Peyton Manning grilled over article, Colts kicker in 2003 deposition – CBSSports.com

Because an incident involving Peyton Manning at Tennessee — previously settled out of court — emerged into the public domain following his run to a Super Bowl win with the Broncos, a number of old legal documents are suddenly becoming relevant.

This includes a 2003 affidavit from Manning detailing the 1996 incident in question and now a deposition of Manning from 2003 in the defamation suit filed by Jamie Naughright, obtained by the Washington Post and posted online.

Depositions are by and large pretty boring but this one involving Manning being questioned aggressively by Bob Puterbaugh, Naughright’s lawyer, is kind of spicy, because Puterbaugh basically harasses Manning about throwing “hissy fits,” appearing in Sports Illustrated, Mike Vanderjagt and a meeting with his basketball coach in high school.

The entire deposition is 240 pages. For the first 90 pages — well over an hour according to the actual testimony — Puterbaugh badgered Manning about a bizarre list of topics.

The lawyer begins by asking Manning about recruiting videos at Tennessee. Then on page 15, he produces a copy of Sports Illustrated where Manning is listed as one of four NFL players in need of an “attitude adjustment” (Manning is listed with Randy Moss, Kyle Turley and Warren Sapp).

Puterbaugh proceeds to ask Manning more than 50 — yes, fifty — questions pertaining to the SI article and his interactions with Jim Mora. There is a debate about the meaning of a “hissy fit” and whether Manning is difficult to work with. Also about the status of SI.

“Q:” are Puterbaugh’s questions, “A:” is Manning answering them:

Q: By the way, Sports Illustrated is not some flake periodical out there. It’s a mainstream sports magazine, is it not, sir?

A: Yes.

Q: In fact, if you are ranking the top three, it would certainly be in the top three, if not the Number 1, correct?

A: As far as football sports magazines?

Q: Yes, sir.

A: Yes. I guess. I don’t know how many more they sell.

Q: It probably would be in the top three, wouldn’t you say?

A: I guess.

Q: And it’s certainly mainstream?

A: What does that mean?

Q: It means it’s recognized as being a respectable critical magazine as opposed to some flake magazine that might be out there?

[LAWYER INTERJECTION: What is a flake magazine?]

Q: Let’s say Mad Magazine.

A: I guess.

Q: So Sports Illustrated is a recognized magazine and you had a subscription to it, didn’t you?

A: Yes, I do.

Q: And I bet your father has a subscription to it, doesn’t he?

A: He may.

Relevance? The idea was perhaps to establish Manning as someone with an attitude problem or someone hard to work with but goodness some of the questions were ridiculous.

This goes on for about 15 pages of deposition, at which point the attorney brings out a copy of Manning’s book and proceeds to question him about an incident in high school with his basketball and baseball coach Billy Fitzgerald.

The premise of all of this is to show some level of confrontation, with the attorney ignoring the fact Manning is 16 years old and Coach Fitzgerald is 50.

This goes on for another 17 pages at which point in time Puterbaugh pulls out a copy of the Indianapolis Star. Again, the debate about Manning’s state of mind:

Q: Now this article that you have in front of you refers to an incident at the Pro Bowl this year, does it not, sir?

A: Yes, it does.

Q: Would you characterize that as a hissy fit?

A: No.

Q: Would you characterize it as a tantrum?

A: No.

Q: An eruption?

A: No.

Q: An outburst.

A: No.

Q: A flare-up?

A: No.

Q: Wasn’t it just a little bit of a flare-up?

A: It was an interview.

Q: It was an interview, but did you flare up during that interview?

A: I don’t believe that I did. I believe it was an interview.

Q: Did you explode during that interview?

A: I don’t believe so.

Q: Did you call your kicker on your team an idiot?

A: I did.

You probably remember Manning’s interview during the Pro Bowl about Mike Vanderjagt.

There’s a full 20 pages worth of deposition dedicated to Manning’s public comments about Vanderjagt. Again, maybe a pattern of saying things publicly? Or perhaps trying to prove Manning said something about Vanderjagt without proof?

Whatever the case, a lot of time spent talking about an idiot kicker and a sidebar in Sports Illustrated.