Cooper Manning Fan Club
Megan and I have been talking about starting a Cooper Manning FanClub.
Cooper who? Manning?
Cooper is Archie Manning's eldest son who is also the only son that is not one of the highest paid players in the NFL. But that is not the reason we love him.
Let's start with my eight-year-old itch with Peyton Manning. In 1996 he was 8th in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy. A standout QB for Tennessee, he led them to an 11-2 record his junior year. Being the son of Archie Manning, of course great things were expected of him. Entering the NFL draft after his junior year was also expected. Not only would he go #1 overall, so the buzz went, he would be able to expect to receive a phenomenal contract, the highest paid rookie ever. Again, this was also fitting to his lineage as Archie was in his time the highest paid player. However, Peyton decided that he was going to return for his senior year. To the press he gave his reason, which had nothing to do with his education being important to him, or believing in the team and their chances at improving upon even this season, or even being smart enough to realize that particularly as a QB another year in the NCAA will season him, sharpen him, and mature him so that he could better contribute to a professional team. Any of these would have seemed more honorable than what he said. He wanted to win the Heisman.
UGH!
The next year he played immaculate ball, and the Vols were undefeated, ranked #1. And the Heisman went to......CHARLES WOODSON of Michigan!!! I couldn't help but notice that not only did it not go to Peyton (he was runner-up), but it also went to a defensive player for the first time in a bunch of years. Peyton did enter the draft and after a few humiliating seasons with the Colts he leads a perennially strong playoff contender. Whoopty do.
And then along came Eli. He was making strong numbers at Ole Miss by the time I moved to Mississippi. If I had lived in Mississippi at the time of the Peyton days I would have been really aggravated. Folks in Mississippi treat the Mannings as if they are Mississippi royalty. Sometimes I want to shake the sportswriters in Jackson, "WAKE UP!!! No football playing Manning has lived here for over 30 years." Archie may have grown up there, but the Manning sons are New Orleans through and through. Peyton further turned his back on the Mississippi heritage by playing for Tennessee. Eli redeemed the Ole Miss-Manning love affair. If you want to talk about great active Mississippi QB's let's talk Favre and McNair.
Anyway, after his senior year Eli had entered the draft, but this time a Manning son didn't say something in the press that raised my ire. It was his father. Archie announced before the draft that if his son was drafted by the Chargers, he wasn't going to play pro football at all next year. He listed the teams he did like for his son, including the Giants, but with the Chargers having the very first pick, it was unlikely that Eli was going to play for anyone the next season. I watched the draft. Chargers picked Manning. OMG. Are they going to call his bluff? No, I wish. In an instant Manning was traded to the Giants. IMMEDIATELY after the first round on TV was shown a commercial for a bank starring Archie and Eli. They are holding a press conference and someone asks Eli that now that he has been drafted, what is he going to do next? He looks at his father who then whispers something in his ear, and Eli answers, "I'm going to the bank." Now this was probably their feeble attempt to lampoon something that maybe was blown out of proportion, but what would they have done if something fell through and he was a Charger for good? Archie's reason, too, was that he thought the Chargers, being the bottom feeders of the NFL, would want to play this rookie immediately, and poor Eli would just get beaten up by big bad linebackers and would never ever get to taste the sweet nectars of success of records and playoffs and superbowl rings, like big brother Peyton. The Giants would coddle and protect him until he was ready to lead them to NFC supremacy. Uh, yeah. The Chargers have defied logic and some of the laws of physics to make the playoffs this year and Eli, forced to start with the Giants halfway through the season got more than his share of beatings at the hands of even not so bad DB's.
So with all this being said, Cooper Manning is my guy. Read the linked article and see why. He is completely normal, doesn't regret not playing football because he is darn lucky he can walk let alone get any form of regular exercise.
Cooper who? Manning?
Cooper is Archie Manning's eldest son who is also the only son that is not one of the highest paid players in the NFL. But that is not the reason we love him.
Let's start with my eight-year-old itch with Peyton Manning. In 1996 he was 8th in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy. A standout QB for Tennessee, he led them to an 11-2 record his junior year. Being the son of Archie Manning, of course great things were expected of him. Entering the NFL draft after his junior year was also expected. Not only would he go #1 overall, so the buzz went, he would be able to expect to receive a phenomenal contract, the highest paid rookie ever. Again, this was also fitting to his lineage as Archie was in his time the highest paid player. However, Peyton decided that he was going to return for his senior year. To the press he gave his reason, which had nothing to do with his education being important to him, or believing in the team and their chances at improving upon even this season, or even being smart enough to realize that particularly as a QB another year in the NCAA will season him, sharpen him, and mature him so that he could better contribute to a professional team. Any of these would have seemed more honorable than what he said. He wanted to win the Heisman.
UGH!
The next year he played immaculate ball, and the Vols were undefeated, ranked #1. And the Heisman went to......CHARLES WOODSON of Michigan!!! I couldn't help but notice that not only did it not go to Peyton (he was runner-up), but it also went to a defensive player for the first time in a bunch of years. Peyton did enter the draft and after a few humiliating seasons with the Colts he leads a perennially strong playoff contender. Whoopty do.
And then along came Eli. He was making strong numbers at Ole Miss by the time I moved to Mississippi. If I had lived in Mississippi at the time of the Peyton days I would have been really aggravated. Folks in Mississippi treat the Mannings as if they are Mississippi royalty. Sometimes I want to shake the sportswriters in Jackson, "WAKE UP!!! No football playing Manning has lived here for over 30 years." Archie may have grown up there, but the Manning sons are New Orleans through and through. Peyton further turned his back on the Mississippi heritage by playing for Tennessee. Eli redeemed the Ole Miss-Manning love affair. If you want to talk about great active Mississippi QB's let's talk Favre and McNair.
Anyway, after his senior year Eli had entered the draft, but this time a Manning son didn't say something in the press that raised my ire. It was his father. Archie announced before the draft that if his son was drafted by the Chargers, he wasn't going to play pro football at all next year. He listed the teams he did like for his son, including the Giants, but with the Chargers having the very first pick, it was unlikely that Eli was going to play for anyone the next season. I watched the draft. Chargers picked Manning. OMG. Are they going to call his bluff? No, I wish. In an instant Manning was traded to the Giants. IMMEDIATELY after the first round on TV was shown a commercial for a bank starring Archie and Eli. They are holding a press conference and someone asks Eli that now that he has been drafted, what is he going to do next? He looks at his father who then whispers something in his ear, and Eli answers, "I'm going to the bank." Now this was probably their feeble attempt to lampoon something that maybe was blown out of proportion, but what would they have done if something fell through and he was a Charger for good? Archie's reason, too, was that he thought the Chargers, being the bottom feeders of the NFL, would want to play this rookie immediately, and poor Eli would just get beaten up by big bad linebackers and would never ever get to taste the sweet nectars of success of records and playoffs and superbowl rings, like big brother Peyton. The Giants would coddle and protect him until he was ready to lead them to NFC supremacy. Uh, yeah. The Chargers have defied logic and some of the laws of physics to make the playoffs this year and Eli, forced to start with the Giants halfway through the season got more than his share of beatings at the hands of even not so bad DB's.
So with all this being said, Cooper Manning is my guy. Read the linked article and see why. He is completely normal, doesn't regret not playing football because he is darn lucky he can walk let alone get any form of regular exercise.
Comments