On the subject of whether or not the Colts should take Luck vs keeping Manning, there sure is no shortage of opinions on which direction the team should go with it's immediate future. I have read a lot of posts from fans of which some of whom feel that anyone who is of the mindset to take Luck is "showing no loyalty to Manning." Although this line of thinking is short sighted, I find it no surprise coming from the Indy faithful who refuse to look to the future if there is no Manning involved in it. I admit that I am a die hard Colts fan. That being said I am not a fanatic who doesn't see or understand the business side of football. When people say things like: "P**s on ...the entire “ready to move on” crowd. Such attitudes demonstrate the pervasive loss of honor, loyalty, class and culture in American society." And "I’m shocked at how many Colts fans are ready to give up on Manning," it shows the limited logic often associated with the thinking process of sports "fanatics." For the record, this is not about "giving up on Manning." This is about the future of the Colts. That future will be determined by a business decision.

The business side of football is often the hardest part of the game for fans to comprehend. People tend to want their teams to make those decisions based on "loyalty" to favorite players. I remember when Jim Harbaugh was QB for the Colts. Even though he gave the organization some solid years at QB that put Indy on the map, can any of you imagine where the Colts would be now if they had chosen to keep him while he was on the downside of his career and pass on Manning? Harbaugh was let go because of a "business" decision to go with a younger, more talented QB who would eventually become a legend. Believe it or not, we are at that very same cross road again now. Any GM with half a brain can realize that keeping Manning for 3 or 4 more years would only be delaying the inevitable: "Him eventually retiring." This in essence would put the team back at square one in needing to look for a future franchise QB. Why do it 4 years down the road when you are in perfect position to do that right now with the best pick in the draft at #1?

Manning is on the downside of his career and the Colts are in prime position to draft a player who by all accounts could very well not only match, but surpass his greatness. For those of you who keep saying: "He hasn't played in the NFL yet so we don't know what he is going to be" guess what? You don't know what the players we'd get for Luck's pick are going to be either. One thing for sure about the draft, after the 1st ten picks its a crap shoot on what you'll end up with. Yeah you can point to Aaron Rodgers all you want. But how many of you knew he would be the Rodgers he is now on opening day of his rookie season? The fact is you don't know.

Aaron Rodgers was picked towards the end of the 1st round for a reason: "He wasn't good enough to be the 1st overall pick in the draft when he came out." He sat behind Favre for 4 years because he wasn't good enough to run the offense as a rookie. Why? He apparently didn't show enough in college to warrant being a top 10 consideration in the draft. Again, a lot of fans out there need to understand the business side of the game and let go of the personal emotional attachments to "favorite players." I can't think of a more perfect example than the year we drafted Edgerrin James. 99.9% of Indy fans wanted the Colts to draft Ricky Williams (Myself included). When the Colts took Edge, Naptown went ballistic. No one had even heard of this guy (myself included). Yet it was this "business decision" that solidified us as a real contender and gave the Colts one of the most potent 1-2 punches in the game on offense. I for one am glad we have an owner in Jim Irsay who has the balls to make the right choices for his team and not allow those choices to be driven by the short-sighted opinions of the fans who follow the team. The NFL has always been a business above all. Everything else plays second fiddle to that reality, and the success and failure of any business will always depend on the choices of the decisions made by the people in charge.