It’s happened. At long last, Eli Manning, a two-time Super Bowl MVP and long-time avoider of all things social media, has made the leap. It took 39 years, four months and 20 days for him to finally grace us with his online presence, but the day is here. Elisha Manning IV (pronounced Eli-ja, as Maggie Gray recently discovered) now has a Twitter account.
Manning posted his first tweet earlier Saturday, paying homage to Jimmy Chitwood, Hickory High’s star player from the classic 1986 movie, Hoosiers. Not the most current reference he could have gone with, but since it was his first post, we’ll cut the four-time Pro Bowler some slack.
To paraphrase Jimmy Chitwood, “I don’t know if it’ll make any change, but I figure it’s time for me to start playing social media." pic.twitter.com/Af8IFMOiEQ
— Eli Manning (@EliManning)
May 23, 2020 It didn’t take long for Manning to get dunked on by his old rival Tom Brady (his brother’s opponent on the golf course this weekend), who chimed in with this:
Welcome @EliManning, In typical fashion, you never showed up until the 4th quarter anyway -- https://t.co/Wbun1VS2A0
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady)
May 23, 2020 Manning, who announced his retirement after 16 NFL seasons back in January, has a long way to go if he wants to match Brady’s 1.1 million followers, but the former first overall pick is off to a roaring start. He’s already been verified (signified by the coveted “blue checkmark”) with 65,000 followers and counting. Eli only follows 10 accounts so far including Ole Miss Athletics, the NFL and, of course, the New York Giants.
If Manning needs help composing his next tweet, I have a suggestion. With beaches reopening for Memorial Day in New Jersey, why not recreate this iconic photo?
We’re still waiting for Eli to join Instagram, but Twitter will suffice for now.
