Peyton and Eli Manning surely had to expect plenty of amusing discussion when they invited Phil Mickelson as their second quarter guest during ESPN's "ManningCast" broadcast during Monday Night Football. Little did they know that one of them would be the subject of the sharp-tongued Mickelson's musings.
Just before Mickelson left the broadcast at the end of the first half, Peyton drew the six-time Grand Slam winner's attention to a video of Eli hitting a driver into screen and asked him to evaluate his younger brother's swing. To the surprise of no one, Mickelson didn't hold back.
"Overall, one word to describe it is cute. I think it's a cute little swing," Mickelson said. "The club is a little behind him and low going back, so his arms aren't out in front of him. They get a little bit too flat, so he has to use all of his athleticism to square the face.
"It's a pretty good golf swing—like I said, it's cute, but it could be better."
Mickelson memorably teamed up with Charles Barkley to defeat Peyton Manning and Steph Curry in "The Match" last year, so he already got to engage with plenty of trash talk at Peyton's expense. Eli might not have expected to catch this kind of heat on Monday, but we suspect Peyton did some choreographing to ensure his little brother was put in the crosshairs.
Mickelson's football prowess was put on display during the broadcast as well, with ESPN showing videos of him slinging the pigskin earlier in the second quarter. Neither Peyton nor Eli took the opportunity to rib Mickelson's throwing motion.
Let this be a lesson to you, Manning brothers—when it comes to verbal sparring, always take the first swing.
