February 13, 2016

Peyton Manning’s squeaky-clean image was built on lies: as detailed in explosive court documents showing ugly smear campaign against his alleged sex assault victim. "As a general rule, it's not just gross to smash your testicles on a woman's face, it's a crime." Direct link to the court documents.

posted by rumple to football at 02:13 PM - 15 comments

I was just coming here to post this, too. That is one hell of a story to be swept under the rug for 13 years.

posted by bender at 02:17 PM on February 13, 2016

With Manning widely expected to retire any day, is it a coincidence this comes out forcefully now that he is no longer needed for generating TV "storylines"?

posted by rumple at 02:34 PM on February 13, 2016

It wasn't swept under here. We had a discussion about it at the time, and I have brought it up repeatedly in columns and my own blog posts.

Fivehead is a fucking tool.

posted by wfrazerjr at 03:05 PM on February 13, 2016

If this gains more traction, neither Archie nor Peyton will be going anywhere near a broadcast studio in the future.

Waiting to see where/when/if the first Peyton ads get pulled. Hopefully, the "This is Sportscenter" all-Manning spots are already DQ'ed.

I would think most people of the Mannings' stature would be content to pay the lawyers and get the original complaint suppressed and buried. But apparently, the Mannings are not most people. Why simply safeguard your reputation by any slimeball means necessary and quietly move on when you can violate a confidentiality agreement while trying to further burnish the family name?

posted by beaverboard at 03:34 PM on February 13, 2016

I wonder if this will be P Manning's Hannibal Buress moment.

posted by NoMich at 04:32 PM on February 13, 2016

I had never heard this before. I'm trying to recall where I might have been during the time period that this story first broke. I cannot use the excuse that I was overseas, but I did spend a lot of time away from home. Still, it was all in the US, so I should have seen this story somewhere. I can only conclude that as soon as the story hit, it was buried, for obvious reasons. I will copy the link and send it on to my son. I'm sure he will be quite interested, he being every bit the Manning hater disliker as I. This story must be spread far and wide.

posted by Howard_T at 06:29 PM on February 13, 2016

Where did my 2003 hatred of Peyton Manning go, to the point that I viewed his Super Bowl win last weekend as sentimental? Time has worn down my incisors to little Chiclet teeth.

posted by rcade at 07:49 PM on February 13, 2016

Yeah, this is weird that it's suddenly bubbled up again.

It would be like someone deciding to post an article about Ray Lewis' involvement in that double murder from 2000.

posted by grum@work at 08:37 PM on February 13, 2016

As of this evening, searching for "Manning HGH" brings up top results that all refer to this story, and not the supplements.

SI, SN, Fox and others are working on it. Of course, the Denver Post and Peter King are more concerned with who is going to sign Osweiler and for how much.

For sheer uninhibited vitriol and punch factor, Chris Kluwe's twitter account is the place to be.

posted by beaverboard at 08:49 PM on February 13, 2016

This is what I always think of when I think of Peyton Manning.

posted by ursus_comiter at 09:55 AM on February 14, 2016

This may also end up impacting Archie's position and stature with the NFF and the College Football HOF.

But then again, perhaps not, as those organizations themselves have not been the squeakiest of clean over the years.

On a character basis, the top of the 1998 NFL draft is looking more and more like some of the choices that Louisiana voters have found themselves facing over the years.

posted by beaverboard at 10:54 AM on February 14, 2016

Title IX suit filed against UT, cites Manning incident as an example of the hostile environment.

posted by Etrigan at 06:25 PM on February 14, 2016

It's also not the initial incident that's causing issues. It's that, even after the initial settlement, the Mannings have continued to bring up the incident in the book and an interview. After UT, she got a job at Florida Southern. It was only when the book was being published that she was reportedly let go. It's also trying to cast blame elsewhere. Chances are that if this hadn't been brought up again by the Mannings, it wouldn't be news today.

posted by jmd82 at 10:50 AM on February 15, 2016

ESPN finally weighs in on this, somehow without implicating themselves To women, the conclusion of conspiracy is that a professional such as Dr. Jamie Naughright, the woman who says Manning sat on her face two decades ago, does not matter, either to the runaway college money machine or to the NFL, if the cost is holding Peyton Manning accountable and risking the narrative of wholesomeness he represents. Naughright and women like her have for decades been sacrificed not only by the league but by the media outlets that decide whose stories get told and whose don't.

Challenging Manning required confronting the entire monument of his enormous privilege, from his being the face of the first family of the NFL to challenging one of the most powerful college conferences, the SEC, to the task of revisiting the uncomfortable beliefs of some that maybe women don't belong in the locker room after all.

This cannot be avoided, either.

posted by rumple at 02:38 PM on February 15, 2016

It's also not the initial incident that's causing issues. It's that, even after the initial settlement, the Mannings have continued to bring up the incident in the book and an interview.

While this is (sort-of) old news, it's interesting in light of how Manning's camp has attacked the Al Jazeera story with private investigators trying to scare the source's parents. Also nice the Mannings seem to think a gag ruling only applies to people who can't afford expensive lawyers.

posted by yerfatma at 09:09 AM on February 17, 2016

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