When Pat McAfee realized Peyton Manning had approached the roulette table, he didn’t know what to expect. The Indianapolis Colts’ then-rookie punter wasn’t supposed to be there. He had planned on being at home alone that afternoon. Instead, he had just spent the last few hours successfully rallying; Manning had invited him to play golf with some teammates and, as it usually does for golf novices, it went comically wrong. But during a bus ride to the group’s hotel in French Lick, Ind., McAfee won everyone over, telling jokes and tales of his exploits at West Virginia University.
Now, he was seated at a roulette table inside the hotel’s casino lobby with $100 worth of chips spread out across different numbers.