I have heard a lot of conspiracy theories being floated around out there about how the New Orleans Saints had the 2006 draft rigged twice, a free agent signing fixed and that their opponents threw games for them this year. I love a good conspiracy theory just as much as the next guy, but enough is enough. What has me so concerned is not that people are unwilling to give the Saints credit for a great year, its that everyone is being duped into focusing on that conspiracy when the real one is happening right in front of our eyes and no one is willing to speak out. Well let me be the voice of reason and say that if we all don’t do something soon the NFL as we know it will cease to exist.

Let me come out and state it in plain English. The Manning’s are trying to take over football. Does anyone, aside from me, realize that a Saints win tomorrow afternoon, coupled with a Colt win in the evening will give us Peyton Manning slaying the evil Patriots AND facing off against his poppa’s old team in the Super Bowl?! Do you realize that we will then be faced with all Manning all the time?! They will be on all of our TV channels, all of our newspapers, every sports radio show and even non-sports radio shows! We already are forced to see Peyton plugging any product he can pronounce; Eli has been the focus of attention ever since the 2004 draft. Archie has even found his way to the NBC studios. The Mannings are the Royal family of the NFL, and they are hungry for more.

To their credit, they are not reinventing the wheel. The Kennedy’s did it and the Bush’s are doing it. The Mannings have found their niche and are exploiting it fully. It is also a less dangerous niche, putting all concussions and other injuries aside. The Mannings run very little risk of any assassination attempts and as difficult as it may be to sleep before a big game, I doubt it compares to the Bay of Pigs or our current situation in Iraq.

Here is a summary of the Manning’s climb to the throne. Since 1999, Peyton has been in the playoffs 6 out of 7 seasons. Eli has been in 2 out of his 3 seasons. Poppa Manning never made the playoffs, which is his cross to bear while Peyton’s is not making it to the Super Bowl and Eli’s is that he hasn’t won a playoff game.

Since the 2004 draft it has been a fervent marketing campaign by the Manning family to take over the NFL. There was the aforementioned 2004 draft when Poppa and Eli stole the show with their refusing to play for the San Diego Chargers. Of course Eli was then the talk of the football season up until Kurt Warner was benched and then every day thereafter. Peyton meanwhile kept the family going in the post-season as he once again attempted to defeat the Patriots, to no avail.

2005 came and the Colts went on a run that had them threatening to join the 1972 Dolphins as the only teams to go through the regular season undefeated. Of course they didn’t, but the playoffs came and wouldn’t you know it, both Mannings were in and people were buzzing about a Manning Bowl. It didn’t happen in the ’05 Super Bowl but it sure did the first game of the 2006 season. Peyton versus Eli, in the Meadowlands, Sunday Night Football; Momma and Poppa Manning were in the stands and the Manning family was the toast of the NFL.

No one spoke of a Manning Bowl at the beginning of this post-season, but that was because not even the Giants thought they would make the Super Bowl. But while America slept, the Manning’s plotted. The perfect cover presented itself. Everyone was caught up in how the Texans passed on Reggie Bush, (no relation to the previously mentioned Bush family), the Dolphins signed Daunte Culpepper instead of Drew Brees and Marques Colston dropped all the way to the 7th Round. While America pointed to an NFL conspiracy, it was a Manning conspiracy all along.

The NFL’s Royal family is now two wins away from monopolizing the two weeks of Super Bowl hype. No matter what happens tomorrow, Peyton will be on 1,700 commercials, Archie will be on NBC and Eli will front page at the start of next season. The Mannings are here everyone, get used to it.