Archie Manning, king of the royal football family, has a Prince anecdote from Peyton Manning’s Super Bowl XLI victory over the Bears in rainy Miami.
“I predicted that Prince would not perform at halftime, ’cause I was afraid he’d get electrocuted,” Archie told The Rumble. “And I kinda became a Prince fan that day.
“He not only performed, he really performed. I was impressed with Prince that day,” Archie said with a chuckle.
Papa Archie, like Peyton a Papa John’s pizza ambassador, was worried the football gods might have decided to conspire against his boy winning the Super Bowl that night.
“I remember two things. I remember Tony [Dungy] had said, ‘I’m not gonna kick to Devin Hester. I’m not gonna kick to Devin Hester.’ And the other thing is, I think the Chamber of Commerce in Miami was putting out the weather forecast, they said like 40-percent chance of some slight precipitation.’ Yeah. Slight precipitation. It rained like crazy from the get-go the whole game. I’ve never seen people so drenched.
“And for some reason, Tony changed his mind, and kicked to Devin Hester on the opening kickoff and he runs it all the way.
“But fortunately the Colts went on and won the game, and it was a lot of fun.”
Mets skipper under center in youth
Mets manager Terry Collins has a hard time relating to today’s Super Bowl quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson. As a senior quarterback at Midland (Mich.) High School, Collins attempted 27 passes in nine games. He led his team to a 6-3 record, however.
“I was pretty fast in those days,” recalled the 5-foot-9 Collins, who is set to begin his fourth year at the Mets’ helm. “When I had an opening I usually ran.”
Collins actually was a halfback as a junior and switched to quarterback when the starting signal caller moved.
“The coach asked me if I could give it a shot,” Collins added. “I said, why not? Because of my height I really couldn’t see over the linemens’ heads. … That’s why I usually took off.”
Collins really doesn’t have a rooting interest in today’s game.
“I will be watching the quarterbacks,” he said with a smile.” I will be remembering how I used to do it way back when.”
College coach praises QB Wilson
Arkansas coach Bret Bielema will be watching his former quarterback at Wisconsin with great pride today, and expects a Super Sunday from Russell Wilson.
“I think the greatest thing that I ever learned about that kid is no moment is too big for him,” Bielema told The Post. “Every moment that I ever saw him in that could be adversity by other peoples’ view, he embraces it. He doesn’t run from it, doesn’t shy from it, he embraces everything about it.”
He embraces his role as the “other quarterback” against Peyton Manning.
“I think Russ has made a living his entire life off of that,” Bielema said. “He does his best when other people doubt him. I just know how he is, he respects Peyton Manning and anything and everything he is and everything he’s accomplished, and there would never be anything but the utmost respect. But on the same account, nobody’s gonna be channeled or fueled more to play his best game than Russell. It’s not gonna be him against Peyton Manning, it’s gonna be the Seahawks versus the Broncos, and that’s all he’s concentrating on.”
Bielema was surprised Wilson lasted until the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft.
“I remember doing an interview shortly after the draft, and the lady asked me, she said, ‘Coach, do you think there’ll be teams that didn’t pick him in the earlier selections in the third round or maybe into the second round that are gonna be upset that they didn’t draft Russell Wilson?’
“And I just kinda laughed and said to her, ‘You know what? There’s gonna be people upset in the first round that didn’t draft him.’ And that’s exactly what has happened.”
Stars come out for Munson awards
The 34th annual Thurman Munson Awards, which remember the late, great Yankees captain, will be presented at the Grand Hyatt Hotel Tuesday.
Thurman’s widow Diana Munson will greet this year’s honorees which include Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, former Yankees perfect-game hurler and YES Network broadcaster David Cone, pitching great and baseball broadcaster Jim Kaat of MLB Network, Mets pitcher Dillon Gee, Knicks Hall of Fame forward Bernard King and Giants safety Antrel Rolle.
For tickets and information, call (212) 249-6188 or email jennifer@emgbenefits.com. Tickets may be purchased on line at http://www.ahrcNYCfoundation.org/events.
A bevy of sports celebrities will also be on hand for the festivities including Giants Super Bowl heroes Harry Carson, Carl Banks, Karl Nelson and Chris Canty; baseball standouts from the YES Network Ken Singleton and John Flaherty; and Mets ’69 World Series hero Ron Swoboda and current outfielder Eric Young Jr., popular former Knicks John Starks and Darrell Walker. YES Network voice of the Yankees/ESPN NY radio host Michael Kay will be Master of Ceremonies.