Peyton Manning to retire? That’s what Rob Lowe’s people tell him

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Peyton Manning’s 14-year NFL career may be over -- that is, if you believe recent tweets from no less an authority than actor Rob Lowe.

That’s right. Rob Lowe -- whose decades-spanning career includes roles in ‘St. Elmo’s Fire,’ ‘About Last Night,’ ‘The West Wing’ and ‘Tommy Boy’ -- had three posts Wednesday on Twitter saying that his ‘people’ were telling him that the injured Indianapolis Colts quarterback is retiring.

First there was ‘Hearing my fave, #18 Peyton Manning will not return to #NFL. Wow.’

That was followed by another tweet addressed to Rich Eisen, host of ‘NFL Total Access,’ ‘NFL GameDay Morning’ and ‘The Rich Eisen Podcast’: ‘My people are saying Manning will retire today. What do you hear?’

Then one more: ‘#Coltsfans, let’s hope my info is wrong. Don’t like being wrong, but this time... I’m hoping.’

Eisen later tweeted that Lowe called him to express ‘he truly hopes what he’s hearing is wrong.’

A couple of sources a little closer to Manning himself suggest that Lowe’s information is, in fact, incorrect. Manning’s father, Archie, laughed while telling ESPN’s Chris Mortensen: ‘He ain’t retiring. I think he would’ve told me.’ Manning’s agent, Tom Condon, told NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora that this was the first he’d heard about it.

The four-time MVP missed the entire 2011 season after undergoing neck surgery. The Colts went 2-14 in his absence and seem to be prepared to draft Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck with the No. 1 overall pick in April.

There is one slight reason for Colts fans to possibly be concerned about Lowe’s tweets. According to USA Today, Lowe is friends with Colts owner Jim Irsay and was the first person Irsay followed on Twitter.

Still, this is the star of the classic ‘80s Afterschool Special ‘Schoolboy Dad’ we’re talking about. We can’t really take this seriously ... can we?

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-- Chuck Schilken