Apparently, I missed the strangest thing to come out of football this weekend. It wasn't any team record or individual performance. It was the NFL saying that Peyton Manning couldn't honor Johnny Unitas by wearing high-top black cleats in the Colts game against the Dolphins.

Anyone who can explain this decision to me without trying to rely on the sanctity of NFL guidelines related to player uniforms gets a cookie.

For an organization that rarely screws up in front of the public, I can't really see what the NFL felt would be the upside to this decision. Avoiding excoriation from Mr. Blackwell?

The NFL, for whatever reason, has a hair across its collective ass where uniforms are concerned. Consider the variety of headbands sported by Jim McMahon and the fines that ensued. In that case, you could perhaps see the league's position, as in a number of cases the headbands said something that ripped the league. But in Manning's case, what's the point? If Peyton had inscribed the number 19 on his regular cleats, would the league have fined him? That's not exactly to code, either.

I'd have like to seen Peyton just wear the damn shoes anyways. Unfortunately, he's one of those quiet, non-confrontational leaders. Consider how this case may have turned out if Bryan Cox had asked to wear the shoes. Explatives would still be bouncing around league headquarters.

Chris Redmond wore black high tops without asking. I'm sure any civic leader in Baltimore worth their salt, from the mayor on down, will have check in hand if the league fines Redmond.

Michael Wilbon theorized that the league, still smarting from Unitas's challenge to the league regarding health care, may have seen this as one last way to get back at him. I'd like to think that no one would be that venal in the face of a legend's passing. And then I remember John Henry Williams and wonder if the NFL's given him a job.