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Eli Manning on 'SNL' and more baby Mannings

By April MacIntyre Jun 15, 2012, 15:11 GMT

Eli Manning and Wendy Williams - Samsung Hope for Children 2012 - Arrivals - Museum of Natural History - New York City, NY, USA © Charles Norfleet / PR Photos

Giants Quarterback Eli Manning chats with Parade.com about everything from his daughter's surprising first words, how he prepared for Saturday Night Live and he even admits there will be more baby Mannings in his future! Read on for some highlights.  
 
On his daughter's arm (and her first words!)

"She's 14 months so she's still working on her throwing motion a little bit. She does like playing with footballs, basketballs, and baseballs. One of her first words was "balls." And of course I have a lot of footballs around the house so she's often picking those up and throwing them.

It's kind of a two-handed toss right now, as expected. It'll be interesting on Sunday when I throw out the first pitch and I have a baseball in my hand. She'll probably ask for it and want to hold on to it and give it a throw. We'll see how it all works out!"

Will there be more Mannings?

"Yeah, that's in the future plans. We haven't quite timed it all out but we definitely want to have more kids down the road."

On fatherhood.

"I don't think you can truly know how it's going to change your life or how you're going to feel. You love your child and just have so many emotions, like coming home at the end of every day and right when I walk in the door I immediately drop everything and look for her, hoping that she's not taking a nap or sleeping. That you get to run around and play with her a little bit. That's one of the most exciting things."

On what was harder: preparing for the Superbowl or preparing for Saturday Night Live?

"I pretty much treated the preparation the same way. I sort of treated it like a game week. In a lot of ways, it is somewhat similar. All the cast members and actors have a new script and game plan, you practice it a few times, and then you get there on Saturday night and it's live, it's a go.

It's like getting your plays, practicing it a few times, and then Sunday you go out there, perform and hope for the best. I don't know if I was nervous. I was really excited and said to myself, 'I'm going to have fun with this and be myself.' Just being with the cast and having lots of laughs. Just be excited whether it was good or bad or whether I made a mistake, so be it. It's not my day job."

On his Little Brother's skit…
"[Peyton] had a laugh over it. No revenge, all in good humor and good fun."
 
Visit Parade.com for the full interview