On Peyton Manning and the 20-year-old incendiary device unearthed Saturday
On Saturday, writer Shaun King of the New York Daily Newspublished a story of events that allegedly happened 20 years ago involving then-Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning. While being examined by a female associate athletic trainer for an injured foot, Manning is accused of placing his naked groin area on the face of the trainer, Jamie Naughright. She pushed him away, according to court documents. Later, an investigation of the case charged that the university conspired to have Manning say he was actually “mooning” another athlete instead of forcing himself on the face of the trainer. Naughright and Manning, after an investigation in which Manning was not charged, signed a confidentiality agreement after a settlement in the case was reached. But King reported that in a 2001 book, Manning placed some blame on Naughright for the incident, violating the confidentiality agreement and re-opening the case. You can read the Daily News story
here.
I think the story is tilted toward Naughright. It’s one-sided. It could well be true. But the document King (no relation) uses here is from an attorney for Naughright, with the kind of incendiary language lawyers use to make cases. There is nothing from Manning’s side in the story.
A couple of points to make: Manning was part of a story 20 years ago that, if true, is on its face reprehensible and indefensible. It’s been in the public eye several times over the years, first in USA Todayin 2003, and in other media since. The accusations are ugly and, if true, there is no defense for what he did.
But 20 years have come and gone since the events of that day in Knoxville, and Manning was not charged with a crime, and Manning was not convicted of a crime. The authorities in Tennessee and later in Florida, when Naughright pressed her case, did not find Manning guilty of anything. Observers of the case can think what they want after reading the affidavits, and that cannot change. You may well find it hard to think of Manning the same way as you did before.
We may find out in the years to come that Manning is guilty of what Naughright charges. But more and more today, that doesn’t seem to matter. What matters is the court of social media convicting Manning the day the Daily Newsstory comes out. I may join it someday, if it’s proven that Manning did assault Naughright. But not today.
Many of you will think, after the last few years when I’ve written a lot about Manning and gotten the kind of access to him that most media people don’t get:
You love Manning. You’re on Manning’s side. You don’t want to burn the relationship you have with him. I’m not going to change your mind about me or Manning in six paragraphs. But what I truly don’t want to do is burn a person based on one side of a he-said, she-said story, a story that has resulted in no criminal conviction or charges in two decades.
