Eli Manning heating up retirement and ‘homegating’

Eli Manning is now an NFL spectator for the first time in 16 years, and he seems to be doing just fine with it.

You can’t keep a Manning down, even after they leave the game of football, and former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is no exception to that rule. As he has transitioned from face of the franchise to NFL spectator, he’s also learning the fine art of the NFL tailgate.

Of course, with the global pandemic still raging on, tailgating has been curtailed in 2020 so far. Thus, the ‘homegate’ was brought forth, and Eli — along with several former teammates and special guests — put together a massive virtual homegate, sponsored by Frank’s RedHot.

While the food and Frank’s sauces were plentiful, there was still a lot of football talk going on with Manning and co-homegate-host, Shaun O’Hara.

Manning and company were joined by about 200 lucky fans in a Zoom hangout this past Sunday, some of whom were lucky enough to be able to ask the two-time Super Bowl winner a question.

The first question, of course, was how it felt to now be a spectator rather than in the midst of an NFL game on Sundays.

“My body is less sore, don’t have to go into a meeting room and got to enjoy the Sunday” Manning said.

As expected, some fans wanted to know what Manning thought of current Giants quarterback, Daniel Jones, who has the unenviable task of following in Eli’s footsteps.

“I think Daniel Jones has worked extremely hard. He has a great worth ethic, wants to be a leader and wants to take over that team and I think he’s doing all those things in the right way. I think he’ll have a big season,” Manning told fans.

“I talked to Daniel throughout the offseason a little bit and I don’t have any advice for him. He doesn’t need advice from me, I just said I can be a resource for you if you want.”

The questions didn’t all revolve around football, as it seems several fans were interested in Manning’s appearance as a host on NBC’s Saturday Night Live.

“Taping for SNL was an awesome week. It was like a football week. You go in Monday to meet the crew and cast. You’re in a room with almost 40 people in there and they’re pitching ideas. This is a brand new week for them and they are just kind of meeting the opponent,” Manning mused. “It was a great thrill for me to do SNL and the people in the show are just hilarious.”

Eli Manning talks with Emmy and Liam

Two very special fans from the Children’s Hospital of Mississippi, Emmy & Liam, also got ask Eli and Shaun questions, where O’Hara revealed that Manning would “carb load” the night before a game.

“Before a game, we always had a Saturday night snack before going to bed. Every night I’d make a big tray of french fries and Eli would come over and take half of them.” O’Hara said.

Speaking of food, let’s face it, you can’t have a tailgate (or homegate) without food, even a virtual one, and the spread at this event was quite the caloric spectacle. Wings, ribs, chips, cookies, brownies, and every other kind of tailgate food you can think of were available, complete with a Frank’s RedHot Sauce dipping fountain.

Be sure to check out some of the tailgating food ideas and recipes that were shared here on FoodSided, including a Red Solo Cup 7-layer dip that Adam Richman helped coach Eli and Shaun through making.

Along with the food came the party fouls, for what tailgating event would be complete without some games?

Manning attempted to throw some passes to fans via Proxy (the human stand-in with a tablet face), and it’s clear the time off has affected his arm. The future hall-of-famer only completed two of more than a dozen pass attempts to various fans as well as former teammate, Victor Cruz.

Eli and Shaun competed in games of giant Jenga, cornhole, and ladder golf, with the loser of each game having to perform a penalty.

If you ever wanted to see an offensive lineman turn-up a bottle of hot sauce, this was your opportunity. O’Hara gave it his all and downed a huge gulp of the original Frank’s RedHot.

Another surprise guest, once the party was winding down, was Daina Falk of The Hungry Fan, who tried to teach Eli and Shaun how to properly eat a flat chicken wing

“Take the pointy end and push the meat down so it becomes more like a lollipop then you can get all in one sweep”

While Dana’s technique was impeccable, Eli and Shaun struggled with deciding which end was pointy and precisely how to push down the meat. Their result was a bit more … well … primal.

As the games began to kick off for the day, the homegate wrapped up with O’Hara and Manning cutting loose with Frank’s RedHot signature phrase, “Remember to put Frank’s RedHot on everything, that sh*t goes on everything!”

You can see a recording of the entire virtual homegate here on Twitter.