A number of things went wrong for Peyton Manning last Sunday, and the worst thing that may have happened to him was winning Super Bowl 50. If that sounds a little counterintuitive to you, consider the chain of events that followed Manning’s Super Bowl victory.
Manning beat Cam Newton en route to his second Super Bowl ring, and Newton took it poorly; suddenly leaving his post-game press conference. The media jumped all over Newton for having poor sportsmanship and a lack of class, which is supposedly the polar opposite of the consummate professional, Peyton Williams Manning.
Other members of the media, however, quickly pointed to the biased coverage Newton has been receiving all season. When Manning walked off the field without shaking hands after losing Super Bowl XLIV, the media chalked it up to Manning being a fierce competitor, and the story was spun in such a way that it actually added to the character of quarterback. With Newton, however, the majority of news outlets made him in to a villain, a player who taunts opponents when he’s winning, and sulks when he loses.
There is an obvious racial aspect to the comparisons between Manning and Newton, and propping one of them up as a model of what is right and noble in the sports world is going to draw unavoidable backlash. In order to argue for Newton, people began taking shots at Manning’s character flaws; whether it was the handshaking incident from Super Bowl XLIV or the bombshell story that Manning sexually assaulted a female trainer when he was at the University of Tennessee.
That’s right, Manning, the essence of respectability, allegedly sexually assaulted a trainer when was in college. Shaun King of the New York Daily News obtained 74 pages of court documents that the USA Today has had for nearly 13 years. King used the documents to write a scathing article that details Manning’s sexual assault of Dr. Jamie Naughright and the ensuing smear campaign by Manning and his father, Archie Manning, that ruined her professional career. Whether or not you believe the allegations is up to you, but the damage against Manning’s reputation if this story blows up is indisputable.
Winning the Super Bowl was supposed to cement Manning’s legacy as one of the greatest football players of all time, but in fact, it may ruin his squeaky-clean image. If Manning had lost to Tom Brady in the AFC championship game, or lost to Cam Newton in the Super Bowl, this wouldn’t be happening. Manning won the Super Bowl, which thrust the national spotlight directly onto him, but more importantly, Cam Newton lost.
When Newton lost the game, he had to go talk to the media during his press conference. Because of a ridiculous oversight by the NFL, Newton could hear Chris Harris of the victorious Denver Broncos giving his conference nearby. While no one can say for sure that was the reason a bitter Newton left the press conference abruptly, no one can say it wasn’t a contributing factor. Newton’s departure from the conference caused character comparisons between he and Manning, which led to people trying to dig up dirt on Manning to show the racial differences with media coverage. Soon after the Super Bowl, King received the court documents from an unnamed source who claimed to have read one of King’s earlier articles that showed a racial double standard between Newton and Manning. It is not a coincidence that King was sent documents just mere days after Super Bowl 50. He was given these documents as a direct result of Manning winning the Super Bowl.
At the beginning of the article it was mentioned that Manning ran into a number of problems on Super Bowl Sunday, stemming from his victory. Here they are in chronological order.
1. Manning wins the Super Bowl.
2. Due to a huge gaffe by the NFL, Chris Harris and Cam Newton are in earshot of each other during their press conferences.
3. Newton, still upset at the loss, storms out of his press conference and begins a media firestorm against him.
4. Journalists who support Newton, eager to show the hypocrisy of the sports world, begin writing about how Manning has taken similar actions to Newton in the past and not received anywhere near the same criticism.
5. Shaun King receives the court documents from Manning’s sexual assault charges and writes a scathing article about he and his father, Archie Manning.
Now, let’s connect the dots here. If Manning had simply lost the Super Bowl, his character would not be in question today. If Manning had lost, then Newton would have had a joyous press conference, and the media wouldn’t have attacked him. Since the media wouldn’t have attacked Cam, no one would have gone searching for skeletons in Manning’s closet. The documents that USA Today had for nearly 13 years would have remained in filing, gathering dust, and Manning would have remained the model citizen that he has always been.
If Manning really did all this, he deserves any negative backlash that he receives. If it turns out he didn’t do anything wrong, he will likely reclaim his place on top of the pedestal he’s been on his whole career. Either way, however, this incident sheds light on a much deeper problem that plagues the world of sports. There is no doubt that a player’s race shapes the way he is portrayed by the media, and the Manning/Newton case might finally bring some notable changes. Newton was treated harshly and it came back around to Manning.
Peyton Manning’s legacy may be ruined; all because he won the Super Bowl.
