Manning Legacy: Scrotal Recall

E5 Yaz

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If Peyton has retired by then, does this story fail to stick to him?
Seen any Lance Armstrong commercials lately?

This entire episode is a no-lose scenario for those in the media who are backing Manning or whitewashing the story. If it's proven Manning is innocent of the allegations, they'll puff out their chests and say "See? We were right!" If Manning eventually confesses to wrongdoing, they can write and broadcast those deep-dive "fallen idol" stories that are pretty much cookie cutter these days.

Neither outcome is going to change how the media covers Brady, or the public perception of his "guilt."
 

peeves5478

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Brady's diet is ludicrous. He's getting mocked for it because 1) it's so different from what regular people eat -- not just in America, but everywhere and 2) the justification for the diet is completely ungrounded in reality.
This isn't really the thread for it, but what do you find ludicrous about it? It's basically his variation of a paleo diet which many healthy people follow. I don't put a lot of stock in the alkaline-acidity thinking and there are some things learned from his chef that leave me curious. Usually someone worried about inflammatory foods eliminates all grains from their diet. The other is the elimination of the nightshades since it's usually tried by those with an autoimmune disorder.
 
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I'm not so much attempting to draw a connection from the use of HGH to the sexual misconduct as much as I am trying to point to an example of the national media treating Peyton differently than others, especially as it relates to his ability to spin a story to meet his desire.

The incident itself is old news, but the idea that ESPN left his version of the event unchallenged is telling.
Interesting and fair point. Of course, the same may be true for countless athletes, where ESPN has a universal interest in promoting the "good clean fun" side of the sports and players it promotes and hypes. They don't exactly talk about the allegations about Ben Roethlisberger, they didn't (to my knowledge) mention those against Edelman, and likewise for dozens of players in MLB or the NBA. They probably would have avoided Ray Rice if TMZ hadn't beaten them to the punch and made it a national story. And how did the coverage of Game of Shadows play out when it first came out? (I genuinely don't know, but something tells me Fainaru-Wada & Williams weren't exactly featured guests on Sportscenter).

The problem may be less specific to Peyton and more specific to ESPN.
 

pappymojo

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Interesting and fair point. Of course, the same may be true for countless athletes, where ESPN has a universal interest in promoting the "good clean fun" side of the sports and players it promotes and hypes. They don't exactly talk about the allegations about Ben Roethlisberger, they didn't (to my knowledge) mention those against Edelman, and likewise for dozens of players in MLB or the NBA. They probably would have avoided Ray Rice if TMZ hadn't beaten them to the punch and made it a national story. And how did the coverage of Game of Shadows play out when it first came out? (I genuinely don't know, but something tells me Fainaru-Wada & Williams weren't exactly featured guests on Sportscenter).

The problem may be less specific to Peyton and more specific to ESPN.
That is a valid counterpoint. Ray Lewis is another example.
 

Devizier

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The people I'm referring to were calling him a "dick" and "pretentious" about his diet. Their problem wasn't with his eccentric, but very healthy, diet. Likewise he also caught some flack nationally a few months ago for calling Coca-Cola poison. I get why people are mocking him but I find it very revealing that people mock a guy for being an earnest and passionate fitness nut while we like the jovial corporate shill.
We live in a world where people completely lost their shit over "The Decision", which, while hilariously bad, didn't really hurt anyone or change anything. People are just not reasonable when it comes to sports.
 

garzooma

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Thing is, at some point this will be investigated. MLB at the very minimum has to investigate Teagarden [...]
I was thinking this too -- pitchers and catchers (like Teagarden) are reporting in about 6 weeks. But then I saw that Teagarden started last season in AAA and is now 32 years old. So he may well decide to call it a career. Unless he's looking to pursue coaching, MLB won't have a lot of leverage on him.

Of course there's Ryan & Ryan, but they're not on tape confessing, so it's not a slamdunk.

And there's always the possibility of a criminal investigation. The NY Daily News quotes a former prosecutor with the Miami state attorney's narcotics section saying that “Anytime a report like this comes out, local and federal authorities will say, ‘Let’s take a look at what is going on here,’ ” I haven't found a whole lot of other speculation on this -- has anyone else?
 

kenneycb

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He also claimed the sex cruise wasn't all that great even though they flew in 55 strippers from across the country. God bless Freddy Smoot.
 

Van Everyman

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And now Bob Ryan weighs in:

His bitter denunciation of the charges seems to have satisfied both the NFL community and his millions of fans that he has been falsely accused. If indeed any HGH had been shipped to his home address — and there is little doubt that some was — it was for the use of his wife, not him. And that’s that.

Well, why don’t we all just move on?

In fact, that seems to be exactly what most people have done. The TV commentators have sprung to his defense. After all, isn’t Al Jazeera simply a public relations tool for jihadists? Isn’t this Charlie Sly guy shady and a liar? What’s the Guyer Institute? And most of all, it’s our Peyton. He would never lie to us.
He then goes on to talk about the comparisons w Lance Armstrong, where everyone assumed the French were just bitter and jealous as well as Braun and it hers before saying (with no medical insight AFAICT) that HGH may not really matter anyway:

And who would fault Peyton if he did want a little rehab help? I sure wouldn’t ... we need a complete airing out of this whole HGH business. If it’s true that the sole purpose of using HGH is to enhance the recovery process following an injury, I say, “What’s wrong with that?” Again, I say, if that’s true. I find that a different matter than an agent that makes you artificially better than you would be using ordinary training methods. We all need to know. Perhaps we should stop nitpicking about HGH.
Oh and he also compares this to the Brady sitch with a nice touch:

