So far, several thousand articles have been written about Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts. Add another mark to the tally.

At 6:25 p.m. on Sunday, one of the most hyped stories around will finally transpire. Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Tony Dungy and the rest of the Colts will take the field at Miami’s Dolphin Stadium and play for the NFL championship.

It’s the first time Manning, Harrison or Dungy (as a coach) will have a hand in the game.

Dungy won a Super Bowl as a safety for the 1978 Pittsburgh Steelers.

Still, as we’ve heard so many times, the Colts’ recent failures and laid-back, good-guys attitude automatically means they ‘deserve’ to win.

Usually, sportswriters do not cheer for players or teams, especially those of the bandwagon variety. Instead we cheer for ‘stories.’ But as annoying as the Colts hype-machine is and despite my sportswriter instinct telling me to avoid any messy allegiances, I don’t care.

I’ve bought into that screwy, they-deserve-to-win logic. I’m rooting for the Colts, for Manning, for Dungy, for SU boys Harrison and Dwight Freeney.

Why would a normally self-respecting journalist shed his shirt and tie for a blue and white football jersey and urge anyone else without a rooting interest to do the same?

It’s quite simple actually. I’ve been given so many reasons to cheer for Indianapolis, it’s impossible to deny I’m supposed to. Now it’s my turn to convince you.

Let’s start local. The SU-Colts connection is undeniable. Former Orange stars Harrison and Freeney feature prominently on Indianapolis. Colts like Ryan LaCasse and Josh Thomas played for SU when at least some of the current student body was here. The Colts have more Orange alumni than any other NFL franchise. Heck, both teams play its home games in domes, which is probably more than a coincidence.

The Bears, on the other hand, have no former Syracuse players. For the purpose of this column, that’s a bad thing.

So those yearning for the glory days of Orange football (I’m not one), clearly have more reason to root for Indianapolis than Chicago. Unless, of course, you’re a New England fan that spent the whole season talking about the strength of the American Football Conference and how an AFC team will win the Super Bowl only to sell out on the conference when you realized that team wouldn’t be the Patriots.

I don’t mean to pick on New Englanders, especially those that wish they were ESPN columnists that churn out occasionally entertaining columns about the glory of Boston sports, but I must go on.

My dear chowdah-eating friends, your verbal assault on Peyton Manning – and especially your repeated and nonsensical use of the ‘Peyton Manning face’ to describe any and all situations when a person looks flustered, confused, lost or upset – is an old and tired practice. It was funny the first time and I may have chuckled the second time, but please, now it’s more predictable than the Buffalo Bills losing in the Super Bowl.

It is partly this arrogance that led me into the Colts’ camp when a New England-Indianapolis match-up looked inevitable. That’s right. I’ve been rooting for the Colts for almost three weeks now, about two more weeks than most Indianapolis fans.

For all those that don’t really care about football, you don’t get off easy. You can’t escape because even though you’ve never seen Manning pitching a football, you’ve probably seen him pitching Mastercards or Sprint cell phones.

Manning’s TV spots are arguably the best American commercials featuring an athlete. That deserves some kind of recognition, especially seeing some of those awkward local car dealership ads featuring a former SU hoopster. I’m not naming any names.

Sure, it may not be the strongest reasoning to throw support behind the Colts. But there’s something about Manning harassing accountants for a high-five as they exit a subway station or hassling a grocery stocker for an autograph that compels me to root for Indianapolis.

And Manning’s fake mustache in the Sprint commercials seals the deal. (To see the commercials, just go to youtube.com and search ‘Peyton Manning’)

Now you have a bunch of evidence on why you should root for the Colts. There’s no excuse not to. But if the last 700 words weren’t enough, I have some parting words for you.

Fellow New York Giants fans, be advised. Those inevitable shots of Eli Manning in the crowd may be the closest we’ll get to seeing him in the Super Bowl.

Enjoy the show.

Rob Anthes is an assistant sports editor emeritus at The Daily Orange, where his columns usually appear on Wednesdays. E-mail him at rmanthes@syr.edu.

Published on January 30, 2007 at 12:00 pm