Peyton a classless pouter?

I don't think so. Poor Peyton Manning has been getting berated for not shaking Drew Brees' hand at the end of the Super Bowl on Sunday. Sure, it would have been nice to see him embrace Brees and congratulate him. But probably 95% of NFL players walk off the field every week without bothering to shake hands.

The second after the gun sounds at the Super Bowl...tons of the player's family members, photographers, videographers, techy dudes, roadies, and flunkies swarm the field. I am guessing that Peyton didn't want any part of that scene...and I don't blame him....not one bit. And for obvious reasons, Peyton was in no mood to fraternize. Nobody works more or competes harder than Peyton. It's all for one reason...to win the Super Bowl... and he'd just seen that goal blow up in his face. Poor dude.

That doesn't make him a classless pouter. That makes him human.

Peyton trotted off the field...took a quick shower...put on a suit and headed to the press conference. He sat there for 11 minutes getting peppered with questions about why he and the Colts blew it.

It reminded me of a great Olympic moment...I remember hearing about... I've forgotten all the details, but a team from Greece or somewhere over there had just lost a bitter volleyball match. Some reporter from that guy's home country stuck a microphone in a player's face. "You are a disgrace to your country. Your comments?" The guy dutifully answered. I would have punched that reporter in the face and made him eat his microphone for lunch. Just sayin'.

Nobody quite said to Peyton, "You are disgrace to your city," but it was pretty-damn-close. He never got snippy. He patiently and politely answered every question, took responsibility for his mistakes and praised Saints cornerback Tracy Porter, whose interception will go down as his Bill Buckner moment. He's a better person than me because I might be pointing out that the interception should have also been pinned on receiver Reggie Wayne....who gave his route away and let Porter beat him to the ball. Again...I'm just sayin'. But before he disappeared, Peyton said he had one thing left to do.....he was going to call Brees and congratulate him.

I think Peyton Manning is a class act...and a much better person than me. I am way tooooo much of an ass after losing....they would do movies about my unsportsmanlike conduct. I'm just sayin'.