Besides posting the sixth-highest passing total in league history a year ago, Eli Manning is the NFL\u2019s all-time record holder for most fourth quarter comebacks in a single season.<\/p>\n
The steady, solid, better-than-Peyton quarterback (at least\u00a0right now<\/span>) of the New York Giants also has two Super Bowl rings on his mantle, and two Super Bowl MVP awards to go along with them.<\/span><\/p>\n At this point, there is no doubting Eli\u2019s credentials.<\/p>\n But we do it anyway.<\/p>\n There is no questioning Eli Manning\u2019s ability to overcome adversity. Matching \u2013 maybe even besting \u2013 his mammoth expectations in the country\u2019s most malicious market should have squashed that bug, exterminated it forever.<\/p>\n But still, we doubt.<\/p>\n Still, we don\u2019t believe.<\/p>\n Still, we pounce at the very first chance.<\/p>\n In fact, in this\u00a0constantly-evolving<\/span>,\u00a0instantly-analyzed<\/span>\u00a0world of opinions expounded and tweets tweeted, doubt may have become our reaction of choice.<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking of doubt \u2013 it\u2019s becoming increasingly difficult to do so when considering this unsettling possibility. And the Giants quarterback\u2019s journey from maligned to marveled \u2013 and however briefly this Sunday, back again \u2013 is a microcosm of it all.<\/p>\n Seven months ago, the Giants won their second Super Bowl in five years, and it seemed that the debate around Eli\u2019s \u2018Eliteness\u2019 had finally, mercifully wrapped.<\/p>\n Then, in the ensuing season\u2019s second game,\u00a0the reality of<\/span>\u00a0that debate \u2013 and of the increasingly instantaneous and irrational reaction machine that powers it \u2013 reared its ugly head once more.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s starting to look like we\u2019re going to see the 2010 Eli Manning this year.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHA! Eli is Elite?\u2026three INTs in the first half! Never will be Peyton, Never will be the Man!!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201c<\/em>The Manning face<\/em><\/a>, forever and ever. Don\u2019t let anyone ever convince you this schlub is a top-notch quarterback.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m paraphrasing, but the above is a pretty accurate representation of the hyper-reactive BS popping up all over on my Twitter timeline at halftime of the Giants v. Buccaneers game on Sunday, minutes after Eli had thrown (what\u00a0at the time<\/span>\u00a0seemed like) a backbreaking third interception, returned for sixty yards and a touchdown by\u00a0Bucs<\/span>\u00a0DB Eric Wright.<\/span><\/p>\n But guess what? It wasn\u2019t backbreaking. Eli Manning isn\u2019t, in fact, a \u2018schlub.\u2019<\/p>\n And 30 minutes of performance, poor or prolific, should never, ever \u2013 no matter the playing field \u2013 overrule long-term consensus.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s what happened on Sunday. Right up until Eli and his crop of receivers want H.A.M. on the Tampa secondary. Right up until Eli posted the eighth highest single-game passing total in the history of the National Football League. Right up until the Giants\u2019 back was un-broken \u2013 despite Greg Schiano\u2019s best \u201csneak attack\u201d efforts to the contrary \u2013 and Eli reminded everyone, fans and critics,\u00a0exactly<\/em>\u00a0who he\u00a0is<\/em>.<\/p>\n That is, exactly who he will always be: a guy who can throw a football damn well, and whose ability to do so doesn\u2019t change because someone else thinks it has.<\/p>\n As a species, we don\u2019t agree on much. Most of all, we have a particularly difficult time coming to a consensus on what is what and whom is whom. But one thing we can agree on is that identity doesn\u2019t shift particularly often, and that it certainly doesn\u2019t change on a minute-by-minute basis. Matter is matter. Five minutes from now, matter will still be matter.<\/p>\n Van Gogh might have brushed a few strokes astray, but he was no less a painter for it.<\/p>\n Surely, even Einstein garbled a few calculations. But these shortcomings make his theory of relativity no less revolutionary.<\/p>\n So, why must we hold our athletes to such an impossible standard?<\/p>\n That\u2019s a tough question, and one that would take many more words than I am willing to give.<\/p>\n (The\u00a0CliffNotes<\/span>\u00a0version, in my opinion, would involve plenty of meditation on the nature of live events as well as the mythology surrounding sports. But again, this is a discussion for a different, longer day.)<\/span><\/p>\n Regardless of the motives, the consequences are clear.<\/p>\n There is no crying for Eli Manning, with his abundance of talent and millions accrued.<\/p>\n Certainly, there is no crying for the myriad athletes just like him.\u00a0LeBron<\/span>, A-Rod and Tiger come to mind as just a few of the other unfortunate,\u00a0misperceived<\/span>inhabitants of The Spotlight.<\/span><\/p>\n But tears\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0be shed for a culture in which small samples\u00a0are valued<\/span>\u00a0higher than manicured resumes, in which \u201cWhat Have You Done For Me Lately?\u201d has become the de facto\u00a0law of the land<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n Tears\u00a0can be<\/span>\u00a0shed for a society that may have lost its ability to reason, or its ability to remember what it\u00a0witnessed<\/span>\u00a0a week \u2013 let alone months \u2013 ago.<\/span><\/p>\n If this all sounds apocalyptic \u2013 well, apologies, and here\u2019s a pillow to scream into. But with no ability to assess assets, to analyze, to come to a concrete understanding about the world around us, then what are we left with?<\/p>\n Cacophony. Cruelty. Chaos.<\/p>\n A world populated with hydra: dozens of heads and faces attached to each body.<\/p>\n Think you killed one of the heads? That you can turn your back on one of those many faces?<\/p>\n Fool. Check again.<\/p>\n It grew back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Besides posting the sixth-highest passing total in league history a year ago, Eli Manning is the NFL\u2019s all-time record holder for most fourth quarter comebacks in a single season.
