Eli Manning and law school

[andywp8]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft04/news/story?id=1788911

this article infers that if Eli had not been traded from San Diego to the Giants he would have attended law school next year.

I wonder what law school he thought he was going to.  If you were likely to be a top 5 NFL draft pick would you have bothered taking the lsat and applying to law schools.

Can you imagine Eli in class:

Professor:  Mr. Manning what are the key facts of case X

Eli:  My daddy thinks that case is too difficult for me.  I want to give the facts for an easier case.

What a little female dog.  I hope is NFL career is an enormous flop

[jgruber]

Yeah, who does he think he is?

[Lawschool2005]

I agree I have no respect for Eli Manning. What a jerk he is, "I don't want to go to xxx and if I do I will sit on the bench. You can sit on the bench forever Eli you Jerk!!!

[kaftex]

I don’t know anything about Eli Manning, It’s possible that he’s dumb as a brick. However, I’ve found that the stereotypes associated with college athletes aren’t always accurate.

For example.. Until about 18 months ago, I wondered how Georgia Tech could field competitive sports teams. After all, GT doesn’t offer maths less advanced than calculus and even the weakest of majors require two semesters of the stuff. The athletes don’t get special treatment from the profs, and they have to compete with the science/engineering folk in their C-curved core classes.

Then I met an attorney who teaches a special topics class once per year on a pro-bono basis for the computer science dept. The dude has no neck, looks like a freight train, but is sharp as they come. He played football for Tech in the 70s, graduated with a CS degree, went to Mercer, ended up on law review, and served as moot court captain (commandant? I don’t know what the proper title is.)

Obviously this example may not be indicative of the college athlete pool as a whole, but I’m willing to give Mr. Manning the benefit of the doubt.

[cal4ever]

I don't think the issue is with Eli Manning's intelligence (or lack of it?).  It's his attitude in the draft that has made the past few posters upset with the guy.  As far as I'm concern, he may be the smartest person on the world, but he's still a classless jerk.  Unless he proves himself to be as great as John Elway, I have no respect for the guy. 

[forthguy]

I don't think the issue is with Eli Manning's intelligence (or lack of it?).  It's his attitude in the draft that has made the past few posters upset with the guy.  As far as I'm concern, he may be the smartest person on the world, but he's still a classless jerk.  Unless he proves himself to be as great as John Elway, I have no respect for the guy. 

So, Elway wasn't a classless jerk because he turned out to be great?

An important point to remember about the nonsense during the draft was that the Mannings went privately to the Chargers and told them Eli had no interest in playing for them and would sit out.  It was the Chargers management (the same inept Chargers management that has kept them in the gutter for years) that announced to the world that Eli had said he would sit out a season rather than play.

What's wrong with someone with desirable skills taking advantage of the rights afforded to him to not go to work for an organization with such lousy management that they clearly don't have any intention of ever winning?  Elway, everyone might recall, went public, lied about his baseball offers (they were not as grand as he trumpeted), and then did sit out for the year.

Greg

[kaftex]

Well, if you had to choose between sitting on a bench or standing at the bar - what would be your preference?

[cal4ever]

Yes, you're right about Elway.  I forgot how much of a jerk he was too.  :-P

Nevertheless, I think many athletes today feel that teams should bend over for them.  Athletes, whether they come from the ghetto, a little farm in the middle of the US, or from a well known sports family, should be thankful of their gifts.  And, if it so happens they get drafted by a team they don't particularly care about, the should feel thankful nonetheless.  I'm just a strong believer in making the most of what's given to you--whether you like it what's been given to you or not. 

just my thoughts...off to class i go!

[andywp8]

I am not questioning whether Eli or college athletes in general are intelligent enough to go to law school.  ( I was a college athelete and am quite certain I am intelligent enough)

Do you honestly think he took the necessary steps to attend law school next year such as taking the lsat, getting letters of rec, actually applying to the schools.  Why would he worry about that instead of working out for teams and preparing for next season.

forthguy: do you think the chargers had a choice about wheteher to make Elis wishes public.  What would they do not draft Eli and try to explain to their fans and everyone else that they didn't take him(and let the raiders have him)because he didn't fit in with their plans even though he was considered the best overall player.

Peyton was drafted by a wretched team  and he has become a cornerstone in Indianapolis turnaround.  Is Eli not good enough to make a team better like Peyton was.  Does Eli need to be inserted into a ready made situtation in order to be a successful NFL quarterback

as far as sitting on the bench or standing ast the bar, the average NFL players career is only something like 3.3 years long.  I would sit on the bench for 3.3 and then go to law school

[forthguy]

Nevertheless, I think many athletes today feel that teams should bend over for them.  Athletes, whether they come from the ghetto, a little farm in the middle of the US, or from a well known sports family, should be thankful of their gifts.  And, if it so happens they get drafted by a team they don't particularly care about, the should feel thankful nonetheless.  I'm just a strong believer in making the most of what's given to you--whether you like it what's been given to you or not. 

I think one could argue he was in fact trying to make the most of what he's been given.

His dad languished for years, a great quarterback on a lousy team.  It's hard for people who are greatly talented to be on a losing team.  His advice from his dad (and presumably his brother) was to find a potential winner.  No sense being Archie II.  Look at the sad case of Barry Sanders for a prime, recent example.

I agree there's too much whininess in professional athletics today; other industries, such as entertainment, as well.  I don't care to hear how "hard" it is to work 12-hour days 6 months out of the year.

But in this case, it seems to me the athlete handled the situation appropriately.  He didn't lash out publicly against the Chargers.  The Chargers just tried to make it look that way.

Greg