne said he may have gotten to the locker room even more quickly than Manning.

"I didn't even watch them celebrate,'' Wayne said. "I was one of the first ones in the locker room. They're probably still out there. That's the way it goes when you win the Super Bowl. You stay out there. When you lose, you go to the locker room.''

Manning didn't give a post-game hug to Saints quarterback Drew Brees, but he said he'd call Brees to say congratulations.

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It could have been worse. While I didn't see the game, Manning and Wayne had three options.

A) Go congratulate the Saints, then go deal with losing privately
B) Head straight for the locker room, either don't congratulate the Saints or do so later/privately
C) Throw a fit, refuse to acknowledge Saints, storm off to vent/sulk

IMO A would be considered good sportsmanship, and C would be considered bad sportsmanship, but B isn't so bad. If anything, I see it as a neutral choice versus the other options.

I really don't see the big deal. This is stretching it to say the least.

Manufactured drama to boost revenue by generating clicks for certain websites.

That's silly. I'm pretty sure that if I threw and interception that cost my team the Super Bowl I'd get out of dodge so fast it'd be like a cartoon with the spinning hat.

considering Brees and Manning are friends off the field, I don't really see it as a big deal.

PFT has quickly become a TMZ-level brew of horseshit since NBC really took the reins. Jesus it's terrible now.

agreed.

I personally don't see a problem with what Manning did. We don't know how he was doing at the time. Obviously he was upset, they had just lost the superbowl, but he could have had a headache or was hurting and just wanted to leave the field. I understand that.

I think we all have been in situations where you don't want to stand around and be the "gracious loser". You just wanna leave. I know I have.

The media is blowing it way out of proportion, as they tend to do. It's all about 'drama' and 'ratings'.

as boring as that game was (heheheh) it needed something to spice it up.... :D

You thought it was that boring? I've read that other places and don't get it, maybe I'm just off here.

I thought this was one of the better Super Bowls in a while - not quite on par with Giants/42, but just below . . . I mean, just the 2nd-half change to a 3-3-5 nickel by the Saints was exceptionally interesting, not to mention the Colts mastery of blitz pickups (and still, the pick into single-coverage on an All Pro), meaningful plays going down to the wire, Brees going apeshit 28 for 30, Manning's unreal toss between 6 defenders to Clark, going for it on 4th down, the onside kick . . .

Even for the most casual fan it had something. If you're at all into football beyond the surface level, it was a fascinating game. Minus the Who.

Not really. There were moments, but the overall game was pretty much a snooze.

Agreed - if you're at all into football, it was a really interesting game and a good one. It's not Giants/Pats, but still an excellent and exciting game if you're a real football fan.

As to PFT: it was starting to become a TMZ-type site even before NBC bought it. While Florio started out breaking some interesting news, at some point he just starting throwing anything and everything up there, hoping a couple of stories would stick.

Thus the "heheheheh" ...it was an exciting enough game but I just didn't feel that 'excitement' like some people felt for this game.

I will agree that the 2nd 1/2 was better than the first.

I think this is more a result of the horrendous cash-grab pacing by CBS (Kickoff? Whelp, time for more commercials! Time out? COMMERCIAL!) than the actual game . . . which featured above-average scoring and yards, plus the first-ever onside kick before the 4th Quarter, two compelling storylines, etc. (basically everything people find interesting).

In fact, that's the NFL's dirty little secret: if you eliminate the downtime, there's only about 20 min of actual play. "Boring" MLB games have . . . 30 min. CBS just pukes all over itself during Super Bowl coverage.