Thanks for the Millions Peyton!

You’d think that if you were at a job for 15 years, were the best employee in the company all 15, were the best employee in the country 4 times, and made your company massive profits you would be very revered with that company. Unfortunately, this may not be the case for Peyton Manning.

For those who don’t watch sports or cheesy Papa John’s commercials, no pun intended, Peyton Manning is the quarterback for the Denver Broncos. He spent the first 14 years of his career with the Indianapolis Colts where he performed above and beyond expectations.

He made 11 Pro Bowls in 14 years, won 4 MVP awards, and broke the Colts all time records in wins, passing touchdowns, passing yards, pass attempts, and pass completions. But most importantly, he led the Colts to a Super Bowl Championship.

Manning is often criticized by self-righteous sports writers for only winning once championship. Because in the world of sports analysis, winning a Super Bowl is really easy and only winning one is unacceptable.

It’s understandable that Manning is criticized by ESPN personalities because they dig deep for topics to discuss on television and will say anything to boost their ratings. But it is another story when the owner of his former team supports the anti-Manning rhetoric.

In a recent interview, Colts owner Jim Irsay started talking about Super Bowl rings. He waved his around and said, “We have changed our model a little bit because we want more than one of these. Tom Brady never had consistent numbers, but he has three of these. Pittsburgh had two, the Giants had two, Baltimore had two and we had one. That frustrated you a little bit.”

Irsay is understandably frustrated with his lone Super Bowl ring. Winning a Super Bowl is incredibly challenging but the Colts were on top of the league for 10 years. Only getting one championship out of a 10-year elite run is disappointing. Nothing wrong with Irsay’s comments yet. But he continued talking.

“You make the playoffs 11 times, and you're out in the first round seven out of 11 times. You love to have the 'Star Wars' numbers from Peyton and Marvin [Harrison] and Reggie [Wayne]. Mostly, you love this Super Bowl ring.”

It is pretty clear that Irsay is disappointed with the results of the Peyton Manning era. Usually it is no big deal when an owner makes a statement saying he is disappointed with his team’s performance. But when you insinuate that Peyton Manning has been disappointing, it makes headlines.

Irsay has got to be more aware of his environment. He needs to know that in 2013 anything you say that is remotely critical of a professional athlete will end up on Deadspin or ESPN. More importantly, if you criticize a polarizing athlete like Peyton Manning, directly or indirectly, your comments will eventually make their way to him.

Self-awareness is not a strong suit for Irsay. Most team owners do their best to stay out of the news. The average fan can only name a handful of owners. They can name Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, Jim Irsay, and the owner of their favorite team. The rest of the owners are low profile. Irsay seems to have no interest in keeping a low profile. He tweets more frequently than a 13-year-old girl at a One Direction concert.

Manning diehard fans and others took offense to Irsay’s comments. The most notable person to take offense to the comments was Manning’s current head coach John Fox. “I saw the comments and to be honest with you I thought it was a bit of a cheap shot. To me, in my opinion, they were disappointing and inappropriate. I mean, Peyton would never say anything. He’s too classy to do that. But they sounded a little ungrateful and unappreciative to me for a guy that has set a standard, won a Super Bowl, won division titles, won four MVP awards. I’d be thankful with that one Super Bowl ring because there’s a lot of people that don’t have one.”

Fox is exactly right. When Peyton Manning joined the Colts in 1998, they were awful. He took them to the playoffs within 2 years and kept them year for 11 more years. Peyton Manning is one of the top 10 quarterbacks of all time and some people have even called him the best quarterback of all time.

Manning of course has taken the high road and not responded to Irsay’s comments. Manning is all class and very public relations savvy. John Fox always says, “Well done is better than well said.” Peyton Manning offered no comments Wednesday. Which means his only option is “well done.” Manning will respond Sunday through his performance against his former team.

Peyton Manning is royalty to Colts fans. There is a generation of fans who can only remember one Colts losing season. Manning has given Irsay a Super Bowl championship, and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Former Colts coach Tony Dungy even said, “Without Peyton Manning the Colts are playing in LA right now instead of Indianapolis.” Irsay would be wise to be thankful to Manning and not publicly express disappointment in the Manning era ever again.