Family Ties a Plus for Mannings

The New York Times:

So you haven’t heard enough about Peyton and Eli Manning — their quarterbacking careers, their Super Bowl Most Valuable Player awards and their skills as Madison Avenue pitchmen?

Let’s analyze the effects of their birth order. No statistics, just a bit of scholarly speculation as Eli prepares to lead the Giants into Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5 against the New England Patriots.

Peyton will turn 36 in March, and Eli just turned 31. Then there is their big brother, Cooper, 37, whose career as a wide receiver at the University of Mississippi ended before it began because of spinal stenosis.

A student of birth order like Frank J. Sulloway, a psychology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, says that first-born children tend to be conscientious, responsible, reliable and achievement-oriented, while later-born children can be rebellious, easygoing, excitement-seeking and risk-taking. Indeed, as later-born children, Eli and Peyton should be more alike than different.

Read the whole story: The New York Times