Peyton and Eli. Venus and Serena. Yadier, Bengie and José. These are a few of the most famous sibling rivalries that dominate the sports world today. And as spectators, we may often find it easy to measure one sibling’s success in comparison with that of the other because you can’t talk about one without at least mentioning the other. But do we ever think about whether or not this is actually fair to the players themselves? Sure, it’s a compliment to be compared to the likes of sports legends, but is it the same situation when the person you’re being compared to is someone you grew up with your entire life?

Speaking from my experience as an older twin sister, I would like to say no. For the past 20 years, I can argue that much of my identity has revolved around who she is, as opposed to who I am. It was all about who was stronger, who was prettier, who was more athletic, who was smarter in school, who was going to accomplish more. As a result, our relationship, which is pretty close considering we were born only two minutes apart, has been quite competitive since the later years of elementary school, which was when our mom pretty much stopped dressing us in identical clothes. The overall nature of our competition was all in good fun, but the underlying issue here is whether this was actually healthy for us.

So let’s now look at one of my favorite brother relationships on the football field, Peyton and Eli Manning. Football season may be over, but player and team analyses continue to be heard on sports talk shows. If you look at just the 2010-11 season, Peyton had his best passing season, throwing for 4,700 yards, but could have arguably also had his worst, as he was picked off 17 times, the most since his 19-interception season back in 2002. Now look at Eli, who just finished his seventh season at the helm of the New York Giants. Despite throwing for more touchdowns this year than in previous years, he had 25 of his passes intercepted — something not reflected in the Giants’ 10-6 record.

With Peyton’s Colts falling to the underdog Jets and Eli’s Giants missing the playoff cut, you can argue that both teams (and quarterbacks) had disappointing seasons. But you can also argue that Peyton’s performance level has recently been on the decline and Eli has helped his team become more of a title contender ever since their 2008 Super Bowl win. Yet why is it that when you compare the two quarterbacks today, Peyton is still considered to be playing at a higher level than Eli is? Perhaps it is because you can’t ignore how Peyton’s experience, poise, leadership and, most importantly, talent help bring him to a higher echelon. But that certainly doesn’t mean that Eli won’t be joining him in the near future. After all, he has made some memorable clutch plays and led his team to several fourth-quarter comeback wins. And to do that takes determination and skill, both of which Eli has. So it’s just a matter of refining his abilities by making better throws and learning to read defenses. But regardless of what else Peyton ends up achieving during the remainder of his football career, Eli doesn’t have to worry about that because he’s going to make a name for himself, if he hasn’t already. He’s just going to do it by his own standards.