In Peyton Manning's Defense: An unpopular post

A few weeks ago, during the standard Broncos-Patriots trash-talk before the AFC Championship, I learned that while a student at the University of Tennessee in 1996, Peyton Manning had an inappropriate incident with a female trainer. Since the Broncos have won the Super Bowl, I’ve seen the story more, usually the New York Post's version with the headline, “Peyton Manning’s Squeaky-Clean Image Is Built on Lies.”

I’ve read quite a bit about this story, and while the incident was undoubtedly completely inappropriate and offensive, I’m afraid I can’t join the mob that wants to string him up by his testicles and declare him an enemy of women everywhere in 2016. I am not a sexual assault apologist, nor do I have any particular affection for Peyton Manning even though I’m a Broncos fan (I’m actually more excited about Brock Osweiler getting to have a shot outside of Peyton’s shadow). And for whatever it’s worth, I also thought the uproar about Cam Newton’s actions after the Super Bowl was unwarranted; to me he was acting exactly like a very disappointed young man who was frustrated that he didn’t perform at his best on the biggest stage of his life.

And I say all this as a person who did some really terrible shit when I was in my 20s.

Many of the people citing the 1996 incident as a reason Peyton should be stricken from the list of potentially decent people object to the characterization of the incident as “boys will be boys.” I hate that phrase and that is not what I am saying. It’s not a matter of “boys will be boys,” it’s a matter of “kids will be stupid.”

I have read much coverage of the incident since learning about it last month, and of course there are conflicting descriptions. But even taking Jamie Naughright’s description completely at face value, it still doesn’t read to me like much more than a 20-year-old being stupid. It’s really, really, bad, yes. But I don’t find it difficult to see how an adolescent in 1996 though it was a joke.

Absolutely, Ms. Naughright’s treatment in general at the University of Tennessee was horrible. But that’s not just Peyton Manning, that’s an entire nationwide institution that has historically treated women badly. Putting the entirety of the responsibility for the incident on Peyton Manning rather than the cultural climate allows us to ignore our own responsibility for setting up this kind of culture. Things are getting better, and it's important that we are having these conversations. But we can't put 20-year-old incidents into 21st century context.

The other issue, of course, is the ongoing cover-up. It was absolutely wrong for the Mannings to bring up the incident after agreeing not to in their first settlement. It was wrong for Peyton Manning to continue to concoct stories about his relationship with her – stories that were quickly refuted by others involved. I’m not sure how much of that is the fault of Peyton Manning himself, rather than the fault of the machine that depends on him. This machine is likely to include family, agents, lawyers, team spokespeople, and other people who, when collectively saying “don’t speak,” are likely to shut Peyton Manning up.

It was also wrong for Florida Southern University to fire Ms. Naughright on the basis of the Mannings’ book and the subsequent lawsuit and settlement. But Florida Southern did that, not Peyton Manning.

Finally, in a world where every single indiscretion is going to be dug up when you’ve got the kind of fame Petyon Manning does, it seems that this single 20-year-old incident and its aftermath is the only thing you can find negative about the man. That’s worth something. This clearly isn’t a pattern of behavior. He has not shown himself to be predatory. He did this idiot thing as a 20-year-old in a culture where marital rape wasn’t even illegal in all fifty states. It seems a bit disproportionate to keep trying to beat him over the head with it today.

I don’t expect to earn many points among my progressive friends with this post. I will just ask you all to remember that in addition to speaking out against patriarchy and privilege, we also spend a lot of time trying to get the culture at large not to forever vilify youth who make mistakes – even terrible ones.