\nThe steady, solid, better-than-Peyton quarterback (at least\u00a0right now… Continue reading
![The Manning face<\/em><\/a>, forever and ever. Don\u2019t let anyone ever convince you this schlub is a top-notch quarterback.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\nI\u2019m paraphrasing, but the above is a pretty accurate representation of the hyper-reactive BS popping up all over on my Twitter timeline at halftime of the Giants v. Buccaneers game on Sunday, minutes after Eli had thrown (what\u00a0at the time<\/span>\u00a0seemed like) a backbreaking third interception, returned for sixty yards and a touchdown by\u00a0Bucs<\/span>\u00a0DB Eric Wright.<\/span><\/p>\nBut guess what? It wasn\u2019t backbreaking. Eli Manning isn\u2019t, in fact, a \u2018schlub.\u2019<\/p>\nAnd 30 minutes of performance, poor or prolific, should never, ever \u2013 no matter the playing field \u2013 overrule long-term consensus.<\/p>\nBut that\u2019s what happened on Sunday. Right up until Eli and his crop of receivers want H.A.M. on the Tampa secondary. Right up until Eli posted the eighth highest single-game passing total in the history of the National Football League. Right up until the Giants\u2019 back was un-broken \u2013 despite Greg Schiano\u2019s best \u201csneak attack\u201d efforts to the contrary \u2013 and Eli reminded everyone, fans and critics,\u00a0exactly<\/em>\u00a0who he\u00a0is<\/em>.<\/p>\nThat is, exactly who he will always be: a guy who can throw a football damn well, and whose ability to do so doesn\u2019t change because someone else thinks it has.<\/p>\nAs a species, we don\u2019t agree on much. Most of all, we have a particularly difficult time coming to a consensus on what is what and whom is whom. But one thing we can agree on is that identity doesn\u2019t shift particularly often, and that it certainly doesn\u2019t change on a minute-by-minute basis. Matter is matter. Five minutes from now, matter will still be matter.<\/p>\nVan Gogh might have brushed a few strokes astray, but he was no less a painter for it.<\/p>\nSurely, even Einstein garbled a few calculations. But these shortcomings make his theory of relativity no less revolutionary.<\/p>\nSo, why must we hold our athletes to such an impossible standard?<\/p>\nThat\u2019s a tough question, and one that would take many more words than I am willing to give.<\/p>\n(The\u00a0CliffNotes<\/span>\u00a0version, in my opinion, would involve plenty of meditation on the nature of live events as well as the mythology surrounding sports. But again, this is a discussion for a different, longer day.)<\/span><\/p>\nRegardless of the motives, the consequences are clear.<\/p>\nThere is no crying for Eli Manning, with his abundance of talent and millions accrued.<\/p>\nCertainly, there is no crying for the myriad athletes just like him.\u00a0LeBron<\/span>, A-Rod and Tiger come to mind as just a few of the other unfortunate,\u00a0misperceived<\/span>inhabitants of The Spotlight.<\/span><\/p>\nBut tears\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0be shed for a culture in which small samples\u00a0are valued<\/span>\u00a0higher than manicured resumes, in which \u201cWhat Have You Done For Me Lately?\u201d has become the de facto\u00a0law of the land<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\nTears\u00a0can be<\/span>\u00a0shed for a society that may have lost its ability to reason, or its ability to remember what it\u00a0witnessed<\/span>\u00a0a week \u2013 let alone months \u2013 ago.<\/span><\/p>\nIf this all sounds apocalyptic \u2013 well, apologies, and here\u2019s a pillow to scream into. But with no ability to assess assets, to analyze, to come to a concrete understanding about the world around us, then what are we left with?<\/p>\nCacophony. Cruelty. Chaos.<\/p>\nA world populated with hydra: dozens of heads and faces attached to each body.<\/p>\nThink you killed one of the heads? That you can turn your back on one of those many faces?<\/p>\nFool. Check again.<\/p>\nIt grew back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Besides posting the sixth-highest passing total in league history a year ago, Eli Manning is the NFL\u2019s all-time record holder for most fourth quarter comebacks in a single season.\nThe steady, solid, better-than-Peyton quarterback (at least\u00a0right now… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1010,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions\/116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/memecrunch.com\/meme\/1SXI\/manning-face\/image.png\"){kind=link}