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I'm joined now by *** two time Super Bowl M. V. P. Turned social media influencer Eli manning eli thanks so much for taking the time today. Uh gotta talk about your twitter presence. You finally got on twitter in your post playing days and you are thriving in this space. Do you ever think like man I should have gotten here sooner. Not at all. I think I got on at just the right time I think if I were playing um you know it wouldn't be as fun. I think you'd have to be *** little bit more serious. You couldn't you know you'd have to respond to after games and you know I think being *** kind of *** 40 year old retired man you can kind of tweet whatever you want and I don't do anything serious. It's more you know me uh falling down or you know funny things about you know my kids or my family so just kind of showing that You know I live *** pretty normal just you know I guess 40 year old life trying to raise you know four kids right? Yeah you've got your hands full with the kids and you know I think *** lot of Giants fans out there are kind of almost like wow this is *** side of eli we didn't get to see I loved your tweet recently where you just totally roasted chris Simms and just said I forgot he played football. How did chris take that you guys you guys have *** relationship of course you know I've known known chris *** long time we we came out the same uh same year, high school getting recruited together, um you know, around the same time kind of, you know, both looking at texas, um you know, where he eventually went and, and so we, yeah, we've had, you know, had *** long uh you know, you know, relationship and you know, My friendship, you know, I feel, you know, he still has roasted me probably, you know, 10-20 times more times than I've, you know, got him back. I've made one shot at him, he's probably made, you know, 20 shots at me at least, so, you know, but that's that's all I needed. Just 11 little singer made me happy. Um you and tom brady, you guys have also had some back and forth publicly on social media, of course he was never able to defeat you in *** Super bowl, but he did just recently win with Tampa. Did you guys chat at all after his latest Super bowl victory? Yeah, I sent, I sent tom *** text, just congratulating him and and really just saying how um you know, not surprised but impressed with what he was able to uh do this year with Tampa and changing teams going, you know, *** shortened season, um you know, lockout and pandemics and everything going on and to still learn *** brand new offense and make those adjustments and go win *** championship is pretty spectacular. So uh no time *** long time and, and um, you know, and it was just really, you know, we just wanted him to know that, um, you know, I was impressed along with *** lot of other people. Yeah, yeah, I mean you got *** lot has been made about on the field, you guys going up against each other, but off of it, I know you both have *** lot of respect and you know, looking at the fact that he was in New England longer than you are with the Giants your entire career. And can you imagine had you not retired going to *** new team and winning *** championship immediately? How much change comes with that? Yeah. And I think that's, that's the impressive part and, and, you know, one of the reasons I did retire that I, you know, I didn't want to make that change. I didn't want to have to move my family, start all over, you know, go to *** different organization with that maybe does things different than what you've been doing your entire career and his, you know, almost 20 years you've been doing something one way, what if it's different, what if you can't uh, make those adjustments or coaches want you to do things that you're not used to doing? So there's so many what ifs, but you know, obviously, um, you know, he was able to, to, to go there, uh implement some of the things that he's had success with, but also make those changes and learn uh grow as *** player as *** teammate and so just *** lot of respect for tom and um, you know, not just this year, but his entire career. Yeah, yeah, and I mean retirement, that's *** big change. This last season, was your first season in full away from the NFL, you know, when you first made that decision to walk away, there's obviously the off season *** lot of time there, but when the games are being played, was there ever *** moment that you were kind of like, man, I want to be back out there on the field or I wish I had stayed one more year, you know, I think you obviously miss aspects of it, you missed the locker room, you miss that camaraderie with your teammates, you know, having 53 guys uh that you're gonna see every day go compete with that, you're gonna uh prepare with just that structure and you know, you're so used to that kind of doing it your whole life that you miss those aspects of it. Um but you know, there are certain parts you don't, you don't miss, you don't miss waking up on *** monday morning with injuries and soreness and the amount of time. Uh and preparation it takes to to get mentally prepared for *** game, let alone the physical aspects of it. Um, you know, handling defeat and and *** tough loss, you know, those are things that um, eventually where, you know, where you down *** little bit and and can get tough to overcome. So ultimately I think, you know, I made the right decision, um, you know, that it was time to retire to move on and and kind of see, you know, if there's any other interest uh that, that I could jump into that will keep me busy. I gotta know, how do you spend your time these days? I saw you in skiing recently, spent *** lot of time with your kids. Are there activities or things that you've been able to do? That you wanted to do, but couldn't because of, you know, football or contractual restrictions in that regard. Um you know, I I went skiing one time when I was nine years old and never went again until I was 39 years old basically. And so it wasn't something I grew up in New Orleans, it wasn't like skiing was uh you know, uh right around the corner and you can just pop up on *** mountain and head down. So um you know, there's *** lot of things uh that, you know, we're living in the northeast that my, I want my kids wanted to do their friends do. So I wanted to take them skiing and get them involved in that and, and so, you know, I'm happy now that I'm I can join them and and learn some of these, these things with them, so I'm just kind of keeping it simple, they'll, they'll bypass my skills very soon. So you know, I'm glad charlie is only two years old, so I still got *** few more years to uh kind of learn with him, but you know, *** lot of it's just um you know, spending time with my family and, and um you know able to do some new adventures, you know, my dad and I just, you know, kind of doing these new commercials for barbecue guys and I think that's kind of what you did this this past year with with this pandemic is you know, you're outside, you're grilling you're hanging out with your family and and creating those, you know, great moments um you know, just with family and close friends, kind of what you're allowed to do and I think that's obviously *** great reminder of what's important in life. Yeah, I mean you mentioned this barbecue guys campaign you and Archie are serving as the company's first ever brand ambassadors. I love the title Chief commercial making guys. I want to know what these pitch meetings are like, how do you come up with these concepts and and who takes the lead in these creative meetings? You know, I think obviously any time you can do something with your, with your dad, uh it's fun and and especially when you team up with uh with another company that you know, you believe in, you believe in their core values. Uh, it's *** product that you use and, and obviously my dad and either, you know, barbecue guys is *** company out of Louisiana. We've known about them for *** while, but we, we thought there'd been *** great, you know secret and we felt it was kind of time for us to um let the world know about our little secret and, and you know what what barbecue guys is doing and, and grilling and outdoor living. And so it was fun, you know, to do these commercials and, and to, you know, team up with them and, and be the commercial making guys retirement life is treating you well. Eli, congratulations on all the good things coming your way on barbecue guys, looking forward to watching that unfold. Thanks so much for taking the time today. Thanks *** lot. *** lot of fun being with you.