Eli Manning for Kings Hawaiian

It's easy to say that Eli Manning is living his best life post retirement from the NFL. The former New York Giant retired in 2019 after an incredible 16-year career during which he won two Super Bowls (2008 and 2011) and earned Super Bowl MVP twice. Since then, the Ole Miss grad has partnered with numerous brands for fun commercials, started an alternate Monday Night Football broadcast with big brother Peyton and spawned upcoming Hulu series Chad Powers thanks to a skit.

Manning, who is partnering with King's Hawaiian for their new SEASON-ing blend, chatted with For The Win for a recent interview.

(Please note this interview has been edited for clarity and length.)

Why did it make sense to partner with Kings Hawaiian on this campaign?

To kick off the football season, having a football SEASON-ing -- I like to play on the words and everything -- and just the idea that it doesn't have to just be for sliders. It could kind of be for whatever your traditional tailgating foods are, to have a seasoning to go with it, having a limited edition where it kind of gets fans excited for the upcoming football season. Gets fans excited for tailgating, and obviously, when you have tailgating, you have Kings Hawaiian and sliders. It's been such a big part of our family tradition since I retired from football, having that that Sunday together with, friends, family, food and it starts with the sliders and Kings Hawaiian and have a seasoning to go with all that will be a lot of fun.

Obviously you couldn't tailgate for the first part during your career. Is there a Manning family favorite to bring to a tailgate?

Having gone to school at Ole Miss, they're actually known for their tailgating, and I didn't get to do tailgating before games, but after games, my parents, my mom, had always set up a tailgating tent in the Grove. It's your traditional stuff, more like the dips and the seven layer dips and the chips. I was more kind of a snacker and just like having a bite. So that's why I think I like the idea of a slider you kind of grab. I was never getting like a full plate. I was just kind of walking around, getting a dip, getting some chips, getting a slider, and just moving around and kind of chatting and talking, maybe an adult beverage gets involved in there.

What would you say that you are like with the family group chat? Is it more active college football Saturday or NFL football Sunday? What's the vibe?

This year will be very different, obviously, with my nephew playing in Texas. It'll be probably a little bit more Saturday focused, I would think. And obviously everybody rooting for Arch and excited for him to take over that starting role. For Sunday, everybody kind of has their own team who they root for. So it's a little bit more kind of inner family, kind of with their own kids, their own pals and their own friends. So I'd say Saturday is going to be a little bit more the whole family, cousins and everybody on kind of the group chat rooting for Arch.

Do you prefer the Texas burnt orange to the Tennessee orange?

Yeah, definitely, definitely prefer the burnt orange over the Tennessee orange. Yeah. Peyton tries to wear those orange shirts all the time. I'm like, I can't even look at you. It's very distracting. Gotta get rid of that.

I'm assuming that Glen Powell, co-writer and star of Chad Powers, was constantly in your ear about Texas too. Are you going to go see a game together?

I don't know if we have a date to see the game together, but Glen, he's obviously a huge, huge Texas fan. I was giving him a hard time just saying, 'You know, you're obviously a fan, but you're not like Matthew McConaughey fan.' You haven't reached that fandom yet. I know you're trying to take over his role as the Texas football celebrity guy, but those are big shoes to fill. I don't know if you can get there.

The ManningCast is coming back this year. Do you have a dream guest for this season?

I don't know if I can say this, but I'm gonna say it anyway. We were working on getting the Pope for Week One. He's from Chicago, so I don't want to, like, get it out there and then we don't get them and it's disappointing that the Pope turned us down. A lot of channels to work through to try to get this so that was our hopeful guest for Week One. We knew he's a White Sox fan and are assuming he's a Bears fan. So we're working through it. But that would be, that would be a good one.

The good news is, if the Pope ever says no, you're like, "'"Well, you do have a lot of stuff going on." It's nothing personal.

High goals. We kind of went for a home run, the Hail Mary -- no pun intended -- right off the get go and if we catch it, man.

You had so much success in college football, you had so much success in the NFL... it seems like you're having fun now. When you're fielding these pitches, how do you get to decide what stuff you want to do?

I think when I was playing in New York, I was very conscious of, like, all right, you got the New York media here, they're very quick to kind of label you and whatever your label is, it's hard to get out of that. So, I didn't want to do too much and join with too many brands, or act silly or let my real personality come out, because I didn't want to get typecasted into something that I wasn't. I was very focused on my job and serious about football, but I have a lighter side than me that I probably held on to a little bit, and then when I retired, I didn't have to worry about that as much and wanted to love working with brands that are genuine, and that I use and are part of our family.

That's kind of where you come with Kings Hawaiian, like all my kids love their sweet rolls. We like to cook and have people over on Sundays, and kind of get to do this new tailgating thing. So it was very genuine, because it was a product that we believed in.

And then, when doing some of the commercials, they might add, "Hey, do you mind wearing a mustache?" I love wearing a mustache. Bring it all on. I'll do whatever. Let's make it great. Let's have fun with it. That's kind of been, you know, where you just don't have to worry about, hey, how is the New York media gonna write this, or what are they gonna say to that?

Everyone was talking about Taylor and Travis getting engaged. Both Kelce brothers are ManningCast guests, so is it super exciting to see someone like Travis go through all this excitement?

EM: Yes, it was. It was an exciting day in the in the Manning household, having three girls who were all kind of right in those teens and preteen ages. So my phone was like, blowing up. "What's wrong?" All three kids are FaceTiming, texting, calling, like, what's happening? And so they're very excited to break the news to me that Travis and Taylor got engaged, so they assume they're going to be flower girls in the wedding. That will be a bit tough to break the news that probably won't be happening, but, I'm excited for them. Taylor would be a great guest for ManningCast. Usually she's at the Monday night games when Kansas City is playing, so we might have to figure out another game.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Q&A: Eli Manning talks dream 'Manningcast' guests and Chad Powers

Reporting by Caroline Darney, For The Win / For The Win

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