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      INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Peyton Manning's record-breaking run as
quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts ended Wednesday, when owner
Jim Irsay announced the team would release its best player.


      Both men paused frequently, fighting tears and their voices
shaking, when they appeared together at a news conference at the
Colts' team complex.


      "This has not been easy for Jim," Manning said, "and this has
certainly not been easy for me."


      The 35-year-old Manning will become a free agent, and there is
expected be interest from a half-dozen or so NFL clubs, provided
he's healthy. Manning is coming off a series of operations to his
neck and missed all of last season.


      Indianapolis needed to cut him this week to avoid paying him a
$28 million bonus. The Colts are widely expected to begin moving on
by taking Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck with the No. 1 overall
pick in April's draft.


      "It'll always be Colt," Manning said. "That'll never
change."


      He forever will be thought of around these parts as No. 18, the
quarterback who led the Colts to an NFL championship.


      He'll be remembered, too, for his record four MVP awards, his
50,000 yards passing and his 200 consecutive starts. Most of all,
Manning will be the guy in the horseshoe helmet who turned around a
franchise and transformed a basketball-loving city into a football
hotbed that hosted the Super Bowl a month ago.


      Arizona, Miami, Tennessee, Washington and the New York Jets all
have been rumored as possible destinations; Manning's former
offensive coordinator in Indianapolis, Tom Moore, worked for the
Jets as a consultant last season.


      Manning has said his goal was to play his entire career with the
Colts, but a damaged nerve that forced him to have neck surgery
kept him out of action for all of 2011, and not coincidentally, his
team's record plummeted to 2-14.
      

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Peyton Manning's record-breaking run as
quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts ended Wednesday, when owner
Jim Irsay announced the team would release its best player.

Colts release QB Peyton Manning

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