Randy Smith
Former Tennessee star and current Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is nearing the end of his brilliant career. I'm sure that within the last few seasons Peyton has thought seriously about what he will do when he no longer plays football. There has been a lot of talk recently that Peyton is just a shadow of the quarterback he was even just a few seasons ago. As he enters his fourth season with the Broncos, his stats are way below what they were just a year ago, and there are unconfirmed reports that he may be having problems with his neck again.
Remember, he missed the entire 2011 season due to surgeries on his neck
Peyton is 39 years old, and that's really old for a professional football player, though quarterbacks tend to stay on longer than other position players. He already owns most every career and regular season passing record there is, and by the end of this season he will eclipse Bret Favre's career mark for passing yards. In his last game, he passed the 70,000 yard mark. I've argued that he is the best quarterback to ever play the game; even better than the great Johnny Unitas, whom I still idolize. Okay, so Peyton has one Super Bowl ring and has played in three Super Bowls. It's not like he has never won a Super Bowl, he just hasn't won as many as Tom Brady. The people who claim that Brady is the best ever, because of his four Super Bowl rings, might also conclude that Yogi Berra, who passed away today at the age of 90, is the greatest baseball player ever because of his ten World Series rings. Though, very few people if any consider Yogi to be the best player.
My advice for Peyton, and I know what I'm talking about because I recently retired this summer, is retire after this year. You've already done everything possible as a football player, you own all the records, you are one of the most if not the most admired athletes in the world, and you have nothing to prove to anybody. Don't take any more chances with that neck. In other words quit while you're still near the top of your game.
There is nothing sadder to me than watching a once great athlete still trying to hang on, though his skills are much less than we all remember. Besides, there are plenty of things to do when you retire. You can now mow your own lawn, but you can't do that every day. You can do the grocery shopping, but take my advice; stay with the list your wife gives you and avoid buying the banana flavored Twinkies you just had to try. You can now have more time to play golf, go fishing or hunting or even find another hobby or two.
You can volunteer to work with one of many different worthy charities that are available. Spend time with your family. Take them on a special trip to solidify your retirement. Or you can do what I do and stay at home and do housework and keep the pool clean, and cook dinner a few nights a week. You can also get really bored with all this newly discovered time you have on your hands and you can twiddle your thumbs while you think of something else to do.
I always said I would be a poor retiree. I've officially been retired just three months and I'm already beginning to look at things I can do.
A lot of ill-informed Tennessee football fans think that Peyton will return to Tennessee as an offensive coordinator or a quarterbacks coach. I just don't think that's going to happen. He does so well on camera I believe he will likely go to the broadcast booth when he stops playing. He really doesn't have to do anything if he doesn't want to. If that's the route he chooses, maybe he can come to my house and hang out by the pool; after I clean it of course.
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Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. He is currently teaching Broadcasting at Coahulla Creek High School near Dalton, Ga.
His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for thirty years.
He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga Television for more than a quarter-century.
In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, (Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith.) They have four grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, DellaMae and CoraLee.