azdad1978
Championship!!!!
For Manning, winning fans a big job
National Editor, NFL.com
NEW YORK (April 24, 2004) -- Eli Manning has yet to take an NFL snap, and already he is trying to make the first big comeback of his pro career.
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Manning was the target of a loud chorus of boos from the crowd packing The Theater at Madison Square Garden. That certainly isn't unusual for the usually rowdy folks who attend the NFL draft.
But this inhospitable New York greeting came before the draft even began. It came before Manning ever set foot on the stage for the first time. It came merely in response to his face appearing on the giant television screens flanking the stage. And that was only a warmup.
Manning would be booed again when he was brought on stage to be introduced, alongside the five other players invited to the draft. And he would hear even louder, more vicious booing and chanting and catcalling when Commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced the San Diego Chargers had made him the first overall pick and presented him with a No. 1 Chargers jersey.
We now know, of course, that Manning's San Diego career lasted about as long as it takes to finish a medium-sized cup of coffee. We now know he got his wish and will be playing elsewhere, thanks to a subsequent trade between the Chargers and New York Giants.
"It is nothing new," Manning said, trying to shrug off the ugliness of it all. "I've heard boos before. I've been in a lot of stadiums where they've booed."
Still, this didn't have the feel of the negative receptions Manning typically received whenever he led the University of Mississippi into another Southeastern Conference stadium. This had the feeling of something a little deeper and angrier than the typical fallout of a rivalry. Manning did what so many sports fans dislike, if not detest: He used his prominent stature as a vehicle of manipulation. He let the world know where he DIDN'T want to play if, as expected, he became the top overall pick of the draft. He forced a team's hand with the help of his father, Archie Manning, who apparently didn't want his youngest son to experience the misery he went through with hapless New Orleans in the 1970s. He came off as, well, a crier and a whiner even to people with no rooting interest in the Chargers.
Perhaps even more telling was that this crowd didn't dramatically change its tune after learning that Manning was part of one of the hometown teams.
"I still heard a few boos," he said. "I heard a few more cheers, one or two more cheers, so that was a good feeling."
But it wasn't a whole lot to hang his new Giants hat on (he refused to wear a Chargers hat when he posed for photographers with the Chargers jersey, which he held as if it had been smudged with some sort of toxic substance).
Manning's negotiating rights might belong to the Giants, but the rest of him is far from being thoroughly embraced by their fans. There are simply too manly troubling issues that still linger, beginning with the wild path he traveled to ultimately land in New York -- even though he had arrived here days earlier. He began the draft as a Charger while another quarterback, Philip Rivers, became the Giants' choice in the fourth slot. Then the Giants and Chargers promptly swapped Manning and Rivers, and the Giants also had to give up their third-round pick this year and their first- and fifth-round choices in 2005.
It was a hefty price for one player. But it is only a small part of what fans in New York and throughout the country are factoring into the Manhattan skyscraper-high bar they have set for Manning's NFL career.
OK, you thought you were too good for the Chargers? Show us you were good enough for the Giants in a year from now, or whenever, the Kerry Collins era officially ends. Show us what that Manning pedigree is all about, that you have something in common with your older brother and reining NFL co-MVP, Peyton Manning, other than the same parents. Show us you were worth all of those draft picks that Giants gave up and all of the commotion you caused.
Until he starts doing good things with a football in his hands, it will be that surly and terse for young Eli. And that's on the conservative side.
"I've dealt with pressure a long time, having a father and a brother who have played in the NFL, and I'm following up in their footsteps," he said. "People have been expecting things of me ever since high school, through college. You can't worry about it. You've got to go out there, do the best you can do, work hard, try to win games and to be really dedicated to what you're doing and do everything you can do. That's all you can ask of yourself."
Perhaps. But due to the unusual circumstances that brought Manning to the Giants, he can figure on some jaded and even resentful fans asking him to do a whole lot more.
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By Vic CarucciNational Editor, NFL.com
NEW YORK (April 24, 2004) -- Eli Manning has yet to take an NFL snap, and already he is trying to make the first big comeback of his pro career.
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Manning was the target of a loud chorus of boos from the crowd packing The Theater at Madison Square Garden. That certainly isn't unusual for the usually rowdy folks who attend the NFL draft.
But this inhospitable New York greeting came before the draft even began. It came before Manning ever set foot on the stage for the first time. It came merely in response to his face appearing on the giant television screens flanking the stage. And that was only a warmup.
Manning would be booed again when he was brought on stage to be introduced, alongside the five other players invited to the draft. And he would hear even louder, more vicious booing and chanting and catcalling when Commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced the San Diego Chargers had made him the first overall pick and presented him with a No. 1 Chargers jersey.
We now know, of course, that Manning's San Diego career lasted about as long as it takes to finish a medium-sized cup of coffee. We now know he got his wish and will be playing elsewhere, thanks to a subsequent trade between the Chargers and New York Giants.
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This is the shade of blue the Eli Manning is more comfortable wearing. But the booing won't fade from his memory any time soon. How could it? How could Manning ever forget all of those imitations of babies crying and whining that he heard from the jersey-wearing, game-faced fans as he was ushered through the audience on his way to a press conference? How could he ever forget the general hostility that has been directed his way ever since it became public that he wanted no part of San Diego? "It is nothing new," Manning said, trying to shrug off the ugliness of it all. "I've heard boos before. I've been in a lot of stadiums where they've booed."
Still, this didn't have the feel of the negative receptions Manning typically received whenever he led the University of Mississippi into another Southeastern Conference stadium. This had the feeling of something a little deeper and angrier than the typical fallout of a rivalry. Manning did what so many sports fans dislike, if not detest: He used his prominent stature as a vehicle of manipulation. He let the world know where he DIDN'T want to play if, as expected, he became the top overall pick of the draft. He forced a team's hand with the help of his father, Archie Manning, who apparently didn't want his youngest son to experience the misery he went through with hapless New Orleans in the 1970s. He came off as, well, a crier and a whiner even to people with no rooting interest in the Chargers.
Perhaps even more telling was that this crowd didn't dