Eli Manning retired last year and I miss him already.

I’m not a big fan of football in the traditional sense. I don’t even fully understand the game even though I was a cheerleader for 2 years (I was strictly there for the boys and the cute outfit.)

But the sound of the crowd, the announcers, and the smell of whatever’s simmering in the crockpot, produces a calming effect that represents every Fall Sunday afternoon for as long as I can remember.

Growing up, it was while my Pa enjoyed the Notre Dame (Go Irish ☘️) or Giants games, and now with PJ.

My man loves pro football. Dare I even say he loves his Giants more than his Metsies? It might seem like a toss up, but I’ve never seen his hands and feet sweat when the Mets were on (gross).

Back to Eli – I love him so 😍

The man helped deliver 2 Super Bowl rings to the Giants, and like Rodney, he still gets no respect. But the reason I love him is because if he gives a shit about what the critics say, he’s certainly never showed it.

There’s even a term called “The Eli Face” which represents his untraditional (read: odd) facial expressions.

Snapshots of his reactions are often used for memes as a way to mock him; but to me, his quiet mannerisms were a welcome change compared to Ray Lewis screaming in everyone’s faces whenever the Giants played the Ravens. So obnoxious. I’m trying to nap here, Ray 🙄

Yesterday while I was making the boys pancakes, we started talking about ‘tough guys’ and how I can’t stand them.

I always tell them how their daddy is big and strong and if robbers ever broke into our house, he would punch them through the wall with one arm. So my son asked, “But I thought Daddy was a tough guy?”

I said, “No, daddy’s just tough, not a ‘tough guy’. A ‘tough guy’ walks around like, ‘I’m gonna kick some ass! Look how tough I am!’ Daddy broke players’ bones in football, but not on purpose. And he’s tough when he needs to be. A ‘tough guy’ is loud; Daddy is quiet. There’s a big difference.”

And there’s no better example of being the good kind of tough than when he says he won’t allow our boys to play football. (The thought of them actually wanting to play is laughable, but still 😂.)

Instead, PJ’s told me what it’s like to ‘get your bell rung’ (when your brain is shaken around inside your skull after a big hit) – and he doesn’t want our boys to experience that.

It’s a good thing too, because there’s no way in hell I’d let them play. And even if they could wear me down, there’s no way they’d wear their Grandma down. She said she’d never let them play.

I can just picture all 4 feet 10 inches of her marching out onto the field and pulling them away by their ears 🤣 Now she’s one tough broad 🤣 – wayyy tougher than any of those fake ‘tough guys’ out there 💪 💪