Apparently winning the Super Bowl doesn’t make you immune to pre-wedding jitters. On the morning of his nuptials on April 19th, self-proclaimed "mama's boy" Eli Manning was seen lifting weights, running feverishly on the treadmill and doing push-ups for an hour and a half. At sunset, he and his college sweetheart, Abby McGrew, exchanged vows on the beach in front of the multitude of guests they had flown in to the swanky resort of The One & Only Palmilla in San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico. As the minister joined their hands in marriage, he looked down at Eli’s hands and said, “These hands are quite large.” The low-key couple managed to keep their wedding plans under wraps and only spent a “modest” $500K. Too bad their photographer mistakenly put their wedding and reception pictures up on a public website.
7. Randy Moss does NASCAR
Patriots receiver Randy Moss has an impressive resume, NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, six-time Pro Bowl selection, four-time All-Pro selection, and now he has something else to add: team owner in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Moss partnered up with team owner David Dolla, and the team debuted the Moss Motorsports No. 81 (Moss’s jersey number) at Kentucky Speedway on July 19th. Willie Allen, the driver, returned to Nashville for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville Superspeedway, but left with a disappointing 27th-place finish. Randy, don’t quit your day job.
8. Peyton has minor surgery. Panic ensues.
On July 15th, 2008, the sports world held its breath as Colts quarterback Peyton Manning underwent surgery to remove an infected bursa sac in his left knee. The surgery went well and it looks like Peyton will be able to make the September 7th opener against the Chicago Bears. The initial prognosis was for Manning to miss between four and six weeks. Fortunately for Manning, the Brett Favre drama kept him out of the spotlight. Pray for Manning’s full recovery; Jim Sorgi, who has backed up Manning the past four seasons, has never started a regular season game.
9. A Rhodes Scholar finalist, Tara Reid's ex-boyfriend, and Dancing with the Stars Runner-up get traded, while Michael Strahan and Rod Smith retire
Somehow, Chad Pennington managed to be the only casualty of the Favre trade to the Jets, and was quickly picked up by the Dolphins where, to the great delight of Dolphins fans, he has looked promising. Jeremy Shockey, went to the Saints and was “relieved” to be out of New York and away from the “circus,” while Jason Taylor danced his way over to the Washington Redskins. On June 9th, Michael Strahan retired from the NFL and told Fox Sports “It’s time, I’m done.” A month later, Rod Smith also announced his retirement. Smith left with two Super Bowl championships, three Pro Bowl appearances, and a spot-free career.
10. There are a lot more good guys than morons in the NFL
Ocho Cino and Pacman make hundreds of headlines while guys from all around the league make very few while they quietly and selflessly give back. To name a handful the hundreds of good things NFL players have done over the past couple of months…
--Saints QB and bona-fide nice guy Drew Brees and Giants defensive end and boyfriend-of-a-Victoria's-Secret-supermodel, Osi Umenyiora, accompanied NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on a USO tour in Afghanistan. Goodell told Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, "What impressed me so much is of all the men and women we met at so many different bases, not a single one complained about anything - not their missions, not about how long they were there, nothing. It's inspiring." The trip marked the first time a commissioner of a sports league visited U.S. troops overseas as part of a USO tour, and it made us all the more sad when Osi’s entire season was ended before it even began with a knee injury in the preseason.
--Iowan and Colts tight end Dallas Clark raised $18,000 for Iowa flood relief by signing autographs for four hours straight.
--During Bears training camp, defensive star Brian Urlacher set aside time for his biggest fans – the athletes from Special Olympics Illinois.
--Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse brought along barbers to a back-to-school event to help make sure students looked sharp on their first day of class.
--The Eagles organization held “Military Day” during training camp, taking pictures and chatting with about 300 fans from all brances of the military.
--At all of 21 years of age, Texans defensive tackle Amobi Okoye launched a children's foundation.
--Dallas tight-end and Tony Romo's BFF, Jason Witten, did so many charitable events in the offseason he needs his own article.
We could go on and on, but here's something to think about next time you read about some idiot getting a DUI or causing a ruckus during a strip club visit: 198 players in the NFL have charitable foundations benefiting everything from lupus to literacy, and the league awards $1 million in grants each year to these foundations.
We're going to send you the most entertaining NFL articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web.
4 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete