CohnZohn

Peyton Manning is a great regular-season quarterback but a pretty mediocre postseason quarterback.

His record in the postseason is 9-9, the definition of mediocre. Six times his team lost the first playoff game. Joe Montana was 16-7 and he won 4 Super Bowls. Montana was a better postseason quarterback than Manning and a better in-season quarterback and a better every-season quarterback.

Please forgive me but I want to add something about what I'm calling Manning's "snub" of Drew Brees after the Super Bowl. My item on that generated lots of comment on the Zohn. Good. Blogs are here to generate discussion.

Some readers empathized with Manning. They said he was so crushed he needed time to be alone and to regroup. And he did contact Brees later.

I certainly understand that but I have a different point of view. Manning is a professional athlete. He is a quarterback who is supposed to show the utmost poise. When he did not seek out Brees on the field he went against football tradition and clearly did not show poise. What he did is a major event -- you might even call it a major violation of protocol.

Sure, his feelings were hurt. Sure he is a human being. But it seems to me true champions, great competitors, rise to the occasion and do the right thing precisely when it is hardest to do. That's when it is most valuable to do the right thing. Doing the right thing when they feel crushed is precisely one of the things that make them special.

Certainly you can excuse Manning -- he didn't commit murder, after all -- but he didn't rise to the occasion and he wasn't special at that moment of neglect. You might even say it was the second  mediocre thing he did that day.

Here is today's sports quiz: If you had to build a team around either Monta Ellis or Stephen Curry, which one would you pick?

These are the rules in this game. You can't have both of them. You can imagine you're making this selection for the Warriors and if you do that, you can pretend the Warriors have a plan and actually know what they're doing.

Ellis: great scorer, dynamic to the basket, has stamina and great desire.

Curry: terrific shooter, has range on his jumper, great court vision and has court presence beyond his years.

Ellis: doesn't always seem interested in playing defense; more concerned with getting his shot than passing -- especially if the pass could go to Curry.

Curry: People thought he was not strong enough for the NBA. He is. People thought he could not play D. He does, although he's a better "team" defender than on-the-ball defender. You get the feeling his dad really schooled him on the proper demeanor for the NBA.

Ellis: You still wonder if he's sore at the Warriors.

Curry: Seems content to be a Warrior.

I think you can tell where I'm leaning. If I had to build a team around Ellis or Curry -- assuming anyone would want to build around a guard -- I would pick Currry. I say flat out he is a better player than Ellis.

This is interesting. Peyton Manning did not walk over -- OK, fight through the crowd -- to Drew Brees when the Super Bowl ended, did not offer the customary congratulations.

A writer for Yahoo sports wrote about the snub, but said it was perfectly OK. This writer -- I don't know him -- said the snub showed how much Manning cares about winning, how passionate he is, etc. According to this writer Manning's rudeness shows what a great guy he is.

Hardly. Winners and losers greet each other after a football game. It is part of the sport's etiquette and it is a lovely etiquette. It means winners give losers credit and it means losers give winners their due. It means losers, like Manning, must face up to their loss and take it like pros, like grownups. The real test of a person is how he/she deals with defeat. Everyone can be a hero after a win.

The Yahoo writer pointed out that Manning phoned Brees later and congratulated him on that. Manning gets credit for the phone call. But he whiffed on doing the right thing at the right moment and it makes us wonder about his character.

If I were a player on the Golden State Warriors I would play my heart out so Don Nelson gets the record this season -- passing Lenny Wilkens for most wins by a coach in the NBA.

Why would I do that? Here's why. If Nelson gets his record the Warriors could buy him out after the season and send him on his way. I mean, who wants this bored, uninterested man coaching that team next season? It would be like a curse. The Warriors need to be free of him. The Warriors need a new start -- yet again.

I will be writing a column for Thursday about Nelson and the Warriors and where they stand, or don't stand, at the All Star Break.

I am going over to Comcast tomorrow to tape a segment about Jerry Rice. So I've been thinking about how great he was and what made him special. Here are some thoughts in addition to what I already have written.

During practice - and I mean every practice - Rice had equipment guy Ted Walsh throw him passes on the sideline when he was not involved in an activity. Walsh is a lefty and Rice wanted to make catching passes from Steve Young second nature.

In practice Rice ran all the way to the endzone after catching a pass. He started this and other guys do it now.

In 1997 after he busted up his left knee you could see him alone after practice shuffling around the perimeter of the field. He was a lonesome figure determined to return to the game and of course he did.

A few days after one Super Bowl Steve Young came to the 49er facility to get some stuff. He looked on the field and what did he see? Rice running routes by himself.

The knock against Rice when he came out of college was that he didn't run fast. Well, no one ever caught him. In the offseason he would train with Roger Craig, a very fast guy who ran track in college. I once asked Craig if he and Jerry ran sprints against each other. Craig said they did. I asked who won. Craig laughed. "Jerry, of course," he said.

Rice was a phenomenon. He was what they used to call a finesse receiver but he had no fear about going over the middle and catching a pass and getting blasted. He was the ultimate tough guy. He was the best receiver ever, maybe the best player ever. He was rare.

I have to make an admission. I learned something today about covering football games. I covered the Super Bowl from my kid Iggy's bedroom -- he has the HD TV and he's in Westwood, so I was on my own.

I decided to blog several times during the game. I never do this. When I cover Niners games, for example, Matt Maiocco sits on my right in the press box and he blogs all the time. Matt Barrows sits on my left and he blogs like a maniac too. I always wonder what they're writing about and needless to say I don't blog. I just sit there. I used to gab with these guys but I don't dare gab now. I think Maiocco would slug me.

Today, I realized I'm old style. I think my job is to write a column, knock off a quick blog and drive home. Today I learned different. People actually were reading my random thoughts and the blogging kept me more focused on the game.

So I'm going to try to be new style next season and if either of the Matts tries to chat during the game I'll let him have it. Just kidding.

Super Bowl ads I liked:

The violin playing beaver

Betty White gettling tackled in football

Those two ads with people walking around in their underpants, not that I actually understood them

The Bud Lite asteroid commercial when people thought the world was ending and, what the hell,had a party. That's the spirit.

Ads I didn't like:

Anything having anything to do with Survivor, good grief

That pizza whisperer guy

The Bud Lite cans as wallpaper ad

Your thoughts?

I never saw this coming. I didn't think the Saints were this good. Praise the Saints.

They won for two reasons. They had better coaching. Sean Payton showed such guts and smarts starting the second half with that onsides kick, showing his raw desire to win. And they had the better quarterback at least in this one game. Drew Brees took the Saints on his back to the win while Peyton Manning made the killer mistake that led to the loss.

I want to put this in context -- coaching and quarterbacking win the Super Bowl. How do the 49ers rank in these crucial categories?

I'm on deadline for a column. Back at you later.