Eli says that Peyton's beatings forced him to learn everything he needed to know about football as a young boy.
New York Giants' Eli Manning answers questions during a news conference, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Indianapolis. The Giants will face the New England Patriots in the NFL football Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5.INDIANAPOLIS – Peyton Manning hasn’t always been the friendly figure that the world has come to know over his last 14 years as the Indianapolis Colts quarterback.
Just ask his brother, Eli.
"I probably have quite a few of them, but to limit it to one -- his most popular move, he would pin me down and take his knuckles and knock on my chest and make me name the 12 schools in the SEC (Southeastern Conference)," the New York Giants quarterback said.
The move worked. Eli said that he didn’t know all the schools at first but after Peyton drilled his knuckles into his chest a few times he quickly learned them to avoid prolonged beatings.
Once he got all of those down, Peyton forced Eli to learn all teams in the NFL. That task was a little harder, but Eli did a little studying and learned the 28 teams that were in the league at the time.
Peyton wasn’t pleased and went back the drawing board.
“The one I never got was the 10 brands of cigarettes,” Eli said.
So what did he do?
“I just started screaming for my mom or dad to come save me, or maybe Cooper,” Eli said. “That was his go-to move.”
The torture must have worked. Peyton starred in the SEC at Tennessee and Eli ended up following him to conference, but instead chose to play at Ole Miss.
As for the NFL teams, both have Super Bowl rings and Eli has a chance to earn his second with a win over the Patriots in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Maybe there's something to a little knuckle dragging.