It broke right after Christmas, and the ripples of the subject matter were matched only by the powers of the headline.
"Report: Peyton Manning involved in HGH scandal," or some variation of those words, were plastered across every website from Al-Jazeera to Yahoo.com.
The original reporting was a 49-plus-minute documentary from TV network Al-Jazeera, and it painted Manning and his wife as part of a growing number of famous athletes involved in human growth hormone (HGH) as a way to prevent and rehab from injuries in 2011. (And considering Al-Jazeera's headquarters location and Manning's popularity, here's betting the anti-Muslim sentiment has given Donald Trump's polling numbers another bump in Tennessee, Indiana and Colorado.)
The report on Manning's involvement was based on a video interview with Charles Sly, who interned with the Guyer Institute, an anti-aging facility in Indianapolis that worked with Manning.
In the hours that followed the Al-Jazeera report, everyone this side of Barry Bonds has denied the charges.
Statements from Manning and the head of the Guyer Institute were vehement. Even Sly is recanting his story, alleging to ESPN he was fooled by Liam Collins, who was part of the reporting team for Al- Jazeera. According to Sly, Collins approached him about getting HGH for several English soccer players. Sly claimed he included the Mannings - who used Guyer in 2011, two years before Sly interned there - to add street cred to his proposals to get into the HGH business.
Collins is a former hurdler for Great Britain, and allegedly pushed Sly for details about HGH for aging athletes. He even reportedly took investors out of millions in a real estate scheme.
Still this started with Sly. His retraction of the story prompted Al- Jazeera to back the story, and even caused reporter Deborah Davies to post on social media that Sly's recent decision to distance himself from the story was about Sly trying to avoid controversy.
Either way, recanting this, Charles, is like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube.
The Colts and the Broncos, the teams Manning has starred for, also voiced support for the star quarterback and denied any knowledge of any drug use by Manning.
Heck, even Manning's arch-rival - Patriots quarterback Tom Brady - has offered his support to Manning.
But in today's sports climate, the accusations of using performance enhancers is the "guilty until proven innocent" claim. Even for Manning.
Think of it this way: He's a sports legend. A guy who was the face of his sport and is far and away the leading endorser in his genre. He's got a sterling reputation and reached a level of success that most can only dream.
Of course Manning has all that. So did Lance Armstrong.
I believe Manning's denial and think the report is flawed. (And that today's journalism standards at a lot of places have been lowered by the click-bait standards of web-crazed industry leaders. And yes, if you are wondering, the last three days with the Manning report leading the way, Al-Jazeera's website has received record traffic).
That said, I also believed Armstrong.
Still, it's hard to know whether our collective judgment is accurate since we all want to believe Manning so much. It's like the legendary kid who said, "Say it ain't so, Joe" to Chicago White Sox star Joe Jackson when the team threw the 1919 World Series.
Peyton already has said this story isn't so.
But if the narrative here changes, then we may have to come to grips with the fact that everyone - EVERY one - could be a suspect on using something to get ahead.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com. His "Right to the Point" column appears on A2 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.