Good Luck

Roman philosopher Seneca once prophetically wrote that "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity".  The preparation has been all too obvious over the last two years for Stanford's Andrew Luck as he made himself into the presumptive No. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL draft. He was runner up in both 2010 and 2011 in Heisman Trophy voting... no mean feat. He was named the Offensive Player of the Year in the Pac-12 Conference in both 2010 and 2011. In 2011 alone, he was rewarded with the Maxwell Award and the Walter Camp Award as college football's player of the year. He was also named a 2011 First Team All American. On top of these feats, he led Stanford to its highest rankings in decades.

Opportunity has also been highly visible this week. In one swift move, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay cleared all obstacles to Luck's seemingly  inevitable rise in the Hoosier State by discarding the Colts favorite son, Peyton Manning. Couple this with the Colts having the worst record in the league in 2011 and therefore secure in the right to first choice from this years crop of recruits. Almost everyone expects Irsay to follow his first maneuver with the selection of Andrew Luck as his new rookie and starting quarterback.

Heated debate will surely continue to follow, and has indeed already flown around the NFL, as to the wisdom of Jim Irsay's line of reasoning. In a purely business sense his thoughts are clear; Manning was too much of a guess, too old and too potentially fragile to take the chance. And despite, love and loyalty, Indianapolis is still a business concern, no more - no less. Coach Andy Reid had to make the same difficult decision with his protegee Donovan McNabb at Philadelphia, and it was the right one then. Time will only tell if the Colts have been as astute.