The Manning brothers are as close as we get to royalty amongst sports families. Both Peyton and Eli Manning are two of the greatest QBs ever to lace up and have delighted us over the years, both on and off the field. But with the latest edition of his show set to return, Manning took on a weird dare that has even his most ardent fans surprised. 

Since his retirement in 2020, Eli has reinvented himself as a major personality off the field, especially with the ‘Manningcast’ alongside his brother. His most significant appearance, however, is probably on his, ‘The Eli Manning Show’. With its third season premiering, Manning was set up to a weird sneaker challenge, which the QB aced. 

Eli Manning aces weird sneaker dare

Eli Manning opened up the latest season of his show with a bang. The 2x Super Bowl champ invited Grammy-nominated rapper Fat Joe, to star as the guest of the first episode. But as Joe and Manning went about a sneaker journey through the rapper’s sneaker shop, Manning received a weird challenge that definitely took him aback. 

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To spice things up, the Grammy-nominated rapper dared Manning to embrace his inner daredevil and lick the bottom of Joe’s unreleased exclusive sneaker. Without hesitation, Manning accepted Fat Joe’s unconventional dare, ready to tackle it head-on like a crucial play in the Super Bowl. As the cameras rolled, Eli Manning leaned forward to put forth his rendition of the infamous ‘sneaker lick’. However, while the dare may seem weird to many, the ‘sneaker lick’ has a great cultural history behind it. 

A look at Fat Joe’s infamous ‘sneaker lick’

The significance of this challenge extended beyond the realm of sports and entertainment. More than a decade ago, Fat Joe, originally called Joseph Cortegana, took the sneaker community by storm when he went viral for his ‘sneaker lick’. Fat Joe’s appearance on ‘MTV Cribs,’ where he famously licked the bottom of a sneaker, marked a turning point in sneaker culture.

Over the years, many have marked the moment as a quintessential moment in sneaker culture. The New York rapper also reminisced about the iconic moment in a 2012 interview with Sneakerwatch.com. 

“The most classic sneaker moment in history. I don’t care if you’re Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, African. When you feel like you that ni**a, you lick the bottom of that sneaker,” Joe said in the interview. 

As Manning joins the list of iconic stars to perform Joe’s sneaker lick, he’ll be glad to have made himself a part of one of the most iconic moments in the ever-expanding world of sneaker culture. 

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