NEW ORLEANS ? Cooper Manning, the older brother of NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning, made headlines today when he sounded off on his siblings in an interview with the New Orleans Business Journal.
After several questions in a row about the upcoming matchup between Peyton?s Broncos and Eli?s Giants, the 39 year-old Cooper snapped and said: ?I thought this article was about me? I thought this was about energy capital development in the Gulf Coast region? Everyone thinks football is so important. But it?s just a game. Energy runs the world, you get me? Not football. Energy. And Peyton and Eli don?t know shit about energy investment equity.?
The NOBJ reporter apologized and asked a question related to natural gas drilling, but a riled up Cooper, who works for Howard Weil, which has offices in New Orleans and Houston, cut him off and continued his tirade.
?I?m so sick of people treating me like I?m the failure of the Manning family,? he said. ?So my brothers play in the NFL. Whoopdee shit. There are 32 starting NFL quarterbacks. You know how many partners there are at regional energy investment company of this size? Not 32, I?ll tell you that. We?re a division of ScotiaBank, godammit! That shit?s international!?
Cooper then cut the interview off and asked the reporter to leave.
?People think Peyton is smart?? continued Cooper, now shouting. ?He?s a dumbass. Trust me on this. He knows nothing but football. He thinks a good business investment is buying up a bunch of Papa Johns franchises in f?king Denver. And you?re going to condescend to me? To me? A partner at Howard Weil? I?m not the failure of the family. Get out of my office!?
NOBJ editor-in-chief Roger Jackson said this afternoon that he received a gift basket from Archie Manning and a note asking that the publication not print a story about his eldest son?s outburst.
?We?re considering what to do,? said Jackson. ?I can say that tickets to a Broncos or Giants game and getting to meet Cooper?s brothers would go a long way in helping us make our decision.?
Originally published at www.sportspickle.com on September 11, 2013.
