INDIANAPOLIS —
Eli Manning has lived in the shadow of older brother Peyton all of his life. Whatever successes Eli has had on the football field, they often paled in comparison to what his more illustrious sibling had already accomplished.
Both were outstanding quarterbacks at Isadore Newman High School in New Orleans. Peyton became a collegiate All-American at Tennessee. Eli did the same at the University of Mississippi, the alma mater of their father Archie.
Peyton was the first pick in the 1998 National Football League draft. Eli, meanwhile, went first in 2004. Peyton was the winning quarterback and game MVP in Super Bowl XLI. Eli did the same a year later in Super Bowl XLII.
This year, though, Eli has a golden opportunity to get a leg up on his celebrated sibling. The “baby” of the Manning family has a chance to move to the front of the class by annexing a second Super Bowl title.
If that happens — if Eli can lead his New York Giants team to a second championship-game victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium — he can also help his big brother. Peyton was forced to miss the 2011 NFL season after undergoing neck surgery and his future in the league remains uncertain.
“If you play this game long enough, you realize how precious each season is and how precious these opportunities are. You don’t know if you’re to get a chance to play in another Super Bowl,” Eli acknowledged Monday during the Giants’ initial press conference of Super Bowl Week.
“You understand that when you have a good team, when you have good players, you have an opportunity to win a championship, you don’t want to let those things slip away because you just don’t know when you’re going to get that opportunity.”
Being the youngest of three brothers — three highly competitive brothers — Eli Manning learned early to stand up for himself. A second Most Valuable Player award in the Super Bowl could go a long way to helping him to escape the giant shadow that Peyton Manning casts — especially when facing a franchise like the Patriots, the long-time nemesis and rival of his older brother’s team. And doing it in his older brother’s home stadium.
“You understand that [New England is] very talented. They have the ability to score a lot of points. The defense has the ability to keep to a minimum of points. So it’s going to be a great challenge on both sides of the ball to do our jobs,” Eli Manning stressed.
“It’s also a situation where you’ve seen them play so many times also. From a fan, from Colts games. You just see them on television a lot. You know the players, you know the names. You know the style of football that they play. So it makes it seem that you’ve played them more than you have.”
He was reminded by a reporter Monday of a comment Peyton had made while receiving his MVP award after leading Indianapolis to a Super Bowl XLI win over the Chicago Bears. Big brother took the opportunity to brag a little about his younger brother, saying that Eli can and will win Super Bowls. A year later, he did just that in leading New York past the Patriots.
“I think he was just trying to be nice at the time,” Eli said. “To see Peyton after that game down in the locker room, seeing that smile on his face, and spending a lot of time with him over the next couple months after winning that Super Bowl, it definitely made you jealous.
“You always want to win a championship. But when you see someone win, the relief and the smile that was painted on his face for months makes you win one even more. It truly gives you a burning desire to get one. I think that made a bigger impact on me than his comments. But obviously there’s not a better feeling from a professional standpoint than knowing you’ve done your job better than anyone else. That’s what we’re fighting for.”
Local Interest
Eli slowly emerging from Peyton’s shadow
- Local Interest
-
-
MVP of the MVC: Lucas first Sycamore to earn Player of Year honors
Indiana State’s baseball team got the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season hardware last week and it’s hoping to grab more gold this week in its quest to win the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament.
-
Sycamores try to catch Missouri Valley Conference tourney vibe
A Missouri Valley Conference championship season has bloomed for the Indiana State baseball team in 2012. The Sycamores have been dominant through most of the season.
-
Braves, Knights open with wins
It was an excellent night for starting softball pitchers to help their own cause Monday night in the Class 4A Northview Sectional.
-
Lough dreamt about McMillan
A two-time state finalist in wrestling and a two-time all-Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference football player and wrestler, Tsali Lough of Terre Haute South was named the male recipient of the 2012 McMillan Award on Monday night at South’s Senior Awards Night.
-
METRO ROUNDUP: ISU 5th in MVC all-sport standings
Winning three league championships in 2011-12 helped Indiana State finish fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference All-Sports Trophy standings announced Monday by the league office.
-
PREP ROUNDUP: Panthers cruise in sectional opener
Sarah Burnham pitched a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in high school softball Monday evening as host Riverton Parke defeated defending champion Rockville 10-0 in opening-round action at the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional.
-
Notable tradition bodes well for Riverton Parke
Located practically in the shadow of a high school that sets one state standard in track and field, Riverton Parke has a tendency to be overlooked in that sport.
-
Vikings get 18th win over Shakamak
West Vigo began a busy week of high school baseball Monday on a winning note, defeating Shakamak 6-3.
-
Greencastle new site for girls tennis regional
The starting times might prove to be a bone of contention, but otherwise coaches Bill Blankenbaker and Emily Goff are thrilled their respective girls high school tennis teams will begin play today at the Greencastle Regional.
-
METRO ROUNDUP: ISU’s Beisser honored with good neighbor award
Softball pitcher Lindsey Beisser has been named Indiana State’s spring representative for the Missouri Valley Conference State Farm Good Neighbor Award.
-
From Terre Haute to the major leagues
Jake Petricka had a whirlwind week, going from Winston-Salem to Birmingham, then back to Winston-Salem — all in the span of just over 24 hours.
-
METRO ROUNDUP: Bloomington runners win Run Through the Jungle 5K
Kevin Murphy, an Indiana University student from Bloomington, was the overall winner of the eighth annual Run Through The Jungle 5K at the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Center Point on Saturday.
His winning time was 17 minutes, 0.71 seconds. -
Knights will get at least a share of WIC title
Monday was a good day for Northview in high school baseball.
-
Colts have no plan to move from Anderson
Apparently the Indianapolis Colts and Anderson University officials found a way to work out a few last-minute snags concerning the team’s summer training camp site.
