Eli Manning made quite a splash earlier this year when he declared that he felt he was an “elite” quarterback. However, with his team’s most recent playoff victory, it seems he has put all that behind him.
“Forget being ‘elite,’” said Manning after his Giants defeated the Packers 37-20 Sunday evening at Lambeau Field—thus advancing to the NFC Championship Game. “I get to sit at the Big Boy Table!”
Apparently, a little-known fact about the Manning household is that family patriarch Archie Manning has instituted a hierarchy of importance amongst his three sons. Until now, only superstar brother, Peyton Manning was allowed to eat at the same table as Archie—thus enabling him to do things such as speak to Archie and/or look him in the eye.
For the last several years, Eli has been relegated to an ancillary table—where he sat quietly and ate leftovers with the family dog, a basset hound named Buster.
“Buster’s ok and all,” said an elated Eli. “But gosh durn, I sure like eating momma’s cornbread before it turns into a cold brick.”
“Yup,” chuckled Archie. “Eli’s made it … for now. And I’ll tell you something else. If Peyton doesn’t get this whole ‘neck-nicality’ thing taken care of, he’ll be lappin up Buster’s leftovers faster than you can skin a cat. I just know that boy’s a gettin’ soft!”
When asked about the third Manning boy, Cooper’s place at the family tables, Archie nearly fell from his chair in responding. “Cooper?! We don’t even let him come in the house. I mean God forbid he may defecate in the corner again or start telling stories about pee-wee league soccer. Cooper? Good one!”
