By this point in his life, the world knows who Peyton Manning is very well. He’s a football genius, a likable personality, a surprisingly talented actor, but most of all, he’s a competitor.
It’s Manning’s nature to always be competing, and looking for ways to get ahead even just slightly more. His mentality is one that quarterbacks after him try to emulate, and ones that have the same work ethic and drive seem to make it further than others.
To put things into perspective, Peyton Manning even used Pro Bowl Week – the league’s undisputed vacation time – as a chance to get an edge just a little bit more.
According to Ty Law, Manning used to bait players into drinking more fancy cocktails before laying down some groundwork for their gameplay, and what they see when playing against him. On the Dale and Keefe podcast, Law tells the story.
“Peyton would try to get you — one you get over to the Pro Bowl, you’re on the same team. Peyton tried to get you drunk and then try to dig in to your brain. ‘What did you see? Why did you do this?’ … ‘It’s on me!’ He tried to feed you all these damn Mai Tais. He kept feeding you all those, and then he wanted to come at you and butter you up and ask you what you see and this and that. I was like, ‘Peyton, I ain’t falling for that (expletive).’ I tell him right there.”
It’s possible Law was playing it up for entertainment’s sake, but these stories don’t usually just appear out of thin air. Peyton was, and always will be, a gamer.
(H/T FTW)
