As I said last night here on the Blob, Peyton Manning's legacy probably didn't take much of a hit with the 31-17 loss to New Orleans in Super Bowl XLIV. His reputation might have taken one, however.

An IU guy? Really?I don't care what sort of mystical cognitive powers you have. No one would have ever scripted Super Bowl XLIV this way, with former Indiana Hoosier Tracy Porter administering the fatal blow to the football team from Indiana.

It's 17-16 Colts after three, and a few observations before we go to what should be a terrific fourth quarter:* The Saints' onside kick to start the second half was incredibly gutsy, and incredibly brilliant.* Joseph Addai is running the football better than he has in three seasons.* Pete Townshend can still bring it.

So it's halftime now, and the Colts lead the Saints 10-6.And now we discover why a team that has played in one of these Roman Numeral games has an advantage over a team that doesn't.

OK. So now we know the only thing scarier than Peyton Manning's game face is his ... game.One quarter down in Super Bowl XLIV, and the Colts lead 10-0 in a game that hasn't been nearly that close so far. The amazing thing: The Colts have done it as much on the ground as in the air, a startling development considering they had the worst rush offense in the league this year.But you know what.

Quick observation before they kick this thing off down there in Miami: Peyton Manning has the scariest game face I've ever seen.Seriously, he's wearing a serious Scowl O' Death. He looks like someone just insulted his mom and he's looking for an ax to go after him with.

She started 12th. She got tangled up with Nelson Piquet Jr. and went spinning down through the grass at one point. She rallied to finish sixth, and was charging toward the front toward the end.That's the thumbnail version of Danica Patrick's debut in a stock car Saturday in the ARCA race at Daytona.

Sad news for the basketball community in this town: Glenn Parrish is with us no longer. Parrish, who won 414 games in 34 seasons at Concordia, died Wednesday from complications related to diabetes. He was 74.

I know what you're thinking out there, American football fan. (And, no, it's not, Domestic or foreign? Chilled mugs or straight out of the bottle? Manning jersey or Jeff Saturday jersey.)

Well, OK. So maybe stalks is a little misleading.But tell me there isn't something vaguely creepy about this: Kiffin, USC's sketchy new football coach, has secured a commitment from seventh-grade quarterback David Sills. Sills, 13, attends Red Lion Christian Academy in Delaware. He plans to major in Nintendo.

You can tell the restless media has run out of stuff to report from Miami when it starts talking/writing/pontificating about a story that's a year away and will never happen anyway.

Everybody's got a prediction about the Super Bowl. Even your video game system.So it is that in the Madden NFL game simulation, the Saints come out on top in Super Bowl XLIV. This, of course, means nothing until you learn that Madden NFL has correctly predicted four of the last five Super Bowl winners.

I hate to sound like some cranky geezer shaking my bony fist and demanding those meddling kids get off my lawn, but ... no, scratch that. I actually kind of like it.And so I will gladly indulge my inner cranky geezer for a moment, in response to the news that the Indianapolis public schools will have a two-hour delay Monday so their students can stay up and watch the Colts in the Super Bowl.Might I say something here? Like, Oh, pu-leeeze.

... involves our very own DaMarcus Beasley, whose BMW was set on fire in Glasgow, Scotland, where he plays for the fabled Rangers club.I immediately flashed back to the last conversation I had with DaMarcus, in which I asked him about how passionate the rivalry was between Rangers and Celtic, the two great clubs in Glasgow. He said it was like nothing he'd ever experienced.

It's a rare (and exceptionally volatile) occurrence indeed when two like forces occupy the same space. But that's what we've got going today.

Aaaand we have a winner in the "What Can Several Thousand Sportwriters Do To Keep Themselves Occupied This Week Between Forays To South Beach?"