Tua Tagovailoa: Professional football player, amateur guitar player.
If you are an NFL football fan, and you aren’t watching the ManningCast, what are you doing with your life? The only time I haven’t watched the alternate broadcast of Monday Night Football featuring Peyton and Eli Manning is when I accidentally leave it on the main broadcast after tuning in for the pregame show.
The strategy of the ManningCast is pretty simple:
-Let Peyton and Eli Manning poke fun at one another
-Welcome in guests for interviews and hope for viral moments
-Break down an NFL football game in a way that only former quarterbacks can accomplish
So far, the alternate broadcast has been wildly successful, and must be a dream job for Peyton and Eli, who both do the broadcast from their respective basements. The ratings for the main broadcast and the side broadcast with the Mannings are combined, so there’s no real way to tell, but I’d venture to say that the Manning brothers have more people watching them than watching Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.
How is that possible? Because the Mannings are doing things differently, calling the game a little more loosely, and bringing in guests that are, for the most part, always entertaining. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a guest a couple of weeks ago, and he was extra intriguing only because his pet donkey was stealing the show.
This week, the ManningCast for the Cincinnati Bengals and the Jacksonville Jaguars featured Tua Tagovailoa as a guest during the first half of the contest. Tua, who is the quarterback for the Miami Dolphins and is currently the head of one of the most exciting offenses the league has ever seen, is someone who usually doesn’t like extra media attention, so many were drawn to the fact that he was sitting in as a guest.
And not only did Tagovailoa give his thoughts on Florida State being snubbed from the College Football Playoff (as an Alabama alum), he also pulled out a guitar and started playing it after Eli asked him if the instruments in the background were just “for show.”
Tua quickly showcased that the guitars were there “for playing,” strumming the opening riff to “Sweet Home Alabama,” then playing a large portion of “Tears In Heaven” by Eric Clapton. I think it’s safe to say that everyone that was watching was thoroughly impressed.
Take a look:
