No Other Siblings Come Close to the Mannings

By David “Large” Larzelere
I’ve been thinking about it and scouring the record books and people I tell you there is simply no fraternal feat in the history of sports that compares to back-to-back Super Bowl MVP’s. Maybe this was more obvious than I thought it was, but still I was sure I’d come up with something that at least would dwell in the same stratosphere of achievement.
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No dice. If you have any suggestions, please send them along. The best examples I could come up with are from the world of boxing, which perhaps is more reflective of my own preoccupations than anything else, but there you have it.
There’s the Klitschko brothers, first of all. I know, I know, the heavyweight title isn’t exactly what it used to be, but still in the space of a three-year period each of the brothers K have held a legitimate claim to being THE heavyweight champion of the world. Admittedly, it’s not two Super Bowl MVP’s, but it’s nothing to sneeze at either.
There’s also a potential brotherly boxing feat on the imminent horizon that merits inclusion in this discussion – on March 1st Rafael Marquez fights Israel Vasquez for the consensus title at 122 pounds and also as the rubber match of a boxing trilogy that should go down among the greats of all time. Then on March 15th Rafael’s brother and WBC super featherweight champion, Juan Manuel Marquez, faces Manny Pacquiao in a rematch of their epic draw in 2004. If Rafael and Juan Manuel win both of those fights, well, it won’t exactly make the same caliber of headlines but it will nevertheless be a fistic feat worthy of the Manning double.
Finally, one more boxing brothers story – on June 27th, 1972 in Las Vegas, a night that Muhammad Ali dubbed “The Soul Brothers Versus The Quarry Brothers,†21-year-old Mike Quarry fought arguably the greatest light heavyweight of all time, Bob Foster, and then Mike’s older and more famous brother Jerry Quarry fought arguably the greatest heavyweight of all time, Ali himself. Had both Quarry brothers prevailed, there’s no doubt in my mind that it would have been a feat of brotherhood to equal and perhaps surpass that of the MVP Mannings.
Sadly, each of the Quarrys got the bejabbers beaten out of him, poor Mike worst of all. That Bob Foster – man could he punch (knockout comes around the seven-minute mark):

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