The Manning Bowl traveled across sports universes to the hardwood recently in Durham, North Carolina.
On the gridiron, The Manning Bowl between brothers Peyton and Eli Manning heavily favored the older Peyton. Over his career, Peyton faced off against his younger brother Eli three times (twice with Indianapolis and once with Denver) and went a perfect 3-0.
The first Manning Bowl was on September 10, 2006 when Peyton and the Colts beat Eli and the Giants 26-21. The second edition feature Peyton and Indy winning 38-14. The last Manning Bowl in the NFL was on September 15th, 2013, and Peyton’s Broncos won 41-23.
While it seems likely that Peyton and Eli are done battling professionally, they aren’t done competing in sports entirely.
Recently, Peyton and Eli squared off not on the gridiron, but on the hardwood. Watch as they battle in the classic basketball game “Knockout”:
Peyton & Eli Manning: Super Bowl-Winning QBs…
But on the basketball court?
Well, see for yourself. #TheTimeline https://t.co/swe7Mis4T2— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2016
There are a ton of strange things about this situation. Here are a couple:
1. Two Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks playing basketball:
Can you imagine Tom Brady taking on Joe Montana? What about Joe Namath against Brett Favre? Exactly. It’s weird. Regardless of if they are brothers or not it’s weird to see two Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks battling in basketball.
2. Neither of Them Went to Duke:
The Manning’s basketball game took place inside Cameron Indoor Stadium, home of the Duke Blue Devils. What’s odd about this is that Peyton went to the University of Tennessee and Eli went to Ole Miss. That’s right, neither of them played for Duke.
3. The NFL Endorsed This:
While it’s not surprising to see Peyton competing in an NFL-sanctioned basketball game, it is surprising to see Eli playing. It isn’t surprising to see Peyton because he’s retired and the NFL already sent him in a toboggan down the Great Wall of China. Meanwhile Eli is still active with the New York Giants and while this game probably didn’t take place this week between the Giants’ games against the Packers and Ravens, he was definitely under contract when this happened. The last thing New York would want to hear is their starting QB got injured playing basketball with his brother during an NFL created event.
[NFL]
