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It’s time to meet and get to know a whole new group of NFL prospects. Starting Thursday in Indianapolis, 326 players, 750 media members and 900 agents or so will collide at the stadium the Manning brothers made famous, Lucas Oil, for the rites of passage from college to pro football known as the NFL Scouting Combine.

Every combine has a story, just as every draft has one. Often it’s about the quarterback. Fourteen years ago, with a significantly smaller media crowd (maybe 10 or 12 reporters) on hand, Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf competed to be No. 1, and Leaf came in overweight and botched his interview with the first-picking Colts, and the rest is history. Five years ago, it was the duel (yikes!) between JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn, two guys who clearly did not like each other, for the top spot in the draft. This year, there’s about as much drama accompanying the top pick as 2007. Al Davis wanted the big arm of Russell then. I believe Jim Irsay wants the risk-averse Andrew Luck of Stanford to lead the Colts now. We shall see. But prepare this week for an onslaught of news about Luck and the quarterback sure to be taken very soon after him (likely second if St. Louis trades the pick, or third or fourth if the Rams don’t deal), Baylor’s Robert Griffin III.

I spoke to their two coaches late last week, Art Briles of Baylor and David Shaw of Stanford, just to get a flavor of the two top prospects in the draft, and what impressed me was how similar the two quarterbacks are in many ways.

Both are 22 (born exactly five months apart). Both were recruited by Stanford. (Didn’t know that, did you? Shaw, then Stanford’s offensive coordinator, went hard after Griffin, even with Luck already in house; Griffin preferred Baylor, where he knew he’d have a chance to play early and often after starring at Briles’ football camp.) Both were high school stars in Texas. (Luck at Houston Stratford, Griffin at Copperas Cove.) Both declared for the draft with a year of college eligibility left. Both starred academically; Griffin graduated with a 3.67 grade-point average in political science, and Luck was an academic All-America in architectural design and engineering. Both are athletic, though Griffin’s more of an athlete. He had a Cam Newton-type career, with 2,199 rushing yards and 32 rushing touchdowns at Baylor.

But what’s most interesting aside from the football is what both coaches stressed about their players. I asked both coaches to tell me about the life each man is about to dive into. In college, there was pressure on the shoulders of both Luck and Griffin, obviously. College football is a pressure-packed sport at the level each was playing in. But, I told Shaw and Briles, both players are about to enter a different world. There will be pressure to succeed from a city, a region and the national and local media, and to succeed right away. They will be playing for teams, in all likelihood, that were not very good in 2011. They’ll be looked at as saviors.

"How will they respond?” I asked.

Shaw, on Luck: "You saw the USC game this year. Andrew threw an interception in the fourth quarter that they returned for a touchdown to put them up, and then we had to respond. He went to everybody on the offense on the sideline. His message was the same up and down the sideline: ‘We have no choice here. We’re going to take the ball downfield and score, and we’re gonna win.’ He drove them to the tying touchdown, and we won in overtime. That’s who he is. He will not accept failure, in anything. Wherever he goes, he will have a drive to succeed. And when he gets picked, all the extraneous stuff, he’ll do what he has to do.

"But all the stuff he can’t control, I guarantee you he won’t worry about it. He’s a guy who will have faith in his coaches. I can’t tell you how smart he is. I used to tell him, ‘OK, take the stuff you don’t want out of this game plan. Kill the plays you don’t like.’ He hated that. HATED it. The way he knows football, the coach coaches, and he plays. So wherever he goes, he’s going to master what is in his control, and he’s going to forget everything else. It’s not his job.

"One other thing: I remember early on at Stanford, I told him one time, ‘Andrew, this is your huddle, take charge of the huddle.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Coach, before that can be my huddle, I have to earn it. I don’t want it handed to me.’ That is how he will approach the NFL — like whatever he gets, he’ll earn. The position is about finding completions, about moving the offense. You watch how he played, how he checked down, how he always found the open receiver. He will have no ego about throwing the ball deep or throwing it short. He’ll be throwing for completions.”

Briles, on Griffin: "The thing about Robert is he’s a football player. Some of his happiest times are not when he’s done something great himself, but when he’s done something for a teammate. You ask him about our bowl game against Washington this year, and he’ll tell you the play he loved was making a block downfield to spring our ballcarrier. That’s what his new team will realize about him. It’s not about the stats, or the fame. It’s about elevating the team any way he can.

"I believe with Robert that going to a team that isn’t very good will be inspiring to him. Because he’ll realize he has to elevate that team any way possible. If you allow people responsibility, you’ll soon find out if they have the capacity to handle it. Robert always could handle as much as you gave him. And I don’t mean to keep coming back to this but a leader on a team is one who cares for everyone else before he cares for himself. And the excitement and gratitude he has for others on his team … it’s something I saw every game he ever played. That’s going to translate to the NFL. This is a great team player.”

More about Griffin and Luck from Indy later in the week.

It’s all good now. The news always is in February. But the sense you get from the scouts and GMs who are studying both players is you won’t find many holes in either one — and certainly not on the personal side.

***

Four thoughts about the upcoming free-agent market:

1. We’ve thought all along spending would be curtailed because the cap is flat from 2011 to 2012. We thought wrong. As of the close of NFL business Thursday, 26 days before teams can sign free agents, the 32 teams in the NFL had a total of $700 million available to spend in free agency. Now, that number will be decreased by the March 13 market opening, because teams will be signing their own free agents and putting franchise tags on some other veteran players whose contracts have expired. But teams will also be cutting players, so that will create more room, and more unemployed free agents. What does it mean? A couple of things.

Some teams with monstrous cap room (Tampa Bay, with $67 million under the cap) are going to have to spend to justify to their fans that they’re trying to win. In Tampa, it won’t be good enough for GM Mark Dominik to sign quarterback Josh Freeman to a rich extension. He’s got to go out and spend big on a free agent or two — even though player development, not player purchasing, will be the hallmark of the Greg Schiano regime — to spur fans to come back and buy season tickets in a depressed NFL market.

I predict a few guys will make a fortune. Mario Williams, if he’s not franchised by the Texans, should lead the way. Five or six others should follow. But too many GMs have been burned too many times to spend crazy money in the market. I expect more teams to wait out the initial frenzy and try to do smarter deals 10 days down the road.

2. The franchise period opens today, and the Lions and Cliff Avril are on the clock. Avril doesn’t like it, but he’s not going anywhere, and I doubt he’ll get the long-term deal he wants. The Lions have $11.7 million to spare under the cap. Avril’s franchise number would be $10.6 million. Now, they don’t want Avril on the books for that much in 2012. They’d rather do a long-term contract with a much lower cap number this year, so they can address other needs. But they know they can franchise him if they have to.

3. Ray Rice might be disappointed. I’m hearing Rice wants an Adrian Peterson-type of contract; Peterson signed a seven-year deal worth up to $100 million last September, with the major provision that he’ll make $40 million in the first three years. I don’t see the Ravens doing that for Rice. I see them, if they can’t do a new deal, using the reasonable franchise tag of $7.7 million for running backs on Rice. I’m sensing the Ravens really want Rice back, but the Ravens have too many great players to sign to go nuts on him. Even though they paid Haloti Ngata $12.2 million a year on a five-year contract in September, I don’t see them going anywhere near that for Rice — and certainly not in the Peterson league. Baltimore usually finds a way to sign the players it really wants to sign, and I know it wants to keep Rice.

4. The most intriguing free-agent case out there? Matt Flynn. Two starts, 68 percent passing, 731 yards, nine touchdowns, two picks … against two playoff teams. That’s the maddening thing about Flynn. So alluring, so tempting, so dangerous. Not just for another team interested in him — Miami (with former offensive coordinator Joe Philbin the new coach), Seattle (with GM John Schneider part of the Green Bay scouting team that drafted Flynn 209th overall in 2008) or Washington. But for Green Bay GM Ted Thompson.

The Packers have $14.42 million available to spend. The franchise number for Flynn would be $14.41 million. Easy! (Kidding. Just kidding.) The Packers have to worry about tight end Jermichael Finley ($5.5 million in a franchise tag), and Thompson has to be concerned about this: What if he franchises Flynn and then can’t find a taker for him, a trade partner that would give him a second-round pick or something valuable in exchange for Flynn?

"Flynn’s the most dangerous player in free-agency,” said one rival GM. "The Packers need two teams to compete for him. If not, he’s not going to get anything close to real value for him. I think it’s too risky to franchise him. His resume’s just not that strong.” Maybe — but the way he played on the road in New England last year, and the way he riddled the Lions this year has to be extremely tempting for the Dolphins and Seahawks.

But is Flynn truly ready to lead a franchise? It’s entirely likely one of the aforementioned teams will find out.

***

Remembering a man who deserves our attention today: Anthony Shadid, foreign correspondent, The New York Times.

Shadid died Thursday at 43 of an apparent asthma attack while in the process of stealthily covering the deadly uprising in Syria. I’m writing about him not because he was a huge Packer fan, though he was. I’m writing about him because he was a heroic foreign correspondent, a two-time Pulitzer winner, the kind of man journalism schools should name buildings after. He’s the kind of reporter we in the business all aspire to be: fearless, curious, dedicated, prolific and able to go to the very roots of a story to find out the truth. Reading Shadid several times over the years, I always thought how impressive it was that he was able to get to a story by going to the regular people to find it. I’ll give you an example from a 2010 story about the casualties of war in Iraq, in the enormous city of Baghdad, when Shadid went to a morgue to find out exactly who the faceless casualties were:

BAGHDAD — In a pastel-colored room at the Baghdad morgue known simply as the Missing, where faces of the thousands of unidentified dead of this war are projected onto four screens, Hamid Jassem came on a Sunday searching for answers. In a blue plastic chair, he sat under harsh fluorescent lights and a clock that read 8:58 and 44 seconds, no longer keeping time. With deference and patience, he stared at the screen, each corpse bearing four digits and the word "majhoul," or unknown:

No. 5060 passed, with a bullet to the right temple; 5061, with a bruised and bloated face; 5062 bore a tattoo that read, "Mother, where is happiness?" The eyes of 5071 were open, as if remembering what had happened to him.

"Go back," Hamid asked the projectionist. No. 5061 returned to the screen. "That’s him," he said, nodding grimly.

His mother followed him into the room, her weathered face framed in a black veil. "Show me my son!" she cried.

Behind her, Hamid pleaded silently. He waved his hands at the projectionist, begging him to spare her. In vain, he shook his head and mouthed the word "no."

"Don’t tell me he’s dead," she shouted at the room. "It’s not him! It’s not him!"

No. 5061 returned to the screen.

She lurched forward, shaking her head in denial. Her eyes stared hard. And in seconds, her son’s 33 years of life seemed to pass before her eyes.

"Yes, yes, yes," she finally sobbed, falling back in her chair.

Reflexively, her hands slapped her face. They clawed, until her nails drew blood. "If I had only known from the first day!" she cried.

The horror of this war is its numbers, frozen in the portraits at the morgue: an infant’s eyes sealed shut and a woman’s hair combed in blood and ash. "Files tossed on the shelves," a policeman called the dead, and that very anonymity lends itself to the war’s name here — al-ahdath, or the events.

It is no wonder that colleagues and ordinary citizens were so profoundly affected when Shadid died the other day. He was one of the giants in our business, going where so many were afraid to go, telling the stories that have to be told. I only wish I’d known him.

When the Packers made the Super Bowl a year ago, this University of Wisconsin grad, born in Oklahoma City, wrote about his love of the Packers in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, hearkening back to his days in a Middle East bureau. Shadid wrote: "Budgetary constraints aside, I listened to every game in Baghdad. When I won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004, my editor at the [Washington] Post, Phil Bennett, gave me front-row tickets to a game with the Washington Redskins. Forget the Pulitzer! I’m going to the game! I could have written another book if I had somehow managed not to spend countless hours reading about the Packers online.”

Now there’s a man even a Bears fan could love.

***

The NFL comes together for Tommie Harris.

Good to see such an outpouring of fellowship for former Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris after the death of his wife, Ashley, to either a stroke or brain aneurysm on Feb. 12. She was 29. A cadre of Bears, including coach Lovie Smith, attended Friday’s funeral in New Orleans, along with players from other teams. I was blown away to see that Larry Fitzgerald, who has never been a teammate of Harris and never even been in the same division to develop any sort of rivalry, flew from South America (where he was vacationing) to go to the service.

I went on a USO trip with Harris to Afghanistan in 2008, so I know why so many people are drawn to him. In a tough, football-player sort of way, he’s a magnetic figure who has no patience for fools. As tough as it must be for him right now to imagine life raising two children without their mother and without his wife, it has to be fulfilling for him to know so many people he’s played with and against wanted to be there for him when Ashley Harris died.

How to catch a grouper on Key West fishing charters

The very best spot to fish for grouper are the Florida Keys, particularly Key West, the Bahamas and down through the Caribbean Islands. Grouper are regarded bottom fish. They like to stay closer to the bottom and close to rocks and solid structures so they can hide or escape into them. You can actually come across grouper in water as shallow as 10′ but they nonetheless like to stay closer to the bottom. Ship wrecks are a fantastic spot to locate grouper. Grouper are a white meat fish and they are fairly tasty to eat.

Goliath grouper are protected in Florida waters. That is certainly, it is actually illegal to catch goliath grouper jew fish and not release them. Grouper generally fishing charters like warmer water. Gag grouper, red grouper and Nassau grouper in distinct like water temperatures 65 to75 degrees.

As mentioned, grouper are generally a bottom fish. They’re going to on the other hand come close to the surface for a tasty smaller fish. In most cases, if you fish for grouper you’re going to make use of pretty heavy tackle and you’re going to prefer to drop it to the bottom. They like live bait but will strike on cut bait. One more option to fish for grouper, particularly in shallow water, about ten to 15 feet is to by ‘trolling’ which signifies cruising at a very low speed though dragging your line behind the boat. Grouper, particularly smaller grouper in shallow water will come up and strike the bait.

The common rule with grouper is rather intuitive. Smaller grouper live in shallow water and take smaller bait. You can actually fish for grouper in water as shallow as 10′. Bigger grouper like the enormous Warsaw grouper are in deeper water, as deep as several hundred feet deep. Ship wrecks are very good for deep grouper fishing.

To catch cobia you will will need a relatively strong rod and reel. Cobia put up a quite good fight and are identified to destroy light, lowcost tackle. You’ll want 200 yards or more of 20 to 30 lb. test line on your reel with a 3′ to 4′ 40 to 50 lb. shock leader. Use a 4/0 to 7/0 short shank hook. You’ll be able to troll with spinner lures and use smaller tackle. Just recognize, the cobia is usually a strong fighting fish and he can tear tacke up quite badly.

When a cobia hits the bait he’ll strike it with a bit of force and when he realizes he’s been hooked he’ll put up a quite good fight. There is no magic trick to hooking them Key West fishing although, just wait a second or so and yank the line.

They’re notorious for spitting the hook whenever you try to pull them into the boat. Make sure you use a gaff or perhaps a net. If you do get him into the boat beware in the spikes sticking up out of his back in between his head and dorsal fin. He can retract them and then suddenly stab you with them and they hurt

Considering the time of year, you can book near any in the Key West fishing charters to catch cobia due to the fact they can be found near anyplace. They’re not to difficult to get and not too difficult to catch. You’re more most likely to locate them although if you happen to book a fishing charter that goes into the Gulf of Mexico instead of the Atlantic or to the major reef South of Important West.

Madrid: Real Sociedad’s Carlos Vela and Ruben Pardo scored to spoil Michel’s debut as the new Sevilla coach in a 2-0 La Liga victory on Monday.

Former Real Madrid and Spain player Michel replaced Marcelino as Sevilla boss last week, but failed to make an immediate impact and the sliding Andalucians have now taken only two points from their last eight matches.

Mexico striker Vela — who is on loan from Arsenal — volleyed the opener in the 65th minute at Anoeta and some three minutes later Pardo struck a blistering drive past Andres Palop.

Comeback win

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Find out how to catch a grouper on Key West fishing charters

The most effective place to fish for grouper are the Florida Keys, especially Key West, the Bahamas and down by way of the Caribbean Islands. Grouper are regarded as bottom fish. They like to remain closer for the bottom and close to rocks and solid structures so they can hide or escape into them. You possibly can find grouper in water as shallow as 10′ but they nonetheless like to remain closer for the bottom. Ship wrecks are a terrific place to locate grouper. Grouper are a white meat fish and they are extremely tasty to eat.

Goliath grouper are protected in Florida waters. That’s, it is illegal to catch goliath grouper jew fish and not release them. Grouper usually like warmer water. Gag grouper, red grouper and Nassau grouper in specific like water temperatures 65 to75 degrees.

As mentioned, grouper are Key West fishing usually a bottom fish. They will even so come close for the surface for a tasty smaller fish. In most cases, any time you fish for grouper you are going to make use of pretty heavy tackle and you are going to prefer to drop it for the bottom. They like live bait but will strike on cut bait. Yet another technique to fish for grouper, especially in shallow water, around ten to 15 feet is usually to by ‘trolling’ which Key West fishing implies cruising at an incredibly low speed even though dragging your line behind the boat. Grouper, especially smaller grouper in shallow water will come up and strike the bait.

The common rule with grouper is rather intuitive. Smaller grouper live in shallow water and take smaller bait. You possibly can fish for grouper in water as shallow as 10′. Bigger grouper such as the massive Warsaw grouper are in deeper water, as deep as several hundred feet deep. Ship wrecks are awesome for deep grouper fishing.

Red fish, also generally known as red drum, red bass or channel bass are a popular fish for Key West fishing charters that fish the backcountry and also the flats of Key West. Red fish will be located in the estuaries and brackish rivers all along the Eastern coast from the United States from Maine down Key West. They are located all about Key West, up by way of the Gulf of Mexico and as far as the Northern parts of Mexico. The larger fish will stay a lot more out in the deeper channels and can even be located on the reefs.

Red fish are normally pretty small, weighing 8 to 10 lbs. but catching a 40 lb. red fish isn’t uncommon. The biggest red fish on record weighed in at 94 lbs. So as you possibly can see, even though they are generall pretty small, red fish, particularly about Key West can get pretty big.

Your ideal bet for catching red fish may be the by taking advantage from the backcountry Key West fishing charters. As you may expect, you normally catch red fish in shallow water. You are normally going to appear in the small channels amongst the mangrove trees. You’ll want to attempt to fish in an outgoing tide when the fish are moving out into the channels and bays toward the ocean. To catch the bigger fish, stay out in the deeper channels. Appear for places that show fishing charters signs of bait. You are searching for minnows, fish jumping and for birds which are hunting for small fish and crustacians. Try to find oyster bars and estuaries that flow out of marshes. These are excellent places to locate red fish. For those who fish for 15 or 20 minutes inside a spot and don’t get a bite, move on and attempt somewhere else.

Red fish will bite on cut bait but know that they prefer reside bait. Commonly, reside pinfish, shrimp, mud minnows, compact mullet and menhaden shad make amazing bait for red fish. There are numerous lures and plugs that happen to be pretty common for catching red fish. You’ll be able to often use exactly the same lures you’d use to catch fresh water black bass. Make an effort to use swimtails and grubs on jigs skimmed across or just below the surface. You wish your bait or lure to stay a bit beneath the surface.

You’ll be able to bottom fish for red fish also, using cut bait. Attempt using a side of a mullet, croaker or possibly a complete or half crab. Typically using cut bait as an alternative to reside bait works far better. If you’re not getting any luck with reside bait, try using cut bait.

