Why We Get Riled About Peyton Manning

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Yet there's no shortage of Manning haters. Why? Start with the TV spots' saturation. "You know he did something to your favorite team," says Spikes, understanding, though not agreeing with, the backlash against the ads, "and then you have to look at him after every commercial break." Some fans are uncomfortable with a player who is so serious, and often sour, on the field morphing into a charmer on camera. "I find the marketing of his personality contrived," says Spencer Wilking, 27, a Concord, Mass., native and Patriots devotee still reeling from the championship-game loss. "It rubs me the wrong way."

Manning's $98 million contract, which included a $34.5 million signing bonus, is another easy target. So is his birth into football royalty. While it's true that Peyton Manning has worked hard to hone his God-given talent, it doesn't hurt to have had a father like Archie Manning, the Ole Miss legend and New Orleans Saints standout quarterback. All the Manning boys are genetic freaks: younger brother Eli is a starting quarterback, though not an effective one for now, with the New York Giants, and older brother Cooper was slashing toward stardom before a spinal disorder ended his career (he's now a successful businessman in New Orleans).

There is also still resentment toward the entire Manning clan over the way Eli manipulated the 2004 NFL draft, forcing the San Diego Chargers to trade him to the Giants because he refused to play for what was then a losing team. The Chargers still accuse the Manning family of meddling in the negotiations, though Archie has denied that. Eli has struggled for the Giants, while the quarterback for whom he was traded, Philip Rivers, made the Pro Bowl this year after leading the Chargers to a stellar season. It's a small yet satisfying slither of revenge for the anti-Peyton army.

So there's plenty to love, and loathe. But whatever you think of Manning, I would argue that it's best to root against him in the Super Bowl. Yes, even among his fans. It's Manning's quest for that one missing part, that one imperfection, that will sustain our attention. "From a fan's perspective, the joy is in the conversation," says sports sociologist Jay Coakley, professor emeritus at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. "Peyton's longing for a Super Bowl keeps the conversation going, and if he wins, that conversation stops." In an age of sports parity, in which seven teams have won World Series titles this decade and about a dozen NFL teams were fighting for playoff spots during the last weeks of the season, we can use a dramatic story line.

Did anyone really want to see Charlie Brown kick that football (thanks for the reflexes, Lucy)? Would Ernie Banks, the smiling Mr. Cub chortling "Let's play two," be as beloved if the Cubs were winners? Is the sports world really a better place since the Boston Red Sox overcame their "curse" and in 2004 finally won the World Series?

Peyton need look no further than his father for another player who charmed fans through losing. Poor ol' Archie Manning would have been a Hall of Famer if those Nawlins 'Aints had had any good players. But if Archie had won a Super Bowl, he would be another Bob Griese. Bor-ing.