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"One of the NFL's star quarterbacks, Peyton Manning, was cut loose by the Indianapolis Colts after 14 seasons of signal-calling brilliance this week. And, as is the norm these days, the major piece of sports news made a huge splash on Twitter. \nManning fans used the social network to pay tribute; fans of other teams used it to lobby for what Manning's next destination should be; and many Colts fans used Twitter to direct anger and frustration at team owner Jim Irsay for letting the franchise icon go. But how exactly did the conversation break down? \nMashable was provided a detailed analysis of the chatter by the Indianapolis-based social media research company Fizziology. The numbers reveal some interesting reactions and trends. \nAfter ESPN's Chris Mortensen broke the news on Tuesday afternoon via Twitter that Manning and the Colts would part ways, the quarterback's name was mentioned 48,147 times on the network over the next hour. Irsay was mentioned over 5,000 times, and Andrew Luck \u2014 the Colts' presumed first pick in the upcoming NFL Draft \u2014 was mentioned just over 3,600 times. \nIt's also interesting to see how the conversation morphed on Twitter as the story developed. About 18 hours after Mortensen's report, Irsay and Manning held an emotional press conference to wrap things up. \nBetween the time the news broke Tuesday and the press conference ended Wednesday, Irsay faced a deluge of negative sentiment on Twitter. Negative sentiment made up 48% of all Irsay-related tweets, while 37% were neutral and just 6% were positive. \nThe conference did help quell the overall rage toward Irsay, however. In the several hours after it ended, positive sentiment ran at 16% of all tweets, while negative and neutral sentiment decreased to 43% and 33%, respectively.\nFor Manning, positive sentiment ran at 40% before the press conference and increased to 59% in the hours after it ended. \nWhile Irsay managed to decrease negative sentiment toward him by 5% with the presser, it's surprising to see how the negative feelings shifted. \nBefore the press conference made things official, negative mentions of Irsay broke down like this, according to Fizziology: 52% general anger, 27% negativity about the decision itself, and 21% about Irsay's character. \nAfter the conference, negative Irsay sentiment was just 41% general anger and 24% decision-specific. But the amount of tweeters who posted critical mentions about Irsay's character swelled to 35% of all negative sentiment. \nNow the question becomes where Manning will play next season. According to the post-presser Twitter stats, it's a tie between the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins. Each team grabbed 24% of the chatter over Manning's future, while the San Francisco 49ers were just behind with 21%. The Washington Redskins had 17%, and the Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings 7% apiece. \nCheck out the gallery below for Fizziology charts that paint a fuller picture of how Twitter registered this week's Peyton Manning drama.\n\n\nPeyton Manning, Jim Irsay and the Twittersphere\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1. Manning Sentiment Comparison\nThis is how the Twitter chatter about Peyton Manning broke down between the initial report he would no longer be an Indianapolis Colt and the end of the press conference confirming that news.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2. Irsay Sentiment Comparison\nThis is how the Twitter chatter about Colts owner Jim Irsay broke down between the initial report end of the next day's press conference.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n3. Pre-Conference Jim Irsay Negative Sentiment\nThis is how negative sentiment about Jim Irsay broke down before the press conference.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n4. Post-Conference Jim Irsay Negative Sentiment\nThis is how negative sentiment about Jim Irsay broke in the several hours after the press conference.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n5. Where Will Manning Play Next?\nThese are the teams Twitter users most commonly associated him with in the several hours after the press conference.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThumbnail mage courtesy of cmannphoto"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/03/08/peyton-manning-release-twitter/>