Peyton Manning might have just played his last game as a professional football player. While his numbers were some of the worst for in the history of the Super Bowl for a winning quarterback, Peyton can ride off into the sunset with his second championship ring and...
Peyton Manning might have just played his last game as a professional football player. While his numbers were some of the worst for in the history of the Super Bowl for a winning quarterback, Peyton can ride off into the sunset with his second championship ring and, again, be considered the better Manning (unless of course Eli ends up winning another 'Bowl and slides a third ring onto his fingers). Sure, he's had a pretty remarkable career with his name etched into the NFL history books for decades to come. He might play second fiddle to a couple of 1995 Michigan Wolverine recruits (CB Charles Woodson who won the Heisman over Manning and, naturally, Tom Brady), but still it's hard to pick much fault in his overall career. He is the the National Football League's post child. As long as you don't count his sexual assault from 20 years ago. You don't really need to count that, right? Wait, you've never heard of it? Yeah, you're not alone. The days of pre-social media really have been kind to Mr. Manning. At least until now.
It Never Made The News
So, what exactly is all of this about a sexual scandal regarding Peyton Manning in his final year playing for the University of Tennessee? It never hit the news stands or anything like that. Of course, Mr. Manning was campaigning for a Heisman trophy at the time, so bad press probably wouldn't look for him. However, a university and even its police force covering up for a star athlete is nothing new (*cough* Jameis Winston *cough* Cam Newton *cough*). But how exactly did this unfold and what exactly happened? Well, a bit of new information does look to shine a nice light onto this interesting and sad back story.
In 1996, Dr. Jamie Naughright, a trainer for the University of Tennessee, filed a sexual assault against Peyton Manning. There's no real reason to believe why Jamie, a medical doctor and pro trainer, who go and start making up such a scandal against a college player, with no real credentials or money at the time (outside of having a father who played in the NFL a few decades prior). However, when Dr. Jamie Naughright made these claims, University of Tennessee officials asked her to instead shift the blame of the case against a different, black player, instead of placing the blame on Manning. According to her legal testimony and signed documentation, Naughright said the university asked her to alter her story and place blame on a specific individual and that this particular athlete (who did exist) exposed himself to her causing her to take an extended leave of absence.
Things Don't Quite Add Up
Okay, well here's the thing with this. She's a doctor. Who works with athletes. You don't think she doesn't see a few floppy dicks around the locker room like every single day of her career? It's a football locker room after a game or practice. She probably had seen more shades of penis than most women have shades of flowers. It's part of the job and simply what she works with as a medical trainer for a team with nearly 100 players. So, the idea she would need to take an extended leave of absence because some lone flasher decided to show her his junk is laughable to say the least. It would be like a cop taking an extended leave of absence because he saw a doughnut for the first time. Essentially, Tennessee forced her to shut up.
Later in Peyton's career, he wrote a book about his playing days dating back prior to the sexual assault incident. He made a brief reference to Dr. Naughright, saying she "had a potty mouth." But guess what? Peyton ended up paying Jamie an undisclosed amount of money for slandering her name and her image. Doesn't seem like something that would happen if it were true, does it? Yeah, probably not. If she likes to swear like a sailor and everyone knows she drops a few f-bombs while working on a guy's stank-ass foot, well she probably wouldn't care about it, nor would anyone else. So, the fact it did prove to be an issue with her and that Peyton paid out for the claim just points to it not being the case.
This information is just coming to light, as documents pointing to this situation did not come out until early-mid February. So, chances are, this is not the last you'll hear about the situation.