As an American sports fan, my obsession with fútbol is only rivaled by my obsession with football.
And although football fans here would have you believe otherwise, the sports are not that far apart.
For example: this spring, the football team I support here, whose
colors are blue and white, had to say a painful farewell to one of its legends
— something that the football team I support across the pond, that also wears
blue and white, is still trying to come to grips with.
When the Indianapolis Colts released their longtime, certified
Hall of Fame Quarterback Peyton Manning, it was as much a celebration of
everything he gave the franchise as it was an emotional, unfathomable goodbye.
Last week, I got déjà vu as Chelsea FC
said, “So long,” to striker Didier Drogba.
The contributions these two figures made to their respective
teams are similar — they came in with big expectations, and not only lived up
to them but propped their teams up for success that hadn’t been seen in
decades.
In the case of Manning, his resume reads a Super Bowl win,
two conference championships, seven division titles, and status as a regular
contender for the playoffs if not the Super Bowl itself. While Drogba’s trophy
case holds a UEFA Champions League title, three league titles, four FA Cups,
and two Carling Cups.
They also were alike in that they never shirked from the big
moment, instead, rising to the occasion when it mattered most.
Manning made countless comebacks and put up huge numbers as
the team was built around him. Drogba…well, just see the end of this season for
a brief synopsis of what he has done throughout his eight seasons at Chelsea.
Their departures were even similar. The writing was on the
wall for months as the teams began distancing themselves from the stars and
fans braced for the worst. Their departures probably even came down to money — Manning's long term contract meant Indy would have had to pay him $28 million if they optioned him for another year and Drogba wanted a two-year contract that CFC was reluctant to give while he could reportedly earn up to £200,000 a week in China.
But at the same time, Manning left somewhat unceremoniously.
After missing all of last season with a neck injury, his team slumped to a
NFL-worst and caused the franchise to embark on a rebuilding project and released him in the process. Drogba
left at the top, after dragging Chelsea back into the Champions League match
against Bayern Munich before demanding the last penalty kick and converting it to
win the club's most coveted trophy.
In the wake of their departures, I looked back and realized
they also differed on the amount of impact they had on me. True, Manning is my
favorite athlete. I have an authentic jersey with his name and number sewn on
it (that gift singlehandedly saved my Christmas). But…I had been following the
Colts long before Manning arrived.
Pardon the symbolism, but there were many jerseys with different
names and numbers on it before Peyton Manning’s.
However, as I began to watch and fully appreciate soccer, Drogba,
not a team, caught my attention. His power, pace, and ruthlessness in front
of/bearing down on goal was a spectacle. He was THE player to watch.
Needless to say, but the first soccer shirt I ever owned was emblazoned with his
name and number.
To appreciate his unique combination of skills is to understand
how unique it is to find a “big man forward” that can master the art of holding
up the ball, heading, and shooting with power and precision.
My favorite example of these skills is the chest-down,touch, turn and vicious shot he put into the roof of the net against Tottehnamin this season’s FA Cup semifinal. It combined everything I love about soccer —
finesse, power, and the unexpected.
More importantly, as a Chelsea fan, you knew you could rely
on him. You knew that if given the chance when it mattered most, of course it
would be Drogba [even my wife, who I forced to watch the Champions League Final,
gathered enough about the club and player to say “Of course it has to be
Drogba,” as he approached the spot in the shootout]. When all seemed
lost, he rescued our hopes. He gave us belief.
And when you saw the team sheet with his name on it, you
knew you would be entertained — whether it was a goal like the one mentioned
above, or if it meant him rolling around on the ground, playacting for a
free-kick when someone breathed too hard on him.
As difficult as it was to come to grips with Manning ending his
career at another NFL team, I find it equally so to picture Drogba not lining
up at Stamford Bridge next season.
The silver lining is that Manning, 36, also proved that an
aging superstar could begin again (he signed with the Denver Broncos), just as
Drogba, 34, showed at the end of this season that he still has plenty left in
the tank to offer a team, somewhere.
And even though my blue and white jerseys with their names
on them are not correct anymore, I will still wear them all the same next season.
