Story #1: That dinner must have been at the Ruth’s Chris in downtown Indy. There’s also a Ruth’s Chris on the north side. Back when I lived in Indy I worked at the north side one for a little while. Before it was a Ruth’s Chris it was a restaurant called Jonathan’s Keepe, and I worked there for a little while too. In the Jonathan’s Keepe days, I once waited on the same version of this, but for the offensive line (i.e. the whole line goes out and makes the rookies pay). This was back in ’92 or ’93, so not nearly as exciting as it would be today, but I was amazed at the size of these men. They pretty much had an entree for an appetizer, and two or three entrees as an entree.

Story #2: In 2000, when it was a Ruth’s Chris, I waited on Peyton Manning and a group of about 10 people (not players). He was wearing a dress shirt that was Tennessee orange, so it was kinda hard to miss him. He graciously signed a couple of autographs for other diners and seemed like a good guy, but a bit of a doofus. Certainly not the media savvy Peyton we know now. Anyway, there were a couple of steps down from the hostess stand in the restaurant lobby into the main dining room. At one point I was at the hostess stand trying to flirt with one of the hostesses, and I said, “Hey did you see Peyton?” Not being a sports fan, she didn’t know who he was. So I said, “He’s the Colts’ quarterback. You can’t miss him, he’s wearing a bright orange shirt.” To which she replied, “Oh, that guy? He just tripped up the stairs on his way to the bathroom.”

And that’s my Peyton Manning story. OK, I told you they were boring….