Did Eli Manning really just invite us to play golf?

Few things stir up confusion in golfers quite like the soft invitation to a nice private course. "Was that guy I met just twice serious about that?" you ask yourself. "Do I follow up with him and come across as a beggar?" you ponder. "Maybe I'll just wait and see if he reaches out again ... " you wishfully think.

Of course, not all soft invitations are created equal. Some are meant to be acted on, no matter how it makes you look. Eli Manning inviting you to play one of America's 100 Greatest is one of those times, in our opinion.

Then again, myself and my two co-hosts of The Loop podcast, Stephen Hennessey and Alex Myers, are diehard New York Giants fans, so maybe we're looking at this situation through Big Blue-colored glasses. If, perhaps, we were diehard Arizona Cardinals fans, we'd let the soft invite be exactly what it is. A soft invite meant to be forgotten in a day's time.

But Manning sort of invited us twice during our interview on this week's episode of The Loop, and the proximity of the golf course he invited us to certainly plays as a factor as well. Eli, if you're reading this, we're very in for the early spring. By then, ideally, we'll have much to discuss and look forward to in regards to the 2026 Giants season.

In our full interview with the two-time Super Bowl MVP and future Hall-of-Famer, we also discussed what the ugly scene at the Ryder Cup this year reminded Eli of, golf trip hijinks with Peyton and why he has zero interest in the Giants head coaching job. Please, have a listen below, and like and subscribe to The Loop wherever you get your podcasts: