RolandDeschain":174t86l3 said:
Archie was before my time, and I don't pretend to know anything about him. However, watching what he helped Eli do in terms of getting traded after he was drafted, I automatically strongly dislike him regardless of what his skill set was like in the NFL during his day.
You're entitled to your opinion. Allow me to offer something to ponder. Yeah, there seemed to be something unusual about that as it was all reported at the time. Does anyone have the complete story on what went down with that? I don't think any of us do. But, we have opinions, for certain.
Archie and the Manning family wasn't about to get detailed about their reasons, but there must have been a strong enough reason for them to take such a strong stand. Perhaps something in interviews with Chargers management, etc. I don't know. But, I applaud a parent and a Patriarch sticking his neck out - even for his adult kid. There's a mentality today that once someone reaches the age of 18... they need to just make their own decisions as if it's an indication of maturity. Advice and guidance from wise elders is not necessary nor desired. I don't think it says anything about lack of maturity in Eli in this matter. On the contrary, it showed maturity beyond his years to take advisement from his parents on the matter. Too, Archie wasn't acting as some dictator of the family. He was standing quietly strong with their family decision. I understand that this isn't the way we tend to think these days fearing it would be some infringement to our personal independence. Not so (but, that's a longer conversation.)
This is no digression from the subject matter and very much what was going on in that instance. I think we all wish we were so valued by our elders that they would care to advise and we would care to listen and heed wise counsel. I understand that everyone isn't in that position, but there is something good and right about what we saw. The deal is, though... it's so foreign to our thinking today that many didn't like it - especially how it was portrayed in the media. (The media could have chosen to applaud a family decision, but they simply did not.) I think the Mannings tried to keep it as discreet as possible (I know, the first pick overall is going to get press. The press wasn't about to allow something so wholesome as the jurisdiction of a family to control the perceived jurisdiction of a football organization. Nothing the Mannings did was stating a disrespect for the NFL empire. They just stood strongly to their terms. It was a principled stand.) The Mannings didn't go public with a lot of details and maybe their reasons would not be satisfactory to us anyway. Even if the Mannings just were being attention hungry and wanted Eli to play in the media capital of the world (none of that sounds like the Mannings)... it was their family decision. I not only respect it... I admire it for said reasons.
This response wasn't directed at you personally, Roland. I think your comment represented commonly held viewpoint of what went down and my reason for taking the time to write on this was only to try to represent a different perspective. I'll admit that I even had some of those thoughts at the time. We're conditioned to think that way - and the opinion gets stronger and untouchable because no one wants to dare defend what most are attacking.
I hold the jurisdiction of the family in high regard... even if it means one misses out on the praise of the world or if it means one "misses out" on some personal advancement opportunity (which, I grant, wasn't apparently the case for the Mannings either way with the Chargers or Giants. Still, they felt strongly that it was best for Eli not to play with the Chargers organization.)