Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy finally did it.  With a Super Bowl title, they have finally shaken off the stigma of  “never winning the big one.”  The question is, now that the monkey is finally off their backs, who will it hound next?

There’s a long list of possibilities, but I’ve got a player and coach in mind that are now those most desperately in need of a title, with the proverbial monkey on their back.

Is Barry Bonds, next?  Nope.  The home-run record and steroid allegations are far more pressing items of interest than his lack of a World Series ring.

How about Allen Iverson?  Not yet.  He’s just been traded to a new team, city and conference in the past month and deserves a grace period.  The clock is still ticking though on the former Philly star.

Speaking of Philly, what about Donovan McNabb?  The 2007 season will be his ninth season and he’s widely considered one of the five best quarterbacks in the league today.  He gets a pass though, for at least tasting a Super Bowl; even though the taste of constructing a 4th quarter comeback against the Patriots made him puke.

That brings us to two men suffering from the weight of never being able to “win the big one.”

Alex Rodriguez, was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 1993.  By 1996, he was a top contender for the MVP Award and it seemed that honors and championships would be assured in his future. Not exactly.

He now plays for the most successful franchise in professional sports history.  The New York Yankees have won 26 championships and Rodriguez has won zero.  Rodriguez draws criticism every October due to his inability to produce in clutch situations, constantly being compared to other Yankee greats who did, one of whom (Derek Jeter), stands 30 feet to his life for most of the season. Rodriguez shrugs off the criticism, but even teammates like Jason Giambi have speculated that A-Rod might not be able to make it in New York.  So, through October, the monkey that Peyton finally shook off will be residing squarely on the back of #13 in pinstripes. Of course that’s only until baseball season ends, then it’s football time again and the monkey will be heading back to an old friend.

Marty Schottenheimer has over 200 NFL wins and has never made it to a Super Bowl, while former assistants of his like Bill Cowher and, you guessed it, Tony Dungy have won championships. Unfortunately for Marty, posting the league’s best regular season record and winning your division doesn’t mean much when your career postseason record is a sorry 5-13.  His conservative “Martyball” has long been criticized, and yet when he finally had the personnel (namely Ladainian Tomlinson) to run it successfully this year, he largely abandoned the run in the second half of the Patriots game.

Maybe A-Rod and Marty can overcome past failures to finally become champions, but until they do, the stigma that was long attached to Manning and Dungy will haunt them.