In most careers, if you are obsessed with the job, spend too much time at the office and keep taking work home with you, these days you are likely to be told to get some perspective, put some balance in your life, as in, "You wouldn't put 'Should have spent more time at the office' on your tombstone. would you?" But if you are an NFL quarterback, you are praised for your drive and focus:
Huard knew exactly where to find Manning last week — poring over Bears game video at the team's complex. And when he returned home at night, Manning would study more down in his state-of-the-art home theater teammates call "the Bat Cave."
"His wife, Ashley, won't be seeing much of Peyton," says Huard. "Peyton's desire to win a Super Bowl is unspoken. You don't even have to have that conversation. When Peyton said after finally getting over the hump against New England, 'I'm not going to play that vindication card,' that's because there is more vindication for him. I guarantee he'll feel that way if he wins the Super Bowl."
Manning's world is hard for me to comprehend. The working life is so short, but the money is so good, and there is a specific goal that will validate his entire career -- a Super Bowl win -- that very few can attain. If he doesn't get that, then all the statistics and all the records he will have broken won't matter. But I still wonder: Will he want "Should have tried harder to win the Super Bowl" on his tombstone?
