Dear Edgerrin James...Don't Let the Colts' Super Bowl Win Get You Down

Dear Edgerrin James,

How are you holding up?  Sunday couldn't have been much fun for you.  And my guess is you're about to have a pretty rough week. 

 

After all, everyone you come into contact with is wondering how you feel about your former team, the Indianapolis Colts, winning the Super Bowl.  Most people probably won't ask.  They won't even want to bring it up.  They'll steer clear of the subject entirely.  But some will inquire.  And when they do, I'm sure you'll say all the right things.   You'll tell them how happy you are for your former teammates.  How you were cheering for them all along. 

But behind the facade of kind words, you'll be feeling that inevitable sting of regret. 

Personally, Edge, I don't blame you for feeling this way.  I don't think anyone would.  It's hard not to sympathize.  After all, you were a Pro Bowl running back.  You were part of what made the Indianapolis offense go.  But you left the stable to sign a lucrative deal with the Arizona Cardinals.  I know.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  Your agent, Drew Rosenhaus, surely told you that you were making the right decision. 

And when has he ever been wrong?

How were you to know way back then that you'd spend Super Bowl XLI at home, eating seven-layer dip and watching your former team run the ball down the throat of one of the league's best defenses?  There was no way you could have envisioned the Colts doing this with a rookie and a career backup in the backfield.

On the bright side, you're not alone.  There are plenty of players and coaches whose teams reached the championship level soon after their departures. Like your former teammate and current Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.  The season after he left Tennessee, the Volunteers won a title. Or Don Mattingly. As a Yankee fan, it was bittersweet watching them win the World Series in 1996 knowing one of the greatest Yankees of all time had hung up the cleats the season before. And what about Buck Showalter?  The season after he leaves the Yanks, they win it all.  The season after he leaves the Diamondbacks, they win it all.  I guess this means the Texas Rangers are a Showalter retirement away from their first World Series championship.

This week, Edge, you may find yourself wondering what might have been if you hadn't bolted Indianapolis to play for one of the worst franchises in the history of the NFL.  Try instead to stay positive.  You guys have a nice young nucleus in the desert.  Maybe in the end, it'll all work out, and in a few years you and your Cardinals will be the ones wearing smiles and hoisting the Lombardi Trophy high over your heads.

And if that thought doesn't cheer you up, remember:

At least you're not Rex Grossman.

Chin up, Edge, chin up,

Dave Metrick