Peyton Manning welcomed warmly upon his return to Lucas Oil Stadium

The boos for the Broncos turned to cheers when Peyton Manning hit the field. (Michael Conroy/AP) The sellout crowd reacted predictably when the visiting

Doug Farrar | Oct 20, 2013

Peyton Manning welcomed warmly upon his return to Lucas Oil Stadium /

The boos for the Broncos turned to cheers when Peyton Manning hit the field. (Michael Conroy/AP)

The sellout crowd reacted predictably when the visiting Denver Broncos team hit the field at Lucas Oil Stadium Sunday night, showering boos on the 6-0 team looking to vanquish their hometown Colts. But when Denver's quarterback became visible, the boos switched to loud, emotional and uproarious cheers for the man who defined football in Indianapolis. Peyton Manning started to warm up on the field while a video tribute played on the stadium screens, showing many of the key plays Manning was involved in throughout his 14 seasons as the Colts' quarterback.

After the tribute, Manning took off his helmet and acknowledged the ongoing cheers, meant to appreciate the player who turned a basketball town into a football city. And just as quickly as it started, it quieted down. Manning put his helmet back on, and both teams continued to prepare for the game. (GIF via Bleacher Report):

Published Oct 20, 2013

DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.