INDIANAPOLIS -- Let me tell you a story about a grounded superstar...

A small group of writers, including myself, were in a downtown restaurant having a casual dinner with commissioner Roger Goodell. Nice time, good people, the commish is a class act.

Suddenly our waitress has a message: Tim Tebow is in the restaurant.

Word is sent to Tebow that the commissioner is at our table and Tebow comes over. Tebow greets everyone at the table with a sincere smile and handshake. Nothing phony. Completely genuine. It was truly impressive to see. But the story gets better.

Behind our table was a window, and a small group of fans could see inside. They spotted Tebow. The crowd grew. And grew. And grew some more. A few people turned into about 40 or 50 at least. People who couldn't even see in the window just stood there hearing Tebow was inside. The crowd got so large it spilled into the street and police had to tell the fans to step back onto the sidewalk.

Tebow left and went outside where he signed countless autographs (Goodell later did the same).

I've been critical of Tebow's play (never of him as a person) but that was a highly interesting moment. I can't tell you how many athletes I've seen from many different sports treat fans in similar situations like garbage. Tell them to blank off or just walk by.

I'm not making any grand statements or saying there are no other athletes that would treat people and fans the same. Of course there are. I'm just making a simple observation: That was cool to see. Cool to see an athlete who gets it.

INDIANAPOLIS: Everyone seems to have an opinion on if Peyton Manning will be able to physically recover from his neck injury and return to football. Manning teammate, Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne, is no different.

"I think his chances of returning to football are 50-50," said Wayne. "He had some pretty serious surgeries so I'm just not so certain. The one thing about Peyton though is if anyone can come back from this, he can. He works so hard at everything and this is no different. He's a tough guy but we're talking about the neck and that's why I'm not so certain but again if anyone can, he can. He's almost superhuman."

Wayne quickly added, "Now, where he might play, I don't know. That's the question. I hope it works out where he stays with the Colts but even with a great player like Peyton it's a business. Even Peyton isn't immune from the business part of football so it wouldn't shock any of us on the team that if he did play next year, it was somewhere else, because that's the nature of football."

Wayne gave an interesting glimpse in what it's like to be a Colts player these days in a football nation obsessed with Manning’s health.

"Everywhere I go people say to me, 'Please keep Peyton," said Wayne, who is working with Xbox Kinect this week. "I'm not Jim Irsay. It's not my team. Everyone wants Peyton to stay but like I said, it's a business."

"The only good thing about last season was that we never quit. I hated to see our coaching staff get fired. I was close to a lot of those guys and sometimes the media portrayed it as Peyton threw the ball to himself, caught it, snapped the ball, did everything and the rest of us were just nobodies. But we fought. I was proud that we never quit."

OPENING HIT: Wide receiver great Cris Carter, who has played in a Pro Bowl or two, called Sunday's Pro Bowl game "unwatchable." That's extremely kind. That game was an abomination. Without question it was the worst all-star game I've seen in over 20 years of practicing sports journalism. The NFL and its players should be ashamed of themselves for allowing that monstrosity to happen.

The NFL normally puts on an almost flawless product. Football is the best sport because it's the most watchable, the most exciting, and perhaps more than anything, its players play hard all the time. That's not the way it is in baseball or basketball. In football, it is.

The Pro Bowl, with defensive backs giving 20 yard cushions, no one tackling, everyone playing not to get hurt, seriously undermines the great leaps the league has made to solidify its product as the best.

My guess is the NFL knows this and I've spoken to some team and league officials who were also stunned at what they saw. Changes will come and they may come very quickly.

All-Star games are indeed normally garbage but this was particularly bad. Never thought I'd say this but I now pine for the MLB All-Star game.