So Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos just won the Super Bowl. Time for the old man to ride off into the sunset, right?
Why does Eli look so glum? (Archie isn't exactly thrilled either.) He says he was just focused on the 2-point try. What he should have been worrying about was an incident from 1996 resurfacing at just the right time.
Jamie Naughtright, a trainer at the University of Tennessee, claims that Peyton Manning dropped the dreaded Rikishi/Teabag combo on her while she was examining his ankle. Documents seem to support her claim and she feared there would be a cover-up. There was, UT settled with Naughtright, and that was that.
Flash forward to today, when Peyton's massive forehead is on every other commercial for insurance, cereal, satellite TV, and of course shitty pizza made by a sociopath. The allegations of HGH use did little to curb people's love for Peytie Pie. But harassment and assault allegations, especially of a sexual nature, tend to stick in people's minds (not as much as dog fighting, but we're working on it). With Manning's future undecided and millions of dollars in endorsements at risk, what would happen to his squeaky-clean image?
Nothing, that's what. A Seton Hall Sports Poll indicates that Manning's favorable ratings have remained relatively constant despite the recent articles outlining his less than innocent behavior. Maybe people are writing it off as a stupid thing college kids do. Maybe people are taking the well-worn bath of victim blaming. Maybe people don't give a fuck and just want their ketchup-on-cardboard-tasting pizza.
The craziest thing is Peyton Manning right now is still hasn't made public his decision to retire. I'm guessing he's done, and he's just waiting for this UT stuff to blow over so the narrative doesn't include an actual human being he assaulted 20 years ago. But if he plays one more year, I for one will be hoping that an edge rusher catches him just right to pull a Joe Theismann-level hurt on him.
Peyton, you were one of the greatest football players ever. Now go the fuck home.
I now turn the thread over to Cail, who will quad-post largely meaningless NFL transactions for the next six months.