Mile High And Rising

This week brought news that Peyton Manning will be returning for his eighteenth season in the NFL. It will be his fourth with the Denver Broncos. It will also be the fourth season since his return from multiple neck surgeries. Peyton Manning will be thirty-nine in just a few days. This wily veteran, for his efforts, is about to take a pay cut in the neighborhood of four million dollars. And now the questions can begin: Will he hold up through a sixteen game season? Is he paving the way for the quarterback of the Broncos' future? And most importantly: Was he high?

From all accounts, probably not. All of these decisions were made at the highest level, with agents and executives consulting on the highest level. Peyton Manning is a team player, and he sees the value in giving a little back in order to help out the organization as a whole. He doesn't exactly need the money, and what's more, he doesn't need to be stoned to act goofy. It should be noted that Mister Manning is also a pretty savvy businessman. When asked about his chain of Papa John's pizza shops, He had this to say: “I've gotten to know some of the folks here in Colorado. There’s some different laws out here in Colorado. Pizza business is pretty good out here, believe it or not, due to some recent law changes. So when you come to a different place, you've kind of got to learn everything that comes with it.” Stoned people want pizzas. Get it? Maybe that's why he didn't need that extra five million dollars. He'll make up for it in anchovies. 

Meanwhile, in stoned Bronco news, former Bronco tight end Nate Jackson spoke up at a marijuana business conference saying that he believes that the NFL should remove pot from its list of banned substances. Nate asserts that medical marijuana could be a means to help players deal with the physical and psychological pain and head injuries inherent to their profession. This is news not only because a retired professional athlete is advocating for the league he once played for to allow today's players the use of cannabis as a medicinal cure to the suffering they incur in the pursuit of their teams' glory, but also because there is such a thing as a "marijuana business conference."  I wonder if Peyton Manning can get the catering gig on some of those.