Rob Lowe Tweets QB Manning Will Retire, Ignites Hysteria

Actor Rob Lowe apparently failed in an unexpected bid to break major sports news on Wednesday when he tweeted that legendary NFL quarterback Peyton Manning plans to retire. But Lowe's tip from, in his words, "my people" did set off a minor bout of hysteria in the Twittersphere, and showed just how incredible the 24/7 digital sports-news cycle can get.

The Washington Post reported that the "tweet sent reporters scurrying" and Fox Sports reported it "instantly vaulting" the actor and quarterback to the fifth and seventh spots, respectively, among Twitter's United States trending topics this afternoon.

The frenzy began early Wednesday afternoon when Lowe, who became famous in Wayne's World, The West Wing and other movies and TV shows, posted this tweet:

Hearing my fave, #18 Peyton Manning will not return to #NFL. Wow. #Colts

— Rob Lowe (@RobLowe) January 18, 2012

He followed that up by trying to compare notes with respected — and real — NFL reporter Rich Eisen with this tweet:

@richeisen My people are saying Manning will retire today. What do you hear? #NFL

— Rob Lowe (@RobLowe) January 18, 2012

Lowe couldn't leave it alone, posting again on the topic for the third time in 10 minutes:

#Colts fans, let's hope my info is wrong. Don't like being wrong, but this time… I'm hoping#NFL #Manning

— Rob Lowe (@RobLowe) January 18, 2012

Then the story took another Twitter turn when ESPN's senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen tweeted that he spoke with Peyton Manning's father, Archie, who shot down Lowe's "report," for lack of a better term. "Noooo…he aint' retiring," Mortensen tweeted that Archie told him. "I think he would've told me."

Much of the panic among NFL fans was fueled by the fact that Lowe is known to be a friend of Colts owner and frequent tweeter Jim Irsay. In fact, Lowe was the first person that Irsay followed when he joined the network.

At time of writing, Lowe hadn't posted again since his final rumor tease. Radio silence from Irsay's account further stoked the flames, but three hours after Lowe's flurry of tweets, the Colts owner posted this message attempting to make light of the situation:

My sources tell me Rob will star in an epic remake of "Deep Throat" with aging porn stars and 4 finger circus clowns!

— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) January 18, 2012

All in a day's work in the sports media world.

But Lowe actually wasn't the only leading man to put foot in mouth Wednesday. News — again, for lack of a better term — also broke that Mark Wahlberg said in an interview with Men's Journal that he would have prevented one of the hijacked planes from crashing into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The comment quickly put the Boogie Nights star on trending lists as well.

Perhaps Grantland.com columnist Bill Simmons summed it all up best with this tweet:

Today, Rob Lowe announced Peyton Manning's retirement and Mark Wahlberg announced he could have stopped 9/11. Your move, Liam Neeson.

— Bill Simmons (@sportsguy33) January 18, 2012