The stars of the Miami Heat wasted no time Wednesday night in going public with their yearning for Peyton Manning to choose the Dolphins and South Beach as his new football home.
After a hard-fought victory at home over the frisky Atlanta Hawks, LeBron James, the Heat's lightning rod of a superstar, couldn't keep Manning's name out of his mouth in postgame interviews.
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"I'm just saying, Dolphins need a quarterback, and Peyton's available," James said, via to CBSSports.com.
When asked if he was trying to recruit Manning to Miami, he said: "I gave my pitch, my one and only pitch. We'll see what happens."
James and Manning don't know each other, the forward said, "But I'm a Miami Heat player," James told the South Florida Sun Sentinel, "and I want Miami sports to be great: The U, the Dolphins, the Marlins, the Heat, of course."
"Peyton Manning is a great player," James added. "No matter what happened this past year, his resume speaks for itself and it would be great to have him down here."
James' superstar partner Dwyane Wade, whose lobbying helped bring and Chris Bosh to Miami when the two were free agents in 2010, took to Twitter to once again become a pitchman for the city of Miami: "I'm just gonna put it out thr..peyton that number 18 wld look gr8 in a dolphins uniform..steve ross let's go.. marlins & heat style..All in."
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Heat veteran Udonis Haslem jumped on board, too.
"I'm already working on that," Haslem said, according to The Palm Beach Post. "I'm thinking Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne. If we can work that out, we've got big Brandon Marshall, then we're on our way. We got a solid defense. So, if you all hear me, Peyton and Reggie, you know what I mean, wink, wink, make it happen."
Manning did little to douse enthusiasm about the Dolphins' reported interest upon his return to Florida on Wednesday after his farewell press conference in Indianapolis.
"Well, it's certainly flattering," Manning told WSVN-TV according to the Sun Sentinel. "Dan Marino is my all-time favorite quarterback after my dad and my brother. He's No. 3. ... The Miami Dolphins have a great organization, great history. They have new people in place. We have no idea what teams are interested."