I will concede there is an additional layer of disdain for Brady because he comes off as too good to be true, being married to You-Know-Who, endorsing upscale products, and just generally coming off as Mr. Perfect. Peyton is Everyman. Brady is Top Of The Wedding Cake
http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2016/01/09/should-believe-peyton-manning-hgh-denial/kRIrTZasiHjYkGbGwPQXmL/story.html

On the balance, while I totally disagree that HGH may just be some recovery hasten-er, I think pieces like this—which is to say, by respected columnists that don't bear an obvious homer stamp—are essential to establishing that Manning's response here strains credibility.
 

soxhop411

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“@Hadas_Gold: Al Jazeera America board has made a decision to phase out AJAM by April 30 of this year. STORY COMING”

That ends this most likely.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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“@Hadas_Gold: Al Jazeera America board has made a decision to phase out AJAM by April 30 of this year. STORY COMING”

That ends this most likely.
Why? The story is out there. The NYT has already begun following some breadcrumbs, among others I'm sure. If there's more to be told it will be picked up by somebody, perhaps even a source that idiots won't immediately denounce as terrorist propaganda.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Why? The story is out there. The NYT has already begun following some breadcrumbs, among others I'm sure. If there's more to be told it will be picked up by somebody, perhaps even a source that idiots won't immediately denounce as terrorist propaganda.
People simply don't want to know about Manning possibly using HGH. Their worldview is that Peyton is an aw-shucks guy who jus' wants to win, dude. Hearing about possible PED use by him is never going to be popular and fans will tune it out. We've already seen how badly ESPN and Jim Nantz want this story to sink without a trace, Joe Q Fan feels the same way.

It's going nowhere.
 

Dehere

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Brian Stelter tweeting that the demise of AJAM linked to plunging price of oil.

Makes sense and if true it makes life interesting for BeIn Sports but I digress.

The Peyton story lives or dies with the NYT at this point and that's been true practically since the report aired. Don't think the end of AJAZ really matters.
 

mwonow

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Good to see this getting a bump, the recent Pats news is depressing, give me more "Manning on drugs!" stuff, please!

On that score, here's another perspective. The comments split about as widely as can be, from "This is the biggest REAL scandal in league history" and "Peyton is a lying HGH Junkie!" all the way to (and I wish I was making this up) "nobody cares what an islamist propaganda network says and by spreading their vile then we are promoting their tactics...Al Jazeera should stick to their terrorists and political correctness trash. Al Jazeera is one of the reasons I'm getting ready to cut the cord. God Bless the USA and Springfield Armory!"
 

Jed Zeppelin

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People simply don't want to know about Manning possibly using HGH. Their worldview is that Peyton is an aw-shucks guy who jus' wants to win, dude. Hearing about possible PED use by him is never going to be popular and fans will tune it out. We've already seen how badly ESPN and Jim Nantz want this story to sink without a trace, Joe Q Fan feels the same way.

It's going nowhere.
If so, at least that aw shucks bs fits in perfectly with his other dominant characteristic - perennial playoff loser.
 

mwonow

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Amazing how this story has completely disappeared.
Did you see the post-game interview with Peyton? The female reporter mentioned something about the "questions" surrounding Peyton this season. He got visibly more uncomfortable, but she hastened on to clarify that she meant "injuries" without adding anything about...well, you know...whatever else there might have been!
 

Section15Box113

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Harry Hooper

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Oooooh,"comprehensive" investigation. Is that like an "unrestricted" donation to medical research or an "independent" inquiry into football inflation?
 

LogansDad

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Oooooh,"comprehensive" investigation. Is that like an "unrestricted" donation to medical research or an "independent" inquiry into football inflation?
"We checked Peyton's doorstep and mailbox and found no evidence of wrongdoing. Therefore, Tom Brady will be suspended six games for being vaguely familiar with the initial Al Jazeera article in question."
 

amarshal2

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Fast forward two weeks:

"Now that Peyton has retired, we don't need to tell the public what we found, right?"
 

pappymojo

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Exactly. Unless we get some anonymous NFL sources spinning some bullshit, it is safe to assume the NFL is doing nothing.
 

djbayko

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Kudos to MLB for forcing the NFL's hand.

It would be awesome if the NFL's "comprehensive" investigation turns up no wrongdoing, and MLB's investigation incidentally finds evidence against Peyton.
 
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shoosh77

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Pleasepleaseplease say Manning cycles through his phones like his HGH. Then we can hear everyone saying how that makes sense if you're a famous athlete...
 

soxhop411

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On Tuesday afternoon, ESPN reported that the NFL declined an invitation to work with Major League Baseball and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in connection with an investigation regarding the Al Jazeera reporting linking multiple pro athletes to PEDs. On Tuesday evening, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello denied the claim.

This is wrong,” Aiello said on Twitter, linking to the ESPN story. “NFL has worked with USADA & MLB from the start.”

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy separately told the Associated Press that the league has coordinated with other agencies in a “comprehensive” investigation of Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, whose wife allegedly received HGH meant for use by him.

The league is likely speaking out given criticism regarding the differences between the handling of Manning’s situation and the #DeflateGate investigation and internal prosecution of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. And Patriots fans who already are eyeballing the two cases for any and all possible disparities will be quick to point out that the NFL moved quickly to dispute an erroneous ESPN report about Manning, which the NFL never directly disputed an erroneous ESPN report regarding the PSI levels detected in the New England footballs at halftime of last year’s AFC title game.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/01/26/nfl-disputes-report-of-non-cooperation-with-mlb-usada-in-manning-probe/