Eli Manning is one of, if not the goofiest character in all of sports television. Forget his awkward dad-jokes that always fall flat on the Monday Night Football Manningcast, he was a meme way back in his playing career. We all remember Eli Manning reconsidering all his life decisions, right?
Or the patented thousand-mile stare we saw on so many broadcasts throughout the years.
Well Eli just continues to deliver even in his days of “retirement”, and he does not miss. He posted on X yesterday that he was riding the subway… for the first time… EVER?!
The guy played in New York for 16 years and you’re telling me he never once rode the subway? New York traffic rests for no one, I don’t care how many Super Bowls you won that city. So for Eli to spend nearly a third of his life in a city that almost requires you to commute by rail and never actually use it baffles me.
However, after digesting this post, thinking about Eli as a quarterback and knowing what New York sports fans are like, this move doesn’t surprise me one bit. Eli Manning was one of the most frustrating Giants quarterbacks ever. His first full season he went 11-5, but lost in the first round of the playoffs. The following year he went 8-8 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. Then, the next season, he wins them a Super Bowl taking down the proverbial Goliath in the undefeated New England Patriots, only to follow it up with a first round playoff bounce the following season. Eli and the Giants wouldn’t go back to the playoffs until 2011 when they would win yet another Super Bowl, but wouldn’t see postseason again for five more years. Eli, almost astonishingly, finished with an even record of 117-117 as a starting quarterback in the NFL, it’s almost too perfect.
Now back to my other point, do you realize the ridicule Eli Manning would have faced in that tin tube full of angry Giants fans on their way to a job they hate? He might not make it out of there alive! The Giants may have not seen a second Super Bowl had Manning been riding the subways during the 8-8, 2009 campaign.
But for him never to ride it once, just to say he did it until now is so Eli Manning it hurts. And look at his picture! He looks like he was on his way to a job interview and the interviewer said they never got his headshot so he had to send one in real quick. Never change, Eli. Never change.
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