Brothers best
I am so mad at ESPN.
No, this is not about not making it work with Dan Le Batard, the most talented voice in sports today.This is not about the overhaul of the “First Take” show, because to have an opinion on “First Take,” I would first have to watch “First Take.”
This is not about the lunacy of not giving “Daily Wager” a permanent afternoon slot so those of us who enjoy/need their views.
Heck, this is not about underusing Marty and McGee, overusing David Pollack, or even the absurdity of the whole Rachel Nichols-Maria Taylor fiasco.
No, I’m hopping mad this morning because I’m dead tired, because Peyton and Eli Manning – and their cast of Hall of Fame friends – made a meaningless, and for the most part sloppy, football game between two NFL teams I have no feelings about must-watch TV.
Gang, if you did not see it, well, you missed out. It was over-the-top likable, a truly underrated Q-factor for talking heads and personalities, and the chemistry and charisma from the Manning brothers was evident. And excellent.
It bounced between a master class in quarterbacking, as you would expect, to a perfect look inside the quips and cutting up between brothers as they watched America’s pastime.
Yes, technically it needed a lot of work. They talked over each other too much. They talked going into commercials too often. They over-analyzed the game action too frequently, especially early on.
But the exchanges, the interaction and the intelligence were unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Pick a good football analyst like Dan Orlovsky, and he’s fine in 3-minute bits. Pick a great analyst like Jon Gruden or John Madden back in the day, and they would give you three-plus memorable one-liners.
Peyton and Eli were three hours of entertainment that not only added to the game, they were the main entertainment, especially in a very slow first three quarters.
Want the ultimate testament – as a fan and as a goal of the folks running a broadcast – of the absolute home run A+ I thought the debut effort of Peyton and Eli was?
I watched every minute of a Monday night Ravens-Raiders game that went to overtime and way past my bedtime.