Peyton Manning or. . .what do I do with my billions?

Here in Denver, it has been an interesting week as the Denver Broncos try hard to woo Peyton Manning to the Bronco fold.  Peyton Manning is the star of football’s free agent week as several teams around the country vie for his quarterback services and star talent.  Denver desperately wants to win a Super Bowl title which the team hasn’t since the John Elway days.  Now, John Elway, an executive VP of the Broncos, is the Svengali who is pursuing Manning with owner Pat Bowlen’s blessing, trampling Tim Tebow in the dirt.

As a “lover of words,” but not a lover of football, just ask my ex-husband, I have been reading the Denver Post sports pages and avidly following their excellent sports writers, Mark Kiszla and Woody Paige.  Apparently the latest suitor is the Tennessee Titans whose owner has deep, deep, pockets.  The pull of past history (Manning played for the Big Orange) and being adored by the people of Tennessee, as Kiszla says, “to this day, you can enter houses in the State, where a room will have more photos of Peyton than their own children, and the fact that his wife is from Tennessee, will perhaps influence him to choose Tennessee.  Kiszla further says, “If you don’t think that will be a factor in his decision, you have not been married.”

What to do with millions to a billion or two, if you are a member of the male sex?  More houses in Aspen? nah; island (Johnny Depp); planes (already have them); vineyards; golf courses; TV stations; no no and no.  But a sports franchise YES! A live chess game you can have all to yourself.   Even Russian billionaires have dabbled in the sports franchise market–Mikhail Prokhorov who bought the New York Mets is part of the club.

Although there have been a few women who enter this heady world, most are men.  It’s interesting to note that Oprah Winfry, who could certainly buy a franchise, opened a school for girls in South Africa instead.