Finally found time to sort through the Manning stuff

[Creek Walker]

Obviously I scoffed at King's article the first time I read it because his douchebaggery is well known and his racial motivation to tear down Peyton Manning because he feels that Cam Newton was being unfairly torn down is pretty well known.

But I finally got time to sit down and thoroughly digest everything that King wrote, along with the 74-page document that is now very much public, and I have to say -- what in the world is all the fuss about?!? It's easy to say that those who are latching on to this and reveling in it are those who loathe Peyton Manning much the same way I latched on to Deflategate because I loathe Tom Brady, except I've seen a lot of people on Facebook claiming that their long-held admiration for Manning is now destroyed.

There is hardly anything new here. The exact description of the "mooning" incident may be news to some people, but it's been common knowledge for a lot of years. And while the idea of Manning shoving his naked butt and scrotum into Naughright's face is gross and completely inappropriate, it certainly doesn't seem to rise to the level of sexual assault. It was, as Clay Travis put it, a locker room prank. A very stupid one? Yes. But I'm glad I'm not being judged for every stupid thing I did as a college student. That doesn't excuse what Manning did, but I'm not sure why it's worth being dragged out now, 20 years later, as proof that all the good he did for the entirety of his 18-year NFL career is for naught.

As for the claims that Peyton and Archie Manning did everything in their power to tarnish Naughright's reputation, the ONLY thing that Manning publicly said was that she used vulgar language. That's it. As Volveeta pointed out on the other thread, it was foolish to break the confidentiality agreement by including mention of it in the book, but that's the only thing that was put out there. I don't understand why Manning would've made that claim if he couldn't back it up, and I really don't understand why he would've claimed in a deposition to have driven some kids around as a favor to Naughright if he really didn't, but if that's the worst thing he did, it's the equivalent of big, fat yawner. I'm sorry, but I seriously doubt there's any way Naughright lost her job at Florida Southern because Manning wrote in a book that she had a vulgar mouth.

The other claim -- that Manning said she was sleeping with black athletes at UT -- is not a claim that was made only by Manning. It was a rumor that was going around at the time. No one has proven it, but it isn't as if Manning conjured that up himself (although King portrays it that way).

Throw in the fact that Naughright is a habitual lawsuit plaintiff (let's not forget that Manning's "mooning" incident wasn't the only or even the main part of her sexual harassment lawsuit against UT) and this whole thing = mountain vs. molehill.

To me, the most explosive revelation in all of it is Naughright's claim that UT staffers asked her to blame the "mooning" incident on another athlete. And that part didn't even involve Manning.