Eli Manning won't take broke hospital's money
By MJD
St. Vincent's hospital in New York has a little bit of a debt problem -- about $700 million worth, according to the New York Post. They also owed New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning(notes) over $500,000, but Eli, aware of their debt problems, told them no thanks. He wants them to keep their money. He'll continue doing fund-raising work for the hospital for free, too.
Obviously, it's the right thing for Eli to do. What kind of person -- especially one with Eli's money -- would demand that a bankrupt hospital keep paying him, especially when they're already cutting salaries and jobs? "Shut down your Oncology ward! The quarterback needs his money!" No, that's not quite Eli's style.
Unfortunately, it might already be too late for Eli to escape bad publicity. A separate New York Post article quotes WFAN sports radio and e-mails to the newspaper blasting Manning. Before agreeing to release St. Vincent's from their obligation, Manning had already made over $500,000 from them. Here's one of the e-mails:
"This is probably why they [St. Vincent's] are going down to begin with . . . Eli should have returned all the money he took . . . and then dedicate himself to saving a MUCH NEEDED HOSPITAL!!! What a shlump!"
Perhaps Manning wasn't aware of the hospital's financial problems when he took their money to begin with. He had a marketing deal with the hospital. They signed up to give him that money. It's not like he held them up at gunpoint and started demanding cash or something.
It just seems like this was all a poorly-timed and poorly-executed deal from the beginning, and I'm sure Eli will do what he feels his right.