Out of the Shadows...

A League of Their Own... A good movie with a memorable line by Tom Hanks, There's no crying in baseball... I enjoyed this movie, have used that line several times since, but for me the best part of that movie was at the end. Lori Petty comes charging around third with a full head of steam. Gina Davis (playing her older more polished sister) removes her catcher's mask and prepares to catch the incoming ball to nail her at the plate. Little sis vs. big sis. Leader vs. follower. What happens next is similar to what is happening to the first family of pro football, the Mannings.



First there was Archie, the father and patriarch of the family. He had a tremendous collegiate career but was burried on one of the worst teams ever in professional sports history, the New Orleans Saints, or at the time he played, the Aints, because nobody wanted to claim them. Archie was an amazing talent who as fate would have it, never played on a team that had anyone else worth note on them. The same could be said of Earl Campbell, as both great talents were used and abused and quickly faded to oblivian.



Archie and his wife would go on to have three sons, all great athletes. The oldest was Cooper, who was all-world in football before an injury ended his career before it even began. Ask anyone in the know and they will tell you to a man, Cooper was better than both of his brothers.



The middle son is Peyton. Perhaps you may have seen him in a commercial or two. That's what you get when you are the league MVP, as well as the Super Bowl MVP. You become more than the face of your franchise, you become the face of the league. You are recognized when your helmet is off and your jersey sells like hot cakes to a mass audiance. You become "the man." You are the leader of your football team. You get compared to the greatest who ever played the game and you are only in the prime of your career. People suddenly forget that you could not win the big game in college and focus more on what you do now. You have taken a small market team and made them matter. People adore you and wish they could be like you.



The youngest son is Eli. You go to the same college that your dad went to. You enjoy success on an individual level, but your team is stacked with underachievers. You automatically get compared to your older brother, and from this stance, nobody wants to be Bobby Brady. But you are far too talented to ignore. Your stock as the top quarterback in the draft continues to rise. The NFL will look for talent first, potential second and character third. Eli posessed all three qualities. His fear, as well as the fear of his family, was that San Diego who had the number one pick that season would draft Eli. Most players dream of being drafted number one, and Eli was no different. He just didn't want to play for San Diego. The Chargers had been notorious for low balling contracts and being very difficult to negotiate with. Eli, with the support of his entire family, vowed to never play for the Chargers. This caused a potential problem forcing the Chargers to either deal the number one pick, or take their chances that they could make Eli and the rest of the Mannings happy. They drafted him at number one, and then arranged for his rights to be traded to the New York Giants, for Phillip Rivers out of North Carolina State.



This caused many people to dislike Eli before he even threw a pass in the NFL. This rubbed many people the wrong way. Eli was able to force a trade from a team he did not want to play for because, simply, he could. This happened years ago with John Elway, and aside from Cleveland fans, his fan base grew to mamoth proportions. So Eli went to New York. The New York fans and media can be brutal to anyone and everyone. There is no place to hide and simply put, it is not the place for everyone. Eli struggled as a quarterback in New York the first couple of years. He would show signs of greatness at times, but did not have the supporting cast his older brother did in Indianapolis. No matter what, there would always be comparisons. When their respective teams would meet, the media would label it Manning Bowl. Their parents would sit in a luxury box watching their sons play, rooting for both and knowing that every eye in America was looking for a reaction.



This year, the Giants' best player retired, Tiki Barber. Barber took a job in the media, and one of the first things he did was blast both his former coach, Tom Coughlin and quarterback, Eli Manning. He questioned Manning's ability to lead and his overall skill. He did this on a public stage. Questioning an athlete like this, a quarterback no less, certainly ruffled a lot feathers. Manning responded immediately, and to some this came as a surprise. Little brother had some fight in him. Nobody would ever dare do this to Peyton, but Eli, kid brother, ehh... he won't do anything. Kenny Rogers sang of The Coward of the County years ago. Eli was now standing up for himself. And his team responded with him. Often times in football, a team's identity is directly reflective of the quarterback's identity. Think Indianapolis, you think blue collar work ethic. Think Green Bay, you think fun, gun slinger attitude. Think New York Giants, you used to think, ho-hum... we'll get 'em next year.



Not anymore. Eli Manning just rounded third and is heading to home plate with a full head of steam. Peyton Manning just took his catcher's mask off, but even a six-foot four, two hundred thirty pound quarterback can't stop younger brother. Years ago, Three Dog Night wrote a song, Eli's Coming. It had nothing to do with the Super Bowl or football in general. This Eli is already here. Sunday, he may bask in the spotlight on his own, for good.