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That one time in 2012 when Rob Lowe reported Peyton Manning was retiring

The last time there were speculations that Peyton Manning was headed into retirement, the news brought to us by trusted sports reporter Robe Lowe.

After an 18-year career, Peyton Manning is retiring.

The first to report Manning's retirement was actor Rob Lowe. But there was one issue with Lowe's report: He was four years too early. 

Lowe tweeted this on Jan. 18, 2012, when Manning's future with the Colts was in doubt after he missed the entire 2011 season due to injury:

He followed up his initial tweet by saying that his “people” were hearing that Manning was set to retire that very day. We're still unclear on who these mysterious “people” are, but it looks like they led Lowe astray.

He didn't stop there though, adding that he hoped he was wrong about the news. His wish would come true!

Manning, NFL fans, and reporters (who were honestly probably a little nervous that Lowe had scooped them) were genuinely confused by the report.

Twitter wasted no time when it came to giving Lowe his very own hashtag. #RobLoweIsReporting became the go-to hashtag for making up other news that Lowe had reported.

The quarterback’s father, Archie Manning, found the news pretty hilarious, making the pretty valid point that his son probably would have told him that he was going to retire.

Manning’s agent Tom Condon also had no idea what was going on.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. Manning eventually shut down the rumors. 

“I never thought ‘Sodapop Curtis’ would announce my retirement,” Manning said, referencing Lowe’s role in the movie The Outsiders. He also added that he was caught “way off guard” and couldn't explain what Lowe was talking about.

Despite his claim that his information came from a “pretty darn good source,” Lowe quickly retired from journalism.

UPDATE: When the news was announced on Sunday, Lowe poked fun at himself for his previous “journalism.”