Noted football authority, Hollywood heartthrob and Indianapolis Colts fan Rob Lowe wants you to know that future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning will retire from football today. Lowe informed the public via Twitter.
Rob Lowe @RobLowe
Hearing my fave, #18 Peyton Manning will not return to #NFL. Wow.#Colts
Lowe did seek verification from NFL Network’s Rich Eisen.
Rob Lowe @RobLowe
@richeisen My people are saying Manning will retire today. What do you hear? #NFL
Eisen responded a few moments later.
Rich Eisen @richeisen
@RobLowe get out.
Not sure how Eisen meant that, but Lowe softened his report a bit.
Rob Lowe @RobLowe
#Colts fans, let’s hope my info is wrong. Don’t like being wrong, but this time… I’m hoping #NFL #Manning
A Tweep named Shaun Byrnes was skeptical.
Shaun Byrnes @ButtersBC
This is LITERALLY the most embarrassed Jay Glazer’s ever been MT@RobLowe Peyton Manning will not return to #NFL
Dr. Emilio Lizardo mocked the source of this report
Dr. Emilio Lizardo @LizardoJournal
@realfreemancbs Andrew Luck is retiring today, according to Ally Sheedy.
A quick Twitter search of #Manning found a comment by Devin Setoguchi.
devin setoguchi @Dsetoguchi1015
Giants baby giants!!!! #manning
Um, probably the wrong Manning.
Alex Lombardi, no relation to Vince that I can tell, put the right spin on this.
Alex Lombardi @hey_lombo6m
People have been asking what i think of roB LOWe ME’s tweets….#factswithoutwikipedia #manning will return
Colts owner Jim Irsay is silent on the matter on his Twitter timeline, but Tweep Kirby Myers found an interesting connection. 
Kirby Myers @Myers_Kirby
Rob Lowe tweeting that Peyton Manning will retire today. Note:@RobLowe is the first person that @JimIrsay followed on Twitter.
Can you spell conspiracy? Can you smell the cover-up? Is irsay one of Lowe’s peeps? C’mon, Jim. What are you hiding? Is Manning in play or not?
With the Colts expected to select Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck in the 2012 NFL Draft, Peyton Manning figures in a number of rumors. The Colts owe him a $28 million bonus on March 8 that becomes the drop dead date on a keep, trade or release decision.
Stories have Peyton moving to the New York Jets. Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross wants to make a big-splash signing of a coach and quarterback. Manning fits that bill. Other sources reported that it was “very likely” that Manning and center Jeff Saturday would be traded to the Washington Redskins.
Maybe Manning does not want to be the star in his own version of Suck for Luck. He would have a large say in any decision about his football future. Why not leverage his point by suggesting via tweets by friends that he will retire?
If any of this is true, I have my doubts, we will know by the end of the day.
If only we had access to Wikipedia today, then we could check this report out. You can always trust what you read in Wikipedia.
Curse you, SOPA!
UPDATE: Jim Irsay DID tweet his response via Blackberry this evening.
Jim Irsay @JimIrsay
My sources tell me Rob will star in an epic remake of “Deep Throat” with aging porn stars and 4 finger circus clowns!
The comment was widely retweeted.
What would fans do without direct connections to movie stars and team owners? You gotta love it.
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