Peyton Manning, Will he cry in the Rain Super Sunday?

Here in Dade City, the country boys are rooting for the Bears, just because I guess the qtrback on the Bears is a Gator. Other than that, they just can't stand Peyton Manning. They call him "CRYBABY" here. And the older dudes who remember the old Bears are reminiscing about McMahon and the olden days. None of them think the Colts will do it Sunday.

Then there is the weather forecast for South Florida Sunday. It doesn't look good. Rain is predicted for the Super Bowl, and of course, the Colts home is a dome.

Will Peyton change overnight and become the cool, calm, non-reactive dude I want him to be or will he scrunch his baby face cheeks into his usual pout and be a crybaby in the rain like the country boys here say he will?

Peyton Manning, I want to say something that I can speak of from my own personal experience. You need to practice holding in your tendency to wallow in grief, and the best way to learn this is in group counseling.

Nothing was harder for me than the circle of clients wherein each gets to say to another something that is intended to set you off, and you have to practice just listening to it and taking it without saying anything back except for the standard counseling group phrase, "Thank you for telling me that." I couldn't do it for weeks. I would just react negatively like Peyton does when things go wrong. I would say, when they told me I was full of myself, "SO ARE YOU, and You haven't walked in my shoes. I have a right to feel the way I do," etc.

Group counseling would be great for the Colts. For Peyton Manning, no doubt a colicky baby in his youth, to be able to handle the negative without scowling and blaming everyone but himself, would be a major step for him. It doesn't happen overnight. Sometimes it takes months, even years to learn to "pick your battles." Limit your over reaction to things you can really do something about. Accept that other people have the right to criticize you, and even if you hate them, listen to what they have to say. They see you as you appear to them, so it's a mirror you hate looking into. If people say you are a crybaby, maybe you are. Maybe you don't respect others because you are so wrapped up in yourself.

Peyton, the guys here want Tony Dungy to win because they know how the Bucs treated him and didn't deserve him and wish the best for him. But, they don't feel this for you. They really want the Colts to lose just because they can't stand the way you act up. Will you be a CRYBABY who loses in the rain this Super Bowl Sunday? Gee, I hope not, but if you do, you will be quite the dramatic performer who will draw their ridicule for years whenever they play the tape. How do you want to go down in history.

Think of it, Peyton. You don't have much time to decide.

Kathy