Remember how mad Peyton Manning was when Al-Jazeera reported that he was a big ol’ HGH user? That report was a lie and fabricated and get ready for a lawsuit that restores my good name, the Papa Johns Pizza Man shouted.
Well, it’s been five months and there’s been no lawsuit and no real signs of an NFL investigation into this matter. Why hasn’t Manning been more litigious about this? He has his reasons, according to USA Today.
A person familiar with Manning’s strategy who was not authorized to speak publicly told USA Today Sports in a recent conversation that the former quarterback has decided after a dozen conference calls with attorneys that he doesn’t want to spend the time and money necessary to file a lawsuit that would make public the personal records and private lives of both he and his wife Ashley.
That seems like the thing you’d say if you didn’t want anyone looking more closely at these basically forgotten allegations. And if there are two things Manning has more of than almost everyone right now, it’s time and money. Nationwide Insurance isn’t free, gang.
There’s also this, which makes a lot of sense and seems snark-proof:
Manning also has a strategic trick up his sleeve, according to the person. Major League Baseball’s Ryan Zimmerman and Ryan Howard also were named in the Al Jazeera America report, and both did sue the network for libel in January.
Manning is watching those two cases closely, the person said, figuring that if they are eventually dismissed, he will know any prospective suit he might have filed would have been, too.
That’s what in legal circles is referred to as bandwagon litigation, in which you wait for someone else to do something great and then you show up late and join the win. That’s also what Manning did in his final season with the Broncos, so you can’t blame him for sticking with what works.
