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Rocky Top vs. Rocky Mountains.

Come on, Peyton Manning. Choose already.

As Manning met hour after hour after hour with the Tennessee Titans at their Nashville headquarters Wednesday, it seemed like it was two months ago that the Broncos entertained the highly coveted free agent.

In truth, Manning visited for about 10 hours with the Broncos last Friday, counting flight, meeting at the team's Dove Valley headquarters and dinner at Cherry Hills Country Club.

He met Wednesday with the Titans for about 8 hours a 1 -hour flight from the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., airport to Nashville with Titans coach Mike Munchak, general manager Ruston Webster and chief operating officer Mike Reinfeldt, and another

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6 hours or so at the team's headquarters.

Manning flew back Wednesday night to Raleigh-Durham, N.C., where he will continue to work out at Duke University with his former college offensive coordinator, David Cutcliffe.

The Miami Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals also are in contention for Manning, who is the only NFL player to win four MVP awards but also missed the 2011 season because of complications from four neck surgeries.

When will Manning select his next team? One deadline is 2 p.m. Friday. The Cardinals have to release their incumbent quarterback, Kevin Kolb, by then to avoid paying him a $7 million bonus. If the Cards don't get Manning, they are expected to keep Kolb. If the Cards get Manning, they are expected to release Kolb and put his $7 million toward the new guy's contract.

Manning had hoped to make his decision by the start of the NFL's free-agent market opening Tuesday, but the Titans' late entrance into the quarterback's sweepstakes delayed the process.

And the Broncos thought they were deliberate in joining the Manning derby. After watching Manning's farewell news conference last Wednesday that was held with Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, Broncos front-office boss John Elway and his staff and Broncos coach John Fox and his staff gathered in a meeting to discuss whether to go after one of the all-time great quarterbacks.

Until then, the Broncos seemed content on backing up incumbent quarterback Tim Tebow with a free agent such as Josh Johnson, and then draft another quarterback such as Brandon Weeden, Ryan Tannehill, Kirk Cousins, Brock Osweiler or Nick Foles within the first three rounds of the draft.

Like any good organizational meeting, the pros and cons of acquiring Manning were discussed. The meeting adjourned with a no-brainer conclusion: Peyton Manning is available. How can you not go after him?

Then there were the Titans. They didn't get in until owner Bud Adams announced Sunday that he wanted his team to do whatever it took to sign Manning.

What Tennessee has over Denver is familiarity. He played his college ball at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and his wife, Ashley, was born, raised and married to Peyton in Memphis.

Manning is the most sought-after free agent since players were first afforded the opportunity in 1993. The next year, Manning replaced an injured Todd Helton as Tennessee's quarterback and started every game thereafter until a neck injury prevented him from taking a snap with the Indianapolis Colts in 2011.

The neck injury caused his Colts to finish with a 2-14 record that gave them the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft at a time when sensational Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck declared himself eligible.

Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com