Let’s Hear It for Eli!

Being an only child is a mixed bag. You get a lot of personal attention growing up (a blessing or a curse?). As you grow older, you often wish that you had someone to relive childhood memories. You also would appreciate someone to share the responsibility of caring for elderly parents (but having a sibling doesn’t assure that will happen). At the same time, an only child doesn’t have to worry about being compared to an older sibling.

I thought about this last night when Eli Manning was interviewed after leading the New York Giants to a Super Bowl victory. Even on the winner’s stand, Eli was asked how he felt about winning the game “in the house [Lucas Oil Stadium] that his brother built.” Couldn’t the interviewer let Eli savor the moment without brother Peyton being brought into the picture?

Eli has never gotten the respect he deserves. He is usually thought of as “Peyton’s little brother” and he good-naturedly spoofs that image in commercials as well as in interviews early in the week before the Super Bowl. His talents as n NFL quarterback have often been questioned. He was even asked at one point in pregame interviews if he thought he was in the same league as Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady.

Now with a second Super Bowl victory over the Patriots and one more Super Bowl ring than his brother, perhaps it is time to give Eli the respect he deserves. He has certainly worked for it and earned it.

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