Probe of Manning not going to vanish
NFL: Interviews soon regarding HGH report
It has been five months since Peyton Manning and four active NFL players were linked to human growth hormone or other performance-enhancing drugs in a televised documentary. Five long months, and what have we heard?
Precious little, until Wednesday.
Since HGH is banned by the league and since performanceenhancing drugs have become the sports story of the spring around the world — likely the summer, too — one would think that the league would have moved quickly after announcing in January that it was launching an investigation into the allegations made by Al Jazeera America that various NFL players were receiving and using HGH or other performance-enhancing drugs.
Think again, everyone. Five months in, not a one of the players has been interviewed by the league. At this rate, the World Anti-Doping Agency will kick an entire nation out of the Olympics (Russia, that’s you) before the NFL speaks to five of its players.
This could change soon, NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said in a phone interview Wednesday.
“It’s our expectation that we will interview the players involved over the next month or so,” he said, adding that the NFL was “in conversations with the union over the timing ” of the interviews.
The union isn’t saying a peep about any of this. NFL Players Association spokesman George Atallah said Wednesday in an email that this was “not something we have a comment on.”
Funny, that was almost exactly what the NFL was saying in answer to emails for the past month or so, giving the distinct impression that no one in professional football is very excited about getting to the bottom of allegations
that Manning, Clay Matthews, James Harrison, Julius Peppers and Mike Neal were doping.
Lockhart rebutted this notion, saying that “extensive forensic” work was being carried out on the case.
“We are absolutely taking this seriously and looking at it over a matter of months,” he said.
One person who seems to have lost interest in the entire process is Manning. Even though he is retired, he is on the NFL’s interview list because he could wind up in a front office somewhere, and, let’s face it, sometimes athletes unretire, as unlikely as that seems in this case.
When the news broke in late December, Manning was furious. He spit out his words, including the answer to a question about whether he would sue the nowdefunct Al Jazeera America.
“Yeah, I probably will,” he told NBC. “I’m that angry.” Guess what? He’s not suing. A person familiar with Manning ’s strategy who was not au- thorized 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.
As you might recall, Charlie Sly, a former intern at Indianapolis’ Guyer Institute, was caught by an Al Jazeera America hidden camera saying that Manning went to the anti-aging clinic, a statement that turned out to be true. Sly also said that he mailed HGH and other drugs to Ashley Manning, a claim that has not been disputed by Peyton Manning or his representatives.
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.
Once beside himself with anger, Manning now is strategizing and calculating. When it appears that almost everyone has forgotten about the allegations against you, why not?