Peyton Manning goes down as one of the game’s greatest quarterbacks, and sometimes, his commitment to the game overshadowed other aspects of his life.
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Manning retired a two time Super Bowl champion, four time MVP, and was named to the Pro Bowl a record 14 times. Before retiring Manning held several passing records (which Brady eventually surpassed), and his 2013 season goes down as perhaps the greatest season by any quarterback ever.
That year, he threw for an NFL record 5,477 yards and an NFL record 55 touchdowns. Nobody has come close to touching those numbers. Manning is still heavily involved in the NFL, serving as a co-host to perhaps the most entertaining broadcast, the Manningcast, with his brother Eli Manning.
There are several stories about the legend’s dedication to the game, but this one will perhaps shock you the most when you think of who Manning was as a person and not just a player.
Peyton Manning couldn’t do domestic tasks without his mom Olivia Manning or his wife Ashley Manning
Longtime NFL reporter Michael Silver did a deep dive into Manning’s life, and he revealed how Manning was so committed to playing football that he couldn’t perform basic domestic tasks.
From Silver, “For all his on-field acumen — Manning was in the midst of flipping the Colts’ 3-13 record his rookie year to a sizzling 13-3 in 1999 — he struggled with a handful of elementary domestic tasks. Among them: dressing himself (mom Olivia sent him Polaroids with outfit ideas), hooking up a DVD player, even opening a can of soup.]”
Silver was simply taken aback by Manning’s inability to do these tasks. Silver also pointed out how meeting Ashley helped Manning out a little when it came to these chores.
“I just couldn’t believe how openly lost he was in terms of nonfootball things, in a super-endearing and vulnerable way. Talking to (then-girlfriend, now-wife) Ashley definitely helped a lot. She was able to poke fun in an affectionate but brutal way. The access was incredible.”
“We just drove over to St. Elmo’s and hung out, then we went to his apartment. He was literally showing me these Polaroids that his mom had sent him showing him what outfits to wear. They were in this little envelope. This is a guy who today is viewed as a potential senator! And of course there was the time (in college) he asked Ashley to call and order Chinese food for him.”
Why couldn’t Manning perform these seemingly basic tasks?
“The thing about Peyton is, and I’ll give him credit for this, but even way back then he was so invested in being a franchise quarterback and so good at it that he even prepared for interviews. Later in my career, when I’d come to Indy, I sort of pictured him spending some time the night before preparing for our interview, driving home from practice, telling himself that Sports Illustrated is coming, trying to come up with a cool anecdote that would be perfect for my story.”
“And I didn’t view it as a negative or contrived thing. He was probably telling himself, ‘I need to nail this interview, because that’s what a franchise quarterback is supposed to do.'”
And, well, there you have it, Even Manning’s lack of knowledge in household tasks can be chalked up to how dedicated he was to becoming a great football player. We’ll truly be scrapping to see another quarterback with Manning’s work-ethic.
