The ESPN2 Manningcast Is Art
If you haven’t watched the Manningcast on ESPN2 for the past three weeks, here are some of the things you’ve missed out on:
-Eli Manning talking about being flipped off by small children in Philadelphia, then demonstrating by flipping the birds on live TV asking “we can blur that out, right?”
-Peyton wearing a helmet far too small for him, and Eli mocking him for it
-Travis Kelce dropping the S bomb while talking about Patrick Mahomes
-Eli doing Dak Prescott’s meme hip dance
-A fire alarm going off and Peyton immediately blaming Eli
-Peyton visibly wanting to throttle Derek Carr after Carr takes a bad sack
-Eli teaching Archie how to text
-Eli complaining about how Archie messes with the thermostat whenever Archie visits
-Peyton talking about how the Patriots bugged the locker rooms
-Russell Wilson straight up shitting on the overtime rules
-Peyton telling Matt Stafford to his face that winning the division is the most important thing, something Stafford has never done
-Eli frequently asking questions just to start drama
-Eli mocking Peyton’s armpit sweat
-Peyton and Eli constantly being caught off guard by commercial breaks
-Peyton getting stuck on random tangents that have nothing to do with anything
-Eli confessing that he hopped a fence at 17 to almost drink and play pool with Brett Favre, but his wingman chickened out
-Brett Favre being like everyone’s grandpa on his first zoom call
-Peyton and Eli both being incredibly confused by the Raiders playcalling in OT
It hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been everything I’ve dreamed it could be. Sadly, they are taking a break now till week 7 for whatever reason, so we are sadly stuck with the regular ESPN broadcast till then. If you haven’t checked out the Manningcast, I recommend it when it starts back up. I do understand the critiques from folks who can’t tolerate it for long periods, there is no crowd noise and the Mannings can be awkward, talk over each other, and they aren’t really doing play-by-play or describing the game so much as a live DVD commentary track. If you are invested in the game being played, that could be distracting. If you are just watching on a couch, it might get kinda awkward. However, I recommend watching it roughly the same way I do: as you do something else. I am always at my desk drawing/working for the primetime games, so the broadcast is on my side screen offering BG noise. If you do something else with the Manningcast on, like folding laundry, the dishes, playing games, whatever, it offers a perfect experience. In that sense, it almost becomes a live podcast commentary on the game as it happens and you can pay attention at will. I love it, and I hope it stays this good going forward and ESPN doesn’t muck it up.
Best of all, Eli is easily the most enjoyable part. I thought Eli would be the awkward one who dragged it down since Peyton’s always had more on-camera charisma, but pairing Peyton with Eli lets the little brother in him come out, and he’s a devious little shit. Eli delivers some insight into plays too. More than you might expect from him, with Eli’s dumb face and reputation seeing him accurately describe complex routes and defensive schemes reminds you that even a guy who looks and occasionally played like a dumbass didn’t reach the highest highs of his profession by sheer accident. It’s a really great companion broadcast and change of pace from the regular stuff you get for every other game.
I want to believe that Eli did it because the amount of Philly and Dallas fans watching would be at it’s peak.
So you’re telling me it’s the football equivalent of mystery science theater?
Pat McAfee call a punt was the most excited coked up punt call in history.
I’m going to have to start watching this
As someone who’s not a hardcore football fan, this has gotten me to watch games I normally wouldn’t care about. It’s fun to listen to them have fun while talking about football, instead of the usual play by play you get with the regular broadcast.
Did you do the Louvre by hand or was it changed by a computer program to look in watercolors? Because that looks really nice.
Little bit of both, photo manipulation and then going over it manually. It was too detailed a building to draw accurately in my short time window
I heard it described after week 1 as MST3K, but football. It’s true, and now I don’t want to watch MNF any other way.
Definitely true this week because they made something watchable that otherwise would have been terrible. Of course as soon as I get hooked they take a three week break.
The two best parts each week have been Eli’s constant trolling and Peyton getting legitimately angry when coaches are bad at clock management.
I love the Manningcast, warts and all. It’s so much fun.
I’ve always said that Eli is the funnier of the two of them. His humor is just more low-key. He needs someone to play off of, and Peyton does that really well.
I think this is the best description of the Manningcast I’ve seen. It works as something you can stick on in the background if you’re not really paying attention to the game, but as a direct broadcast.. not so much. While I enjoy it for what it is, I personally like to hear the crowd noise and reactions to the game, so trying to watch the Manningcast is too distracting for me in long periods. I flip back and forth every now and again though, or when the game is out of hand like it was last night.
I hate that Eli is so damn likeable. I can’t bring myself to hate the guy even after what he did to my boys. Him flipping the birds on national TV punched his ticket to the HoF in my book.
Dave, please give us the comic we deserve: Cody Parkey using the monkey’s paw to wish for Justin Tucker to doink a field goal. 😀
If you draw Eli flipping the bird, I would 100% make that into my own personal shirt to wear to the bar or around the house (wife’s a stinkin’ pats fan)…with your artists approval, of course haha
I’m a cowboys fan, but this is absurd: Dak Prescott is for some reason no. 2 on the qb index. I would say he should be 4 or 5. Derek Carr has 1200 passing yards. Dak has 800 something. And Carr is 3rd. They have the same amount of touchdowns. Dak only has 6 more passing yards. Also, unrelated, but Tom Brady has more rushing yards than both of them, which i find funny.
You forgot Peyton shitting on Joe Buck’s football sense.
Arrgghhh I want to watch it so bad but I cant find a way to watch it in New Zealand 🙁
Remember the browns hydra? U said there would be a new one… what is it?
U missed it
https://www.thedrawplay.com/comic/trapped-in-the-spyder-web/