Peyton Manning Has Finally Found a Way Into Patriots Fans Hearts, by Sucking at Golf

Mike Ehrmann. Getty Images.

Look, I know what the data shows. I've been looking at the polling for years. The Electoral Map doesn't lie. The people have spoken with one, loud, nearly unanimous voice. With the exception of a small pocket of voters in the extreme Northeast of the country, Peyton Manning wins the national popularity contest in a landslide. I understand fully that I'm in a very small minority of people who never bought into his schtick. 

There's a long list of grievances I have against Manning that I don't need to dive deeply into now. Suffice to say that his lovable, "Aw shucks" Regular Guy demeanor has been a facade to hide the fact he spent most of career succeeding in a hermetically-sealed domed environment, surrounded by All Pro talent. That he griped about coaches to get them fired, griped about teammates to get them cut. Played some of his worst games in the biggest moments. Set a record for postseason one-and-dones that will never be broken. Hugged Papa John and thanked a beer sponsor before congratulation a single teammate after a Super Bowl where his team carried his desiccated corpse to victory. And worst of all, completely killed the momentum of the Tom Brady Roast with his safe, bland, milquetoast list of "jokes" more appropriate for a Youth Football banquet than a Netflix special. 

Again, I'm on a bit of an island when it comes to America's Sweetheart. But there are other Pats fans stranded here with me. And if I can speak for them - and they're powerless to stop me, so I'll just carry on - if the World's Foremost Product Endorser wants to win hearts and minds in New England, there's no faster way that demonstrating he's human:

Golfweek - Manning competed in the BMW Championship pro-am and was paired with 2023 U.S. Open winner and Denver native Wyndham Clark for the first nine and Canadian Adam Hadwin for the back nine at Castle Pines Golf Club.

It didn’t go well for Manning. He topped his opening tee shot, and played it off as well as he could giving a feint wave and a sheepish grin and asking, “Anyone see where that went?” he said.

That drew laughter from the crowd, who broke into a chant of “One of us, one of us!!!”

Here it is from another angle:

Damn you, Manning. I can forgive a lot. Giving oxygen to the rumors Bill Belichick bugged the visitor's locker room at Gillette. The Colts getting the NFL to outlaw physical pass coverage after your receivers got dominated in the 2003 AFC championship game. Winning the 2006 conference title at Indy (which Ernie Adams has correctly called the 10th Super Bowl of the Dynasty era because there was no way anyone was losing to the Bears). Even your involvement with that sketchy "aging clinic" that everyone conveniently forgot about. Actually, if we're being honest, I can forgive none of those things. 

But I can respect a Hall Fame athlete who's capable of duffing a tee shot that badly. And for being a good sport about it. Relatable, even. Getting a laugh out of the crowd and that spontaneous "One of us!" chant is possibly my favorite Peyton Manning moment ever. With getting heckled by PGA Tour pro Michael Kim for skulling this shot out of the rough a close second:

So OK, Peyton. You've won a little piece of every hacker's heart with this performance. Even mine. Hopefully you can continue this Charm Offensive when you start having Belichick on the Manningcast. Just don't expect the same for Eli. After what he did to us, he's irredeemable.