Boston sports fans have been called a lot of things over the years. A few of them are positive. If nothing else, Boston fans have a reputation for being loyal to their teams. However, more often than, not the words people use to describe them might include idiots, loud-mouths, jackasses, obnoxious, and ruthless among plenty of others. As someone who has been a fan of the Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins, and Celtics for about 18 years, I can remember very few times the word “classy” was thrown around in conjunction with a group of Boston fans. That’s why Peyton Manning’s comments from Foxboro on Sunday were so surprising.
“I signed a tons of autographs for Patriots fans before the game and they couldn’t had been nicer,” Manning said according to the Boston Herald. “They were all wishing me a healthy recovery and missed seeing me out there and I really do appreciate that. I’ve been getting a lot of support from my Colts fans and people across the country. But when it comes from fans of probably your biggest rival, and I’m sure some of them have probably said stuff that wasn’t so nice over the years, I thought it was pretty classy.”
Maybe something was in the air. Perhaps it was the fact that Patriots fans knew they were on their way to an easy victory, so they didn’t feel the need to kick a person while he’s down. It must have been a a casual, no shooting ourselves in the leg type of tailgate party at Gillette Stadium before the game.
All joking aside, New England fans will take the easy victory but they would rather see Manning out there. It’s fun to pretend we despise Manning and talk about how much better Tom Brady is than him, but Colts-Patriots is nothing without Manning on the field. Nobody wants to see an injury that keeps a star player out this long — even an opponent.
