Eli Manning’s retirement from professional football was the big headline this week in Mississippi sports.
Manning, an Ole Miss legend, played 16 seasons for the New York Giants and led the G-Men to two Super Bowl titles. Manning will still be connected to the Giants in some capacity going forward. He retires as the highest paid professional football player in NFL history with $252.3 million while his brother Peyton is second on the list with $248.7 million.
TOO CLOSE TO CALL
Super Bowl LIV will be played Sunday in Miami. This could be an all-time classic as even the Las Vegas odd makers are having a hard time sorting out who will emerge with the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Kansas City Chiefs are a one-point favorite as of now over the San Francisco 49ers.
PERFECT STORM
Many of you Dallas Cowboy fans may remember the name Thomas ‘Hollywood’ Henderson. Henderson was a linebacker for the Cowboys during their glory days of 1975-82. He was hooked on drugs and after his playing days went to prison for 28 months.
In 2000 Henderson won $28 million playing the Texas Lotto. Ten years later, he won another $50,000 in the Lotto. Well, now our state will enter the dream world of lotteries as Thursday local merchants will start selling the Powerball and Mega Million tickets.
If you have not noticed, as of Sunday this week the Powerball was closing in on a jackpot of close to $400 million. If no one wins Wednesday night of this week when Thursday rolls around and the pot is up to around $450 million for Saturday's drawing, there may be a lot of long lines at the local stores this weekend.
NBA LEGEND
The loss of Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter on Sunday is tragic. Bryant played his entire 20-year career with the LA Lakers. Having come into the league as an 18-year-old out of high school, he went on to claim five championships and was an 18-time All-Star.
He retired as the league’s third all-time leading scorer. When he retired, Bryant said he wanted to be remembered as an overachiever as someone who had talent but worked like he had none.
Dale McKee is a native of Waynesboro and has been writing sports in Mississippi since 1973. His column appears in several weekly papers throughout the state. You may contact him at ddmckee18@yahoo.com