-
PREP ROUNDUP: South dominates Sullivan in tennis
Visiting Terre Haute South dominated the No. 1 spots in high school tennis Monday evening as the Braves defeated Sullivan 5-0.
-
METRO ROUNDUP: HCAC tourney at Rose
Rose-Hulman will serve as host for the 2012 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball tournament, featuring four familiar in-state rivals.
-
Taking aim: No shortage of pitchers in this week’s Big 4 round robin
High school baseball pitching depth is almost always at a premium. Toss in a Big 4 round-robin tournament that includes three games, one a big conference game for all teams involved, and other conference matchups in between and it equals a major headache for the coaches of the four teams.
-
Colts fill need at cornerback
While the Indianapolis Colts failed to add any cornerbacks among the 10 players selected during this past weekend’s National Football League draft, general manager Ryan Grigson and the team’s scouting department were able to snag three undrafted free agents to play the position.
-
METRO/PREP ROUNDUP: Moren, Hile enter Hall of Fame
Amy Hile, Indiana State’s all-time leading scorer and its all-time leading rebounder until last season, and current Sycamore women’s coach Teri Moren were honored Saturday at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
-
Uphill Battle: ISU 23 strokes back of MVC leader No. Iowa
Indiana State maintained sixth place after two rounds of the Missouri Valley Conference Golf Championships, but the Sycamores face a tough challenge to move into the top half of the league after today’s final round at the Country Club of Terre Haute.
-
Enter Cummings, exit McWhorter
All it took was a stat sheet to show Indiana State men’s basketball coach Greg Lansing the glaring need the Sycamores had as they built their 2013 team.
-
TH golf community steps up for ISU
The Terre Haute golf community and the Indiana State women’s golf program can be a thriving partnership, and this week’s Missouri Valley Golf Championships have put that potential on display.
-
METRO ROUNDUP: Rose-Hulman gets shot at HCAC title
First place in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball race is on the line this evening at Art Nehf Field when Rose-Hulman hosts Anderson.
-
South golfers lose at Rea Park
Greencastle outscored Terre Haute South 156-172 in high school boys golf action in cool, windy conditions Monday at Rea Park.
-
School Board honors Branam
The Vigo County School Board observed a moment of silence Monday to honor the memory of Matt Branam, the 14th president of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, who died Friday in Union Hospital.
-
PREP ROUNDUP: Cook gets Patriots’ lone singles win
Morgan Cook of the Terre Haute North improved to 8-1 on the season at No. 3 singles but was the only winner for the Patriots in a 4-1 girls high school tennis loss Monday to second-ranked Evansville Memorial.
-
METRO ROUNDUP: ISU's Padgett breaks school record in 10,000 meters
Indiana State senior Craig Padgett broke a five-year-old school record in the 10,000 meters late Thursday night and junior Albaro Escalera ran the third fastest 10,000 meters in school history at Hilmer Lodge Stadium during the 54th Mt. SAC Relays.
-
Military, baseball mix for Valley Air Force veteran
The Terre Haute Men’s Senior Baseball League, founded in 1991 and playing its games at Haley Field near the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds since then, includes the community’s doctors, lawyers, policemen, construction workers and college students to name a few.
-
Class basketball debate draws 46 to Vincennes
In a blast from the past, the Indiana high school class basketball debate raged into 2012 on Monday in a town meeting at Vincennes, 16 years after the multi-class system was approved by the Indiana High School Athletic Association.
-
PREP ROUNDUP: Lakers win pitchers’ duel vs. T-birds
Two Ben Davis pitchers held host Terre Haute South to three singles Monday night, enabling the Giants to win 4-2 in Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference high school baseball.
- More Local Interest Headlines
-
Boy to Rescuers: 'Do You Have a Plan?'
US Airways: Diverted Flight Has 'Landed Safely'
Doctors and Devotees Debate Barefoot Running
Serial Stabbings Suspect Guilty of Murder
Blacks Seek to Find Their Own Missing
8 Hurt in Oklahoma Shooting After NBA Playoff
Sheriff: DNA Links Suspect to Missing CA Teen
Revived Focus on Regulation After JPMorgan Loss
Fired Lingerie Employee Claims Discrimination
New Medicine. Can IPads Help Spot Dementia Risk?
Raw Video: Private Rocket Blasts Off
Gerard Butler: the Good, the Bad and the Cannes
Facebook Shares Continue Negative Slide
A Few Odd Business Sparks but Europe Gloomy
At Least 25 Dead in India Train Collision
Chicago Police: 90 Arrested in NATO Protests
Ex-Rutgers Student Gets 30 Days in Webcam Case
Remains of Veterans Found in Basement Are Buried
White House Cautiously Optimistic on Iran
Joplin Marches to 'Remember' Tornado Victims
Daisy Sizzles in Sexy Swimwear
Officers Use Deadly Force on Mountain Lion in Santa Monica
Lea Michele Shows Major Skin
Why Cee Lo Thinks 'The Voice' is So Popular
Burlesque New Orleans
Mike Posner Talks Sneakers: Bamboozle 2012
Howard Stern Makes Kid Cry on AGT
Neighbor Feud Results in Dog Poop in Mailbox
Tiger's Ex-Wife Bares Her Bod
VIDEO | Zoo Chimp Charges Children
Child locked in washing machine after father put him there
Incubus On Working With Odd Future: Bamboozle 2012
'PLL' First Look Clip!
Fired for being 'too hot'
Ashley Olsen is a Bikini Babe
'Part of Me' Details 'Bumpy' Marriage, Says Katy
Music downloader owes nearly $700K in fines
Kardashian Sisters Pose in Lingerie
Raw Video: Man Saved After Niagara Falls Plunge
