THERE'S EVEN GREAT MANNINGS ON DEFENSE-- History of the Superbowl Part 34
2003
One of the best things to come along for the sake of national security and safety -- was facebook.
Why?
Because even the common brain-dead tool...types on laptops now.
Ricky Manning Jr. is from UCLA, home of Hollywood. Where movies and television shows get made.
Ones that Manning thinks are high art such as Jersey Shore.
Today, everybody uses a laptop, and thus it can't necessarily be antiquated with "fag".
Yet Ricky Manning Jr. will come along in 2003, almost two whole years before anyone in Los Angeles, California apparently has ever seen a screenwriter.
Ricky Manning Jr, along with some dillweed who had 999999 consensus high school honors just to play for the Edmonton Eradicators or something, were sitting in some restaurant one day when they saw this exchange student sitting across the aisle working on a laptop.
Manning, as well as other UCLA Bruins who by the way are all just dumb, scared Miami wannabes..thinks this sight with the laptop is the GAYEST SHIT HE'S EVER SEEN.
He goes up to the guy and calls him fag, queer, Jew, all this stuff.
The guy was even Arabic.
This was a distressing exchange for the guy on a FEW levels.
A FREAKING FIGHT ensues because the guy says something to Manning.
The UCLA players get up and BEAT THE HELL out of this poor guy.
Manning too.
Manning told the judges that he didn't throw a punch.
That his teammates thought he was in the midst of serious harms way due to this feisty young graduate student...and thus intervened to save poor Ricky Manning's life.
This was AFTER Manning's NFL stint with the Carolina Panthers in 2003.
Around 2006.
The Bears would do EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER to sign him both before AND AFTERWARDS as part of a big publicity stunt for people who wondered how a team on a Superbowl run with no good free agents...isn't getting free agents.
Even Harold Katz in Philadelphia got them Dikembe Mutombo at this point in their rise.
And so he becomes a Bear WHILE GOING TO COURT FOR ALL THIS.
Chicago papers left this out.
I don't like to use the word "conspiracy" because it's a lame word.
But what else fits?
The Bears are making a run to the Superbowl in 2006...and...Chicago management really wanted to ACT like they were pitching in.
For the fact was that the Bears never intended on signing him.
They assumed he wasn't going to be allowed to play, yet they can still say they TRIED.
If only that court situation hadn't gotten in the way.
Ricky Manning is a terrible story, because Manning was the VERY BEST DEFENSIVE BACK TO EVER PLAY THIS GAME.
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Ricky Manning in the 2003 playoffs will shut down both Kurt Warner and Donovan McNabb when they were both at the very peaks of their prime.
He had a total of about six interceptions in these two games, all of which he then returns into their redzone so Jake Delhomme can start at the 8.
Due to Ricky Manning, the Carolina Panthers of 2003 become the first worst-to-first Cinderella story...with not a SHRED OF SUSPENSE.
Delhomme comes out to mount his big drives...with a smile on his face.
Jogging.
High-fiving coach Jon Fox.
The Carolina Panthers were 1-15 two years before.
Jon Fox was the man who marshalled the NY Giants defense that beat Minnesota 41-0 in January, 2000.
Now he was head coach and proving to be like the BEST THERE EVER WAS AT EVERY LITTLE ASPECT.
Jake Delhomme's the starter, then his running backs are Stephen Davis from Washington and Deshaun Foster who was the Pac-10's leading rusher before being suspended in his fourth game in 2002.
Then his recievers were Steve Smith and Muslin Mohammad.
Then his defense?!
Yet Carolina also had something else cool that might not seem it -- great special teams.
Before we get to the core, let's give a shout out to Ricky Proehl and Kenneth Dyson doing so well while playing together. Awwww.
In 2001, the big star of the Bears when they went 13-3...was their punter Brad Maynard.
Bears fans ALWAYS looked forward to the punt.
It was crazy.
Well this punter would pin the damn ball on the opponents 4, 3, 8, the 1.
This was how they did it.
And this was a big part of the Carolina Panthers.
With a former Chicago Bear!
Todd Sauerbraun had the been the guy who Brad Maynard was modeled from.
The Bears took him in the mid 90s and he was the very best punter in college football.
He was on West Virginia, and they rose from the GUTTERS because of him.
Then Sauerbraun goes to the Bears and is REMARKABLY BAD.
The punt would always get BOOED.
It would go up for about 8 yards, and then land out of bounds.
That's like a 25 yard penalty!
And I'm not kidding -- the Bears coaches would always make jokes like...yeah, we should have just had him punt straight UP in the air so it lands behind him.
Having the other guys start in their territory at least.
Yet Sauerbraun sees Brad Maynard live his dreams.
And so Sauerbraun, like everybody else under Fox this year, would live their own dreams.
They beat the Rams in double overtime because of Manning, then they beat Philly 14-3 in Philadelphia.
This would be those bitches 3rd STRAIGHT NFC TITLE GAME LOSS.
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Meanwhile in the AFC, Peyton Manning was ON THE RISE!
The AFC South and West after all are Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers, Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Texans, wow Manning must be the voodoo man to win 11 games a year against these Adonises!
He goes to Kansas City for the division game and actually plays really good.
But then he goes to New England for the NFC title game.
Never mind.
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Carolina and New England would go back and forth back and forth back and forth.
Is this indicative of how amazing the Carolina Panthers were? They're getting their plays stolen while this happening.
Back and forth back and forth.
Finally New England manages to go up by 11 deep in the 4th quarter after a whole lots of THRILLING RUNNING!
But the Carolina Panthers storm back. A field goal, a touchdown with a minute left on a bomb to Proehl, and it's 29-29 with 1:20 remaining.
And then there's Brady to lead the charge.
And Vinateri to kick the field goal.
So you have to ask yourself, with all the controversy with Bellicheck, is this a victory?
Yes.
Because it was against Ricky Manning.
http://hubpages.com/hub/RICKY-MANNING-WHAT-ONE-TYPICAL-EXPECTS-OUT-OF-A-TURD
