The Peyton Manning Retirement Extravaganza was held today in Denver and, amazingly, someone did ask Manning about the (suddenly relevant again) allegations from former Tennessee athletic trainer Jamie Naughright. USA Today's Lindsay Jones was only one to ask the obvious and relevant question everyone wanted to hear an answer to and, for her effort, she's now paying the price on Twitter. Regardless, the story of the mooning—or worse depending on who you listen to—was broached, and Manning was clearly less than happy to discuss it.
Advertisement
His first response was to dismiss the question as not appropriate for what should be "a joyous day," but then he proceeded to express sadness that "some people don't understand the truth or the facts. I did not do what has been alleged." As you can see, ESPN's feed cut out while Manning was giving this response, which I'm sure is just a coincidence, but that is a pretty big coincidence for an outlet openly courting the future Hall-of-Famer to join its broadcast team.Manning then mentioned some words of advice from his father, which also got chewed up by ESPN's technical issues, before closing the book on the subject with—what else?—a Forrest Gump quote: "That's all I have to say about that."Then he seethed for a few long seconds.[ESPN]Manning on UT allegations: "I think it's sad that some people don't understand the truth or the facts. I did not do what has been alleged."
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) March 7, 2016