This Sunday's Super Bowl will be a rematch between two quarterbacks, one of which now finds himself on the top of my personal list of athletes I despise the most. The answer might surprise you(or might not, if you knew me personally).
With Favre retired and Tiki Barber(both the previous leaders in the clubhouse for my ire) being treated by NFL teams like movie directors treat Skeet Ulrich, there's a new face for the Leonardis dart board: New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. Now, Giants fans like Gabe will claim by dislike of Eli is a byproduct of bitterness from Eli and company derailing two potential Packer Super Bowl runs. I'd be lying to you if I said that doesn't play a small part of it. Others might ask "but what about Tom Brady? Lots of people can't stand him." Duely noted. I don't hate Tom Brady. Men dislike Tom Brady for a multitude of reasons. He's kind of a sissy in how he whines to officials when defenders come anywhere close to hitting him after he releases the ball. Since dating Gisele, he's reformed himself into a Calvin Klein model who also moonlights as a QB. He's kind of robotic in his interviews. We dislike Tom Brady for the same reasons non-Yankee fans dislike Derek Jeter or most soccer fans despise David Beckham: He's rich, talented and he's a winner who also bangs hot chicks. Still, Brady's rise to glory from a unknown 6th round pick out of Michigan to a three-time Super Bowl champ and one of the greatest QB's of all time is a good enough story to give him the benefit of the doubt for the fact that he's a closet metrosexual whose image seems scripted by the writers of "Sex and the City".
Manning tops my list because, with his older brother in the twilight of his career and thus ignored from the spotlight beyond clamoring for his retirement, he's become a bit overrated. I get it. He's on the verge of winning a second Super Bowl ring, which would put him up there with John Elway and move him into a tie for 2nd among active QB's for most Super Bowl rings. Lest we forget, the same fans who spout off corny phrases like "You can't spell elite without Eli" were ready to throw mini-Peyton out on his ass prior to the 2007 playoffs. Here's another thing that seems to have been forgotten: His spoiled brat routine at the 2004 NFL Draft when he refused to play for the San Diego Chargers(who drafted him #1 overall) which inevitably led to him forcing his way to New York. We can debate for days whether the Giants would be every bit as successful these last eight years had they kept Phillip Rivers instead of trading for Eli(I sent that question to Gabe and I have yet to get a response. Stay tuned). What's not up for debate is that Manning stomping his feet, crossing his arms and hiding behind his daddy to keep him out of San Diego was a complete dick move. The same way Elway forcing his way out of Baltimore and into Denver was a dick move. The same way Steve Francis refusing to go to Vancouver(now Memphis) and working his way onto the Houston Rockets on draft day was a dick move. College standouts, regardless if their last name is Manning or Gbaja-Biamila, who haven't earned squat in the NFL shouldn't have the right to dictate where they go. I'd be willing to give Eli a slight pardon had he a. gave a legit reason for not wanting to go to San Diego(and, really, why wouldn't you want to live in San Diego if you're young, rich and single? I've lived in the Tri-State area for two decades. Nothing against New York but the traffic sucks, the winters are much more brutal than they are in California and, sorry New Yorkers, but the ladies aren't nearly as pretty) or b. apologized to the city of San Diego as well as Chargers fans.
It amazes me how that story doesn't get brought up enough, especially in the week leading up to the two Super Bowls Manning has appeared in. That would be my first question on Media Day.
"Yes, Eli, do you feel like you owe the city of San Diego and Chargers fans an apology for how you kicked and screamed your way to New York on Draft Day?"
If Manning's hissy-fit bothers me, imagine how fans of the Bolts must feel. Three franchise QB's walked into the green room on Draft Day in 2004, two of them have been to the Super Bowl at least twice(with one winning twice in three tries and the other attempting to go 2-for-2) while the third has never been past the AFC Championship. Guess who ended up with the third one? That's right. San Diego. Sure, Chargers fans have to be thankful that Philip Rivers hasn't been a total bust but it has to stick in their craw a little bit that the guy who should be winning Super Bowls for them plays elsewhere and, on top of that, used his high-profile bloodlines to get there. All of this talk about Peyton's little brother and Peyton's chief rival doing battle in "The House That Peyton Built"....how about some condolences for the fan base that got screwed the most out of this whole ordeal?
In an era of social media and talking heads blasting athletes for being me-first divas, how, in a week where there is literally nothing to talk about beyond the busted ankle of a tight end, are we not giving this story more attention? If Cam Newton announced he didn't want to play for Carolina and someone manipulated a trade to, say, Baltimore and a few years later, he leads the Ravens to the Super Bowl, everyone would go nuts. Skip Bayless would have a seizure on that unwatchable spitfest of his. Colin Cowherd would be apoplectic! Do we give Eli a pass because he's a member of the First Family of Football? Or, like we've done with so many other athletes, does winning give us a classic excuse to sweep this under the rug?
Holding a grudge after eight years for demanding a trade may seem pithy but there's something to be said about a man who believes he's above the system because he comes from good stock. Eli Manning is no different from any other college snot who has been soaked in entitlement and fame. He's also no different from any other college athlete.....except nobody bothered to tell him that on that faithful April afternoon in 2004. Eli Manning should be a San Diego Charger, in my eyes. You can choose to ignore it because the trade worked out well for both sides but it's hard to see Eli's smug face as the poster child for New York football and as someone who will be showered with all kinds of superlatives if he's victorious on Sunday and not be a wee bit ticked that he was allowed to carve a path that other rookies either haven't dared or hadn't had the ability to carve.
We all have our reasons to cast our disdain for certain athletes or celebrities or even people in general. They might not be just. They may be petty. They may even come from jealousy or bitterness. But if hating Eli Manning for pissing on the Chargers is wrong, then I don't want to be right.
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