IF THE MANNINGS ARE TAKING OVER AMERICA, WHY STOP AT TV?
As if winning four Super Bowls wasn’t enough, the famous brothers are entertaining a nation and changing how sports TV is consumed, making us wonder if football’s First Family has any boundaries
What’s next, a Peyton-Eli presidential ticket in 2024? A ManningCast from the moon with Jeff Bezos? Might they host the Oscars? Or replace Snoop Dogg and Eminem as the Super Bowl LVI halftime entertainment?
Oh, I know. Any day now, the Mannings will be announcing a 30-city barnstorming tour of U.S. arenas. Or, large stadiums if they promise to bring their nephew, Arch, and have him eventually reveal where he’ll be playing college football and prolonging the family quarterbacking legacy.
Of all people to soothe an American psyche battered by politics and vaccine warfare, here we have two brothers who once walked through the ESPN hallways, alongside their parents, and literally exchanged ass kicks — and fierce ones, at that — in an all-time commercial. Years later, they’ve tapped into that brotherly-pranking ethos to deliver the hottest show in sports television. Not to overstate the impact of their alternate broadcast on ESPN2 — in a country of 331 million people, they’ve been watched by as many as 1.9 million viewers on “Monday Night Football with Peyton & Eli.’’ But even if their participation is a temporary blip, something to do for a year or two in their NFL after-lives, their Zoom chit-chats have changed how Millennials and Gen Zers expect to consume sports in the future.
Thanks to the Mannings, people don’t think about another ordinary evening with Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick on the main broadcast, or whatever lame booth grouping is presented by a network that has failed the “MNF’’ franchise spectacularly. Instead, the audience wonders what Peyton, Eli and a procession of A-list guests possibly will say and do next. Will Peyton, the semi-serious smart ass, continue to bring out the lovable goofball in Eli, the breakout star of the production, who might shake his hips in showing off his dropback passing form or shockingly flip a double-bird at Philadelphia fans? “I’m like Shakira. The hips don’t lie, Peyt. That’s why I can throw it further than you. My hips are looser,’’ Eli said in an unforgettable moment. Will they continue to defy the FCC and invite provocative subjects such as Marshawn Lynch, who dropped a live F-bomb after downing a shot and a half of Hennessy?
“We want to apologize for some of the language,” Peyton said after Lynch’s fumble. “That’s not what we’re trying to do on this show. I had to remind Eli that this show is live, so Eli’s learned his lesson. Marshawn, I probably should have had a talk with him … keep your hands down below the screen. Anyway, we apologize for that.’’
“We are averaging about an apology per game so far,” Eli told the New York Post. “They are like turnovers: You have to try to get down to zero apologies per game.”
They didn’t turn the ball over in their fifth game together, when Eli openly rooted for his New York Giants during their 20-17 loss in Kansas City. At one point, Peyton impishly said, “I blanked up. Notice I said ‘blank,’ Eli. I’m learning my lesson.’’ But are we really sure they were all that sorry for the slip-ups? The charm of their banter is the wink-wink quotient, as if they devilishly delight in getting away with what they can. None of this would work nearly as well during the postseason, when the games are paramount and major bettors don’t want interruptions from Michael Irvin, Jon Stewart, LeBron James and Charles Barkley. But, sure, who didn’t laugh when Peyton lost a bet with his brother on the Ole Miss-Tennessee game and had to wear a replica of Eli’s college jersey?
Cracked Eli: “I know you asked for one of my own, real jerseys. But I didn't want your big head stretching out the neck too much, because then I would never be able to wear it again."
And who didn’t howl when Eli managed another jab, as the producers replayed Peyton’s quick devouring of a chicken meal during a break? “Are you breathing?’’ Eli said. “You just ate a whole chicken with no stops.’’
Though the Mannings have a three-year deal with ESPN, through Peyton’s production company, the fun could end as soon as the Denver Broncos are put up for sale. It no longer matters where an NFL team is located — all 32 franchises are gold mines, and Bezos and Jay-Z are among those who’ve reportedly expressed interest amid ownership infighting among the heirs of the late Pat Bowlen. Sunday, when he was honored as the newest member of the team’s Ring of Fame, Peyton said he hasn’t had a conversation about ownership. But as a Denver resident who attends Broncos games as a season-ticket holder, he didn’t exactly shoot down the idea.
“Certainly, there's some people who have called me and said ‘Hey, what do you think is going to happen with the Broncos? Are you going to try to own the team?’ I keep looking for that $3 billion in my pocket, I can't find it, I think it's in a hidden account somewhere. That's not really on my radar,’’ he said. “People are obviously interested. I care because I live here and go to the games, and I want to know what's going to happen like everyone else. But I have no relationship or agreement with anybody.’’
That could change with one meeting. The money people, no matter who they are, certainly would want Manning as the public face and voice of the franchise. For now, he’s thrilled to be a father first and a TV star second. “Even if I'm offered an opportunity, I haven't decided if I would even do it,’’ he said. “I actually like what I'm doing now. I get to stay close to the game. I get to coach (son) Marshall's flag football team, I went to a doubleheader softball game to see (daughter) Mosley play. I'm just taking everything on a one year at a time basis.
“Next year, who knows how I'll feel?’’
Exactly.
Meaning, enjoy the ManningCast while you have it. And that includes bye weeks, with another next Monday, which couldn’t come at a better time. They sound sick of each other, and whether it’s true or part of the act, it’s hilarious either way. After Peyton signed off and said they’d talk in two weeks, Eli shot back, “I don’t like talking to you every Monday,’’ mentioning that control-freakish Peyton sends too many “voice memos,’’ more than an hour’s worth last week alone.
Let the show breathe. The magnitude is established. Just as Peyton Manning revolutionized the quarterback position with painstaking film preparation and commanding leadership — and just as Eli Manning beat Tom Brady in two Super Bowls, as he emphasized to Brady last week — they’ve left an imprint in the volatile, random world of sports media. As long as football is played in America, you sense a Manning always will be prominent, such as Arch.
His recruitment, as a junior at the same New Orleans high school attended by his father and uncles, is becoming as meaty a story as the college season itself. Will he choose Ole Miss like Eli, or is Lane Kiffin’s unstable presence too big a risk? Will he take the sensible NFL route for QBs via Alabama and Nick Saban? Isn’t Georgia dominating the college game? Or are the rumors, as swirled by a recent ESPN story, real about Texas? On an unofficial visit to Austin last summer, Arch participated in a chalk-talk session with coach Steve Sarkisian. When he mistakenly left his notes behind, Sarkisian scanned them and called Nelson Stewart, Manning’s coach at Isidore Newman School. “Coach Sarkisian called me and said it took their breath away and that it was staggering how much information he was writing down,’’ said Stewart, who said Sarkisian told him, “I just want you to know I've been doing this for a long time and have worked with a lot of quarterbacks. Even if I never get to coach this kid, the fact that I got to work with him today was phenomenal and makes it all worth it. That's the kind of impression he had on us.’’
It probably doesn’t matter where he goes. The Mannings always find a way to wherever they want to be, whether it’s a Super Bowl celebration or a mass-televised Monday night party that has become bigger than the game they’re watching. And, incidentally, if they did want to pursue the White House?
They might win.
Jay Mariotti, called “the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he has gravitated by osmosis to film projects.