Eli Manning on SNL: Why Giants Quarterback Will Flop as Host

New York Giants and Super Bowl champion quarterback Eli Manning isn't a stranger to the world of television, but he is a stranger to the whole idea of being funny in front of a national audience.

Manning has done the "This is SportsCenter" commercial, and that Citizen Eco-Drive watch commercial, but he's never been the best at wearing his emotions on his sleeves, and he's not exactly known for kidding around or being a "comedian" so the idea of him hosting Saturday Night Live is an odd choice.

The Manning brothers aren't known for their ability to make an audience chuckle, and while it's not like you need a background in comedy to host SNL, I don't see them inviting notoriously serious public figures like Tiger Woods or Tim Duncan to take the stage in New York City.

Cooper Manning, the eldest of the Manning brothers, told NFL.com:

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"It doesn't surprise me that people are kind of perplexed in trying to understand the gap of who Eli is in the locker room and what his teammates see compared to what you see in the media."

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I understand the fact that fans and the media don't always get the truest impression of what a player can be like when at a party with his teammates or joking around in the locker room, but I don't get the vibe that there's a hilarious, prankster side of No. 10 that America hasn't seen yet.

Manning has often been criticized for not being the most emotional of guys on the gridiron. You don't often see him pulling a Tom Brady and barking on the sidelines, and whenever the camera crews do a close-up of the Ole Miss product, he has that same signature hang-dog, "aw shucks" expression on his face.

Maybe that's just a product of his genes, as big brother Peyton has been photographed with that look more than once or twice, but I can't see Eli being able to be on television for over an hour with that face on and people wanting to continue watching the late-night sketch show.

Manning is a winner, he's a clutch quarterback and knows how to make the all the throws in the game of football, but he doesn't strike me as a guy who's going to have me laughing hysterically tonight.