Former New York Giants' QB Gave Us Two More Reasons to Adore Him

Former New York Giants' quarterback Eli Manning took the Philadelphia Eagles "Go Birds" battle cry a bit too seriously on Monday night.

Manning, along with his brother, Peyton, are the co-stars of the Manningcast, an interview and conversation-based live show that runs on ESPN2 during Monday Night Football. In an age where most sports fans are watching multiple games at once, the Manningcast is a novel idea, providing athlete-to-athlete banter in the background as a compliment to the game happening in the foreground.

The Manningcast has gotten off to a strong start, seeing ratings increase from Week 1 through Week 3. From NBC's Pro Football Talk:

"Last week, an audience of 1.86 million watched the Peyton and Eli show on ESPN2. Last night, that number increased slightly to 1.89 million." - Pro Football Talk

The show has brought on stars from across the realms of sports and celebrity, and created a fun and low-stress environment for their viewers. The stress level may have dipped a bit too low this past Monday, however, when Eli Manning decided to tell Eagles fans that they're still #1 in his mind.

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Here's the full clip that's featured in the header image, thanks to football superstars daily on YouTube.

This is probably considered NSFW for most, so here's your warning.

What I love most about this entire interaction, is the role that Peyton plays. Peyton is not a professional athlete here, nor a professional TV commentator. Peyton is Eli's brother, essentially saying "I bet you won't do it" to him, daring him to flip their millions of viewers the bird.

It's an extremely genuine moment, one that will make all but the most easily-offended sports fans chuckle. The magic of this moment comes in how quickly it came and went. The trio didn't linger on it one second longer than they needed to. Rather, they laughed at the absurd nature of what Eli had just done, Eli made the customary comment about censorship to the production staff, and he continued on with his story.

Is it probably against the rules? Yes. Was it the highlight of ESPN executives' days? Probably not.

Was it hilarious, genuine, and a prime example of why the Manningcast is a refreshing sports media product? Absolutely.