Last night, within seconds of Manning throwing the clinching interception, I received the following series of text messages from my friend Nate (a die hard 49ers fan like myself):

"Yes!"

(30 seconds later)

"Manning is no Montana!"

(15 seconds later)

"Legacy intact baby!"

As I received these messages, it occurred to me that I had subconsciously also been hoping for Manning to fail.  In the past few months the buzz for Manning being the best QB of all time has been rising.  He is indeed one of the greats.  But over the past few weeks in the lead up to the superbowl that talk started to annoy me.  The idea that anyone would take the place of the beloved Montana as the consensus best QB ever feel like taking something away from me, as a fan. 

This raises two questions that I would like to pose to the community.  First, am I alone?  Or did many other 9er fans (like those that visit this site) feel a sense of satisfaction in Manning ever so slightly tarnishing his best-QB-ever resume?  Second, is this emotion petty, or is it a legitimate expression of fandom?  Is it wrong to root for a great player to stumble just to preserve a cherished memory/bragging point?

What does everyone think?