Eli Manning Took Everyone On a Twitter Roller Coaster This Weekend

Eli Manning started strong on Twitter, but then the shilling started

1. Eli Manning joined Twitter early Saturday afternoon. Twitter got all excited, he had an amusing back-and-forth right off the bat with Tom Brady, and people were enjoying Eli's presence on the social media platform.

Now, I don't know why anyone would join Twitter at this stage of the game. People like me who have been on it for 10-plus years are addicted. Plus, I'm in the media, so unfortunately, I need to be on it for work purposes. However, if you haven't joined by now, don't. It's not worth your time or energy. And if you are a pro athlete, current or past, you should stay as far away from Twitter as possible.

It was curious that Eli would finally buckle and join, but we'll get to that in a second. 

We all have different rules for ourselves when it comes to Twitter. For instance, my No. 1 reason for not following someone is because I don't like them. My No. 2 reason for not following someone is that they tweet too much. I try to use Twitter to find content for this column, so I like to see every tweet from the people I follow. But that's difficult to do if you follow people who tweet relentlessly. 

Eli came out guns blazing and busted out 35 tweets in two days. He was using memes and pictures and hashtags. 

However, the bigger issue is that seven of his tweets Sunday were promo tweets for a company. Automatic unfollow in my world. You can get away with one of those a day. Maybe two. Seven? Offensive. 

But Eli only made $219 million in his career, so who can blame him for repeatedly tweeting ads.

2. This is the first Traina Thoughts since last Tuesday. Plus, it's Memorial Day, so people are probably skipping Traina Thoughts today so they can spend time with friends and barbecue. So before we go back to our normal format and routine, I'm going to answer some questions I got on Twitter (see, I told you I need it for work purposes)

We start with this excellent question from Derik.

If you could put on one crossover sport event (similar to The Match) what would it be and what athletes would you like to have partake?

— Derik Abbott (@FUnkymoses17) May 25, 2020

I'd love to see LeBron play tight end in an NFL game, but obviously, that's not happening. I'll tell you something I'd actually watch live if ESPN aired it: wiffle ball. Get every top athlete from across all sports: LeBron, Steph Curry, Mike Trout, Patrick Mahomes, Christian McCaffrey, Roger Federer, Serena Williams, etc. and put together a 3-on-3 (pitcher, two fielders) game.

3. WWE vs. AEW.

Two reasons, IMO. One, WWE is a legacy company. AEW is new. People outside of the wrestling world are familiar with the WWE, so they will always get more attention. 

Two, the WWE got the go-ahead to hold its live events at the Florida performance center right after Linda McMahon's Super PAC announced more than $18 million of spending in Florida and the governor declared WWE an essential business. Insulting the public like that usually pisses people off, leading to more attention.

4. For the wrestling fans.

I mentioned this in an edition of Traina Thoughts last week. There's no need to lay out several points on why you should watch The Last Ride on WWE Network. It's simply a must-watch for anyone who has ever watched wrestling. There hasn't been a wrestler more private than The Undertaker. There hasn't been a wrestler who has done less media and fewer public appearances than The Undertaker. This pulls back the curtain and shows you a side of one of the greatest WWE superstars of all time that no one has ever seen. A must-watch.

5. Solid two-parter from Matthew.

I'd like to be a recurring character on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Absolute no-brainer. Given that most of the show is ad-libbed, I wouldn't have to memorize lines. It's on HBO, so I can let the expletives fly. And I have A LOT of thoughts on the daily minutiae of life and people being annoying.

It would've been fun to be a bench player for the Lakers during the Shaq and Kobe years just to see how much they really disliked each other. It would be easy now, after The Last Dance, to say the Bulls with Jordan and Rodman. But I'll avoid the recency bias and go with those Laker teams.

6. There is no other answer.

Write about sports documentaries you would like to see.

— Neil schoolnik (@Neilschoolnik) May 25, 2020

Vincent Kennedy McMahon. There isn't a person in the entire sports world who is half as fascinating as McMahon. He remains an enigma despite being one of the greatest showmen on earth. 

7. Everyone has sports documentary fever.

A bit about how you can’t stand lance and if they made docs about x y and z you wouldn’t watch those either. Say Bonds, Sandusky, and Sterling?

— Darshan Singh (@DarshanVancity) May 25, 2020

My non-interest in the Lance Armstrong documentary isn't because of Lance's cheating. It's because I don't care about bike riding or Lance Armstrong. I will absolutely watch docs about Barry Bonds and Donald Sterling. A Sandusky doc would be dirty and creepy, but you still have to watch it in hopes of learning something new about what went down at Penn State.

8. I sense a theme here.

Top 5 athlete documentaries we couldn’t pay you to watch

— T M (@reshmanuel) May 25, 2020

• Lance Armstrong
• Dana White
• Connor McGregor
• Alex Rodriguez
• Any documentary about anyone who is on FS1 during the day

9. In the words of Elaine Benes: "Fake, fake, fake, fake.

The NHL approving a 24 team playoff format to start in July? Why bother? Just start fresh in October.

— Charlie Brown is a Bills fan #BillsMafia (@Birdhaus95) May 25, 2020

I get why they're doing this. They need to make some money in any way possible and sports fans need any fix they can get. Every league should try to come back safely if they can. But for me, whoever wins the NBA, NHL and MLB titles this year get an asterisk. When the regular seasons have been as compromised as much as they have for each sport, everything is tainted, including the championship. It's a fake season. I know many will disagree and be outraged, but this is how I feel, so please don't tweet me to tell me you disagree.

10. If you are driving or hanging around outdoors today and need something to listen to, feel free to catch up on past episodes of the SI MEDIA PODCAST. You can listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Play.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.