Posted on 01/18/2007 5:58:25 AM PST by Risha
Brady thrills, Manning shills: Colts star cashes in, but Pats QB/QT scores when it counts
By Jesse Noyes
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Thursday, January 18, 2007 - Updated: 06:22 AM EST
Tom Brady has three Super Bowl rings. Peyton Manning has none.
So why is it nearly impossible to watch 10 minutes of a televised NFL game - or television for that matter - without seeing Manning’s mug (with or without a fake mustache)? The All-Pro quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts is featured in ads for Sprint, DirecTV, MasterCard, Gatorade, ESPN and other major brands.
Meanwhile, two-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady [stats], who dates actresses and supermodels, makes the occasional commercial appearance but sits mostly on the advertising sidelines.
Sports marketing and media executives rank Manning as the most marketable player in the NFL, according to Sports Business Daily. And he doesn’t miss a lot of opportunities to cash in. Many fans outside of Indianapolis gripe that the quarterback is overexposed.
Brady scores right behind Manning in the marketability survey. But the Patriots [team stats] quarterback takes a different approach, which experts say reflects his personality along with that of his team.
“Brady is without question as marketable as Peyton, if not more,” said Peter Stern, president of Strategic, a New York sports and entertainment marketing agency. “He has the rings and he’s played on the stage on the biggest day of the year.”
But Brady likely turns down numerous endorsement deals in part because he doesn’t want to stray far from the Pats’ team ethic, sports marketing experts say. When Brady appeared in ads for Visa and Sirius Satellite Radio, he was joined by his offensive line and wide receivers.
When he does fly solo it’s seldom in uniform, and more often in model poses that end up in style magazines, like his print ad for upscale watch maker Movado.
Brady is very protective of his image. He’s sued Yahoo! [YHOO] and General Motors over what he claimed was unauthorized use of his likeness in ads.
Brady may also decline a number of endorsement opportunities to keep from diluting his image. By maintaining a certain aloofness, celebrities can often demand a bigger price tag when they do lend their image to an advertiser.
Unlike Brady, Manning arrived in the NFL with a big name already in place. His father, Archie, was a famous quarterback, and Peyton was a first overall draft pick out of college. “He had name recognition from birth,” said Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based consultancy Sportscorp Ltd. “He’s always had more name recognition . . . and advertisers always liked that.”
Manning also is funny and a good actor by football player standards.
In his commercials for MasterCard the quarterback shows a good sense of comedic timing. Manning appeared in a TV ad for Sprint where he sports a fake mustache and talks up his own performance on the field.
Manning’s appeal is more “humble-folksy,” Stern said, while Brady’s is more centered around his movie-star good looks.
Nope, and don't want to.
I count lack of execution under lack of ability. Maybe on paper they had the ability to execute the gameplan but on the field this season they didn't show much ability to get the job done.
I think the biggest change for the Colts defense was in Freeney. Historically (taht being his entire career up until the Wild Card game this year) Freeney over commits to rush the passer and allows plays to pass him, he frequently has his back turned doing his spin move while RB run past him or QBs scramble in a direction that were he facing them he could stop them. The last two games Freeney has finally found some discipline as a pass rusher, he now actually looks to see if it's a run play and does stuff other than the spin move to try to get to the QB. Obviously it's wasn't all on Freeney during the regular season and the improvement is all because of Freeney now, but when looking for the single most obvious change it would be him and that could be symptomatic of an overall change in the Colts defense: more discipline, less over committing, more figuring out what the play actually is before trying to stop it. And now the question is will the keep it up.
I think my point is clear, at least to heterosexual men....
Manning's wife is pretty hot. In case you haven't noticed, that often comes with having tens of millions of dollars.
See, e.g., Tabitha Furyk.
Sorry, I didn't like the call either at the time, but rules is rules. I *hate* replay reviews, I'd be happy to let plays stand as called.
Ha! That's my favorite too. ESPN does great promos.
But under today's (correct) interpretation of the rule, that "incomplete pass" would be ruled a fumble EVERY TIME. That said, I was glad the Raiders lost that game even if it was because of a bad interpretation of the rule.
A very Brady comeback on Sunday. I'll be here all year. Tip your waitresses.
To (1) mock the opponent you have just beaten, (2) on his home field, (3) on the logo at midfield, is classless. It is beneath childishness. It is thuggish and completely devoid of honor or character.
Regardless of whether or not LT is a whiner, and regardless of the fact that the Chargers should have just taken care of business rather than choking the game away, the Patriot players that engaged in the mocking of steroid-boy's dance on the midfield Charger logo after the game showed themselves to be punks rather than men.
You're a whiner too.
Don't get me wrong. I own my own small business and made a very healthy income last year....., but I can't figure out what I would do with that much money. It's all relative, I guess. I remember a day when $50,000 a year sounded like all the money in the world.
I am not real vicious when it comes to pro sports anyway. Now, set me down at ANY SEC college football game, or a good ACC basketball game, and I can get real rowdy. I don't even tune in NFL stuff anymore except for the Super Bowl.
If it makes you feel better to call people "whiner" when they point out low-class punkish behavior for what it is, then have at it. LT needs to let it go, get over it, and get ready for next year. The Chargers blew it and lost, and have nobody to blame but themselves, just like the Cowboys blew it a week earlier against the Seahawks.
Your loyalty to your favorite team is understandable. At some point, somebody else may demonstrate a similar lack of class by the way in which they taunt your team. I'm sure you will take the high road and decline from pointing out that their behavior is punkish and classless.
I do like Manning, though. In this age of trash talking, ego vaunting, loud mouth hubris in sports, I would say that both Manning and Brady are a welcome relief.
Based on my unbiased opinion!
And my truthful opinion!
Being a Tennessee Volunteer fan that bleeds orange, Manning is the biggest reason I'm a Colts fan (plus the fact that I was a Colts fan in the 60's and 70's watching my idol Johnny Unitus play). In 1969 (I think), Tennessee was ranked top 5 and had to travel to play Old Miss. There was the usual locker room fodder and talk involving both teams and a song about Archie's greatness. Tennessee went down there and had their rear ends handed to them by Mr. Manning, like 45-3. The game caused one All-American linebacker for Tennessee to become so upset at the loss that he went home and cut his jeep in half with a hacksaw ...ever heard of Jack "Hacksaw" Reynolds? Archie Manning was a guy of class though and the respect was earned. And the apples didn't fall far from the tree. Manning got into a little trouble at Tennessee with his humorous antics. Like when he went around posting fliers around campus announcing "A Party ... bring cleats" so he could try to get more practice in than what was allowed. Or the time he mooned a teammate in the locker room but unfortunately a female coaches aid saw it and sued for a "tramatic experience to her well-being" ... yea right. Manning is a class act also and a pretty darned funny guy to boot, imo.
Like someone said earlier, 2 good quarterbacks, a big rivalry that has been good to the Pats so far ... should be a great game! Go Colts!!
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