Rob Lowe Tweets Peyton Manning Retirement Plan, Becomes Sports World Punch Line

Parks and Recreations star says he hopes he's wrong...but why did he think he was right?!

By Natalie Finn Jan 19, 2012 2:10 AMTags
Rob Lowe, Peyton ManningJoe Robbings, David Livingston/Getty Images

Rob Lowe: Bane of Indiana or surprisingly prescient NFL insider?

The Parks and Recreations star, who hasn't been ruled out yet as Regis Philbin's replacement on Live!, annoyed Indianapolis Colts fans and sports reporters everywhere today when he tweeted news of star quarterback Peyton Manning's retirement.

Wait, what?!

"Hearing my fave, #18 Peyton Manning will not return to #NFL. Wow. #Colts," the Virginia-born and Ohio-bred Lowe (just ruling out home-state interest) tweeted this afternoon.

Considering Manning, who missed the entire 2011 season with a neck injury, is a fan-favorite Super Bowl winner and future Hall of Famer, inquiring minds wanted to know what the heck Lowe was talking about.

"@RobLowe get out," former ESPN commentator and current NFL Network anchor Rich Eisen tweeted right back.

To which Lowe replied, "@richeisen My people are saying Manning will retire today. What do you hear? #NFL."

Fellow NFL Network reporter Kara Henderson got in on the act, tweeting, "Watching our newsdesk chase down Rob Lowe rumor is very comical... to me anyhow...Think Chad Lowe has any insight on Eli Manning's illness?"

And they weren't the only ones going after Lowe, who promptly added, "#Colts fans, let's hope my info is wrong. Don't like being wrong, but this time... I'm hoping #NFL #Manning."

Well, Manning's father and agent say he's wrong.

"He ain't retiring. I think he would've told me," dad Archie Manning told ESPN. And Peyton's agent, Tom Condora, told the NFL Network's Jason La Canfora that Lowe's tweet was the first he'd heard of his client's so-called plan.

"Manning was retiring it was news to him," La Canfora tweeted. "I told Tom I had a feeling this wouldn't be the last call he got on this topic."

Lowe of course also made headlines in Manning's stomping grounds, with the Indianapolis Star's Sports Pulse blog identifying the actor as "the prototypical jerk in such 90's classics as Wayne's World and Tommy Boy."

"It's too bad nobody can change Wikipedia to reflect the breaking news. #RobLowe," tweeted USA Today sports reporter Nicole Auerbach.

Offered CBS Sports' Mike Freeman: "'We hear Peyton Manning is retiring as well.' --Signed, The Breakfast Club."

And none other than Colts owner Jim Irsay wrote: "My sources tell me Rob will star in an epic remake of 'Deep Throat' with aging porn stars and 4 finger circus clowns!"

Grantland.com editor-in-life Bill Simmons brought it all back home for us in La La Land, tweeting, "Today, Rob Lowe announced Peyton Manning's retirement and Mark Wahlberg announced he could have stopped 9/11. Your move, Liam Neeson."

Of course, what would really be funny is if Manning ends up announcing his retirement.

Serendipitously, Lowe had an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show scheduled, just in time for him to explain himself!

"I'm a huge, huge Peyton Manning fan—and a huge, huge Colts fan," the actor said. "I tweet every week about sports, about who they should fire who they should hire. I do, I'm like a regular guy who has his opinions and stuff. So I was tweeting that I heard this might be in the offing and then you learn the power of Twitter. That's a powerful, powerful medium."

When DeGeneres pressed him about his source, he cracked, "Ellen, I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you."