Peyton Manning is Grateful To The Rockies

Peyton Manning and Todd Helton, the Colorado Rockies’ first baseman, go back a long way, from the days they were at the University of Tennessee in the 90s, and they have been friends ever since.

Peyton and Helton’s friendship is still going strong after two decades, so Helton helped to have Manning work out at Coors Field during last summer’s NFL lockout. Much has happened since then; for a start, Manning is not the Quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts anymore, he is now the Quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Also, Michael Cuddyer took his locker.

Manning really felt like he was a Rockie for a week: He had his own locker, as Cuddyer is now using his. Manning said that it was great as he really needed a place to work out during the lockout, and that is just what he got. Now he feels he cannot be thankful enough to the Rockies Organization as they received him arms wide opened, when he was really just an outsider.

Actually with his friendship with Helton, he’d had many occasions to visit the Rockies, even taking batting practice at times, or ground the balls. Once he actually hit a ball over the fence during one Sunday during a batting practice.

Manning agrees that although he likes taking batting practice, he really prefers to take ground balls, and that this is what he misses the most, more than anything, he said.

Manning recalls the time, 8 or 9 years ago, when a guy he was working behind rotated into hit and the 3^rd base coach was hitting ground balls to him. Eric Decker, the Broncos wide receiver who played college baseball in Minnesota, just took a few swings and hit 2 balls out. He certainly had represented the Broncos well!

Manning recalls he played shortstop in High School, thankful that he chose football over baseball. While he loved the camaraderie and probably outgrew the position during his senior years, he admits he was not good enough. He remembers how he always kept a football in his bag: Football was to be!

Manning always followed the Rockies even though he grew up rooting for the Cardinals. He has never been in any major league town no matter where he went, whether it was Knoxville, New Orleans, or Indianapolis. The Rockies were it, it was the team he always followed closely as he checked the boxscores, and checked how Todd was hitting. Now, the Rockies are his team.

When in Tennessee, Manning paid a visit to the pitcher of the New York Mets, R.A. Dickey, when they happened to be there at the same time. With Manning 36 years old, Todd 38 and RA 35, and the three of them at school at the same time in the mid-90s, they are proud to be still doing the same thing.

Manning is particularly proud of RA who has accomplished so much. The Tennessee Volunteers are sticking together and there is still a lot to look forward to in the future.

Michael Hill is an avid sports fan and a sports writer who has been in the betting and price per head industry for years. Michael writes about his experience and offers tips for other aspiring entrepreneurs who wish to make a living with sports bookmaking.

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