Colts whitewash Peyton Manning's stains with Statue
Colts owner Jim Irsay announced Friday that the team will retire Peyton Manning’s No. 18 and build a statue of the record-setting quarterback outside Lucas Oil Stadium, a tangible symbol of the legend’s prowess without hint of the reputation-tainting questions surrounding him.
Less than two weeks after announcing his retirement in Denver, Manning returned to his first NFL home one more time to thank his supporters. A smattering of Manning fans — some dressed in the Colts’ blue-and-white, other dressed in Denver’s orange and blue — stood outside the front gate of the team’s complex.
Of course, allegations that Manning purchased human-growth hormones in 2011, while still a Colt and recovering from neck surgery, were scrubbed from the fawning presentation. Neither were the allegations from trainer Jamie Naughright, first in 1996 then 2003, of a hazy incident at the University of Tennessee, in which she alleged Manning placed his testicles on her face.
The ceremony took place in the same room that an emotional Irsay announced the Colts would release their star quarterback to clear the path for Manning’s successor, Andrew Luck. That messy divorce, too, wasn’t mentioned, when Indianapolis rid itself of the iconic quarterback, worried both about his recovery from neck surgery and a $28 million bonus due.
Manning won four of his record five MVP Awards with Indianapolis, led the Colts to two Super Bowls and delivered the first world championship in city history following the 2006 season. He added his second Super Bowl title last month as the Broncos beat Carolina.
Manning’s personality, success and off-the-field contributions are widely credited with helping to general public support for building Lucas Oil Stadium, which hosted the Super Bowl in February 2012.
But that’s only part of Manning’s legacy in Indy. The NFL is reviewing Al Jazeera’s explosive report that Manning had HGH delivered to his house under his wife’s name, to avoid suspicion. He was recovering from a complicated neck procedure and there were questions whether he’d ever be the same.
Still, those charges seem to have bounced off the star like an over-pursuing rusher. His pristine image — which has weathered repeated claims from Naughright that he sexually assaulted her while he was the Volunteers quarterback — has endured into the hero-making, post-retirement phase, and the rest is all footnotes.
http://nypost.com/2016/03/18/colts-whitewash-peyton-mannings-stains-with-statue/