For your tackle you need to stay pretty light. A light rod using a compact reel really should be fine for most applications. Use a 15 to 20 lb. test line plus a 5/0 hook on a leader. The weight you use will depend on the current. Stronger current calls for far more weight.

The easisest approach to insure that you catch redfish is always to employ a expert captain operating certainly one of the fishing charters backwater Key West fishing charters . Make sure you let them know you’d like to catch some red fish or red drum fish. They can take you to the ideal spots with no spending all day hunting for them and they are able to coach you on learn how to set up your tackle.

If you want to catch mahimahi you will want a rather sturdy rod and also a reel using the capability to hold a reasonably stiff drag. Use 30 to 50 lb. test line using a compact egg weight on the end to pull the bait fish down just a bit fishing charters below the surface. You would like a leader that connects towards the line on a swivel and also a 5/0 to 8/0 hook. The size in the fish in the school determine the size in the tackle and Key West fishing bait.

To catch them, locate a school of fish and slowly troll draggging reside ballyhoo, sardines or mackerel at or just below the surface. When the fish hits the line do not try to set the hook perfect away. Wait till he swallows Key West fishing the bait. A superb rule of thumb will be to count to five, then give a great yank to set the hook. When you set the hook be ready for a sporting fight. They’ll fly out in the water, rapidly altering colors from greens to blues to yellows when reeling through the air.

As with anything, if you are not knowledgeable at fishing around Key West for mahimahi, depend on the expertise and gear supplied by the professional captains running the Key West fishing charters . Mahimahi are a massive preferred amongst anglers. They are a complete large amount of enjoyable to catch and they are terrific to eat.

Story By: by Howard Berkes

American figure skater Sarah Hughes won gold at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

Just hours before the symbolic rekindling of the Salt Lake Olympic cauldron, officials in Utah today sought to rekindle the 2002 Olympic spirit, announcing they’re considering another Olympic bid.

The disclosure at the Utah Olympic speedskating oval in suburban Kearns, comes exactly 10 years after the 2002 Winter Games began.

“Ten years ago, Utah ‘Lit the Fire Within,’ and today that flame still burns bright,” said Gov. Gary Herbert (R). In fact, as celebrations of the 2002 anniversary begin, some Utahns are wearing their official Olympic volunteer coats again.

Herbert and Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker (D) said an exploratory committee will take three to four months to consider bidding for the 2022 Winter Games.

“There is no predetermined recommendation,” Becker said. “We believe an investment of meaningful time and effort is worthwhile to make the right decision.”

Salt Lake’s biggest advantage is the existence of expensive and specialized Olympic facilities still in use as training and competition venues for athletes. Organizers would not have to build from scratch a speedskating oval, ski jump or bobsled, luge and skeleton track.

“These venues are a significant advantage in a potential bid,” said Eric Heiden, the five-time Olympic gold-medalist and world record-holder in speedskating. Heiden is now an orthopedic surgeon in Utah.

Denver and Reno-Lake Tahoe are also considering 2022 Olympic bids. The United States Olympic Committee will choose one city to nominate as America’s host city candidate if it decides to support a 2022 bid.

“At this point, the USOC is not considering any bids for Winter or Summer Olympic Games,” says Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for the USOC. “Our sole focus is on preparing the best team for the London [2012 Olympics] and completing the revenue sharing discussions with the [International Olympic Committee].”

The U.S. and International Olympic Committees are locked in a lingering dispute over the American share of Olympic sponsorship and television revenues. The USOC has said it will not consider another American Olympics until that dispute is resolved.

A Salt Lake City bid has distinct disadvantages, says Dick Pound, a veteran IOC member from Canada who has been part of the group’s top leadership.

“I think it would be a long shot,” Pound says. “There’s just a view [in the IOC] that the games ought to be moved around to countries and cities that never had them before as part of broadening the franchise.”

Pound also notes that the IOC considers the 2002 Olympics a great success despite a bribery scandal before the games and concerns about terrorism in the wake of the September 11th attacks. The IOC credits organizing committee CEO Mitt Romney for that success. Romney, who went on to be governor of Massachusetts, is now seeking the Republican presidential nomination.

“The real hope ought to be that Mitt Romney becomes president,” Pound adds. “That would certainly add something to [a Salt Lake City bid].”

The IOC wants 2022 candidate cities named by October of 2013. That seems to leave little time to resolve the USOC’s revenue-sharing dispute and then to conduct a selection process among competing American cities.

But, “the USOC is unlikely to go through an extended campaign phase as we did [in the past],” says an American Olympic official familiar with the bidding process but not authorized to discuss it publicly.

“There is more than ample time to decide and submit a bid, should we go down that route,” the official says.

Denver also has an exploratory committee in place and a Denver bid would present a strong challenge to Salt Lake, says Mike Moran, a former spokesman for the USOC who now works for the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation.

“The city has a strategic plan, sound backing, a superb infrastructure and a youthful, sports-minded population that is crazy about sports,” Moran says. “Reno-Tahoe has been at the game for a long time and they have what appears to be a great deal of support. But the Denver population, its airport, existing venues and sheer numbers of hotel rooms and infrastructure is something that can’t be discounted.”

Denver was named Olympic host city for the 1976 Winter Games but backed out of the Olympics in 1972 after voters rejected public funding. That may be a major problem for some on the IOC.

In 2002, IOC members and athletes raved about the proximity of the Salt Lake City airport to Olympic venues and how mountain and city venues were relatively close.

“There are few cities around the world that can match these geographical and other strengths,” says Fraser Bullock, the chief operating and financial officer of the 2002 organizing committee. “Salt’s Lake’s reputation of hosting games is outstanding and inspires confidence in doing a superb job once again.”

Bids may also come in from cities in Switzerland, China, Chile, Germany and other countries. The IOC will select the 2022 host city in 2015.

Once upon a time, we thought we knew how the Peyton Manning story would end in Indianapolis. After a long and record-breaking run as the Colts iconic quarterback, face of the franchise and civic treasure, Manning would finally leave the game behind, slide into a comfortable and over-celebrated retirement and toss the keys to the next young passer unlucky enough to follow his act in the helmet with the horseshoe on it.

Missed that one by just a tad, didn’t we?

What a long, strange trip it has already been when it comes to Manning and the preamble of what figures to be an awkward and painful divorce from the only NFL organization he has ever known, and helped raise to elite status. When he and the Colts do part ways at some point in the coming days — and it still appears to be a matter of when, not if — it’ll almost register as a relief that the spectacle of it all is at last over.

Under Bill Polian’s stewardship, the Colts were as secretive and tight-lipped as any franchise in the league, guarding every scrap of football-related information as if it provided the competitive advantage that would make the difference between winning and losing the Super Bowl. That was the way the longtime Indianapolis football czar did business, he won with it, and it was understood that his methods would be followed.

But Polian has been gone for about 40 days now, fired along with his general manager son, Chris, and an information free-for-all has ensued on the Manning front in his absence. I’m not saying I miss the Polian Way, but this story, the team’s messy end of the Manning era, has been like a driver-less car careening out of control. We’re all just following it warily, trying to see where it goes next.

Two reasons for the unprecedented way the Manning saga has unfolded pop to mind: It’s such a unique story to begin with, with No. 18′s mysterious neck condition being such an unknown, and Jim Irsay is such a unique team owner. And calling Irsay unique really doesn’t even tell the whole story, does it?

Irsay’s life is just an open book, and with him, there’s seldom an unexpressed thought. Or at least un-tweeted. He did tell us plenty even while the Polians were in charge of his team, but there has never quite been the confluence of a story of this magnitude and complication combined with a team owner who is committed to social media, and keeping the multifaceted lines of communication open.

It has been a sight to behold, and last week in Indianapolis, with the entire NFL-watching nation training its eyes on the city in anticipation of the Super Bowl, Manning, Irsay and the future of the Colts was still the hottest story. They kept telling us that they didn’t want to steal the spotlight from the game, then they kept right on stealing the spotlight from the game. It was like that scene in "Casablanca” where Inspector Renault says he’s "shocked, shocked" to find that gambling is going on in this establishment, right before collecting his winnings.

My favorite little back-and-forth of Super Bowl week came Thursday, when Manning pretty clearly leaked a story to ESPN that his doctor and a second doctor have cleared him medically to resume his NFL career, which was designed to build some momentum for the idea that his comeback was on its way.

That night, Irsay responded, by Twitter, of course, that Manning had not passed the team’s physical, and had not been cleared by the Colts doctors. It effectively knocked down the ESPN report and meant nothing had changed in terms of the reality of Manning’s situation with the team. Irsay indicated that Manning remained in limbo, working on his rehabilitation, but had not shown enough progress to make his return to the field a foregone conclusion.

Oh, and did we mention that Irsay’s late-night response to that story occurred while he was throwing his own Super Bowl party at the Indiana State Museum, a soiree that Manning was in attendance at? Must have made for a bit of tension at the old punch bowl.

We all just lived through the Favre-Packers divorce a few years back, and it’s hard to top that one for a circus-like quality. But Manning versus Irsay could give it a shot before all is said and done. After all, Irsay is a loose cannon, and Manning seems intent on answering any of the owner’s salvos that he deems counterproductive to his future.

While Favre said plenty throughout his acrimonious split with the Packers, imagine if Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson had taken to Twitter or called press conferences to tell the club’s whole side of the story. First off, Thompson would rather poke his eyes out than go that route, but trust us when we tell you that Taciturn Ted has never said more on any topic than he intended to. It would have added gallons of fuel to the Favre fire if the Packers had gabbed away, and that’s where Irsay is different from any other NFL owner. He likes the fire and the cool way it goes "whoosh” when you throw more fuel on it.

What we’ve gotten from it all is a steady drip, drip, drip of news and headlines and statements about Manning and Irsay, or Manning and the Colts, and it started to reach the comical point last Friday when the club put out a statement that really didn’t say anything at all, then attached that ridiculous picture from Irsay’s Super Bowl party, with Manning, Irsay, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell among those bookended by singer John Mellencamp and actor Meg Ryan. As ProFootballTalk.com so adroitly noted, it looked incredibly awkward, like a divorcing family’s last Christmas card. I wonder who gets the dog?

True, Joe Montana left the 49ers with less than warm and fuzzy feelings, the Colts sentenced Johnny Unitas to San Diego without a parade, and Favre’s break from the Packers was a daily soap opera. But there still has never quite been a story like this one, with Manning and Irsay already at a point we once could never have fathomed, and every few days bringing a new round of conflicting reports about Manning’s rehab progress (noodle arm or returning to a high level? You decide).

The latest tidbit has Manning now working out away from the team facility at Duke University, while everyone else waits for the quarterback and the owner to meet, and for the next cleat to drop. This is a separation, but only an inch at a time.

I think it’s almost at the stage where Irsay and Manning need to do us all a favor and just get it over with, announcing their divorce. We’re starting to grow weary of the shadow boxing we’ve watched unfold for weeks now, and it’s growing into the winter of our discontent. At least when it comes to No. 18 and his ever-accessible soon-to-be-former boss.

We love Irsay’s irreverence, but maybe it’s time this story calls for some reverence. Or at least restraint. Pick a time and a place and have the talk. The Big One. And this time, for once, keep it on the lowdown. When you finish, call a press conference, announce a definitive resolution to the situation, and hug it out, no matter what the outcome. Manning and Irsay are going to see each other around the NFL in years to come, so they might as well try to say goodbye on good terms.

This isn’t how we thought it would end for Manning in Indianapolis. For now, there will be no happy ride off into the sunset. Blame it on things changing, and stuff happening. The good news? The very end has yet to take place. There’s still a little time to put the messiness of the past few months aside and remember the best of Indy’s ultra-successful Manning-Irsay era. We know it’s time for them to part ways. All that’s really left untold in this story is whether they can manage to still part friends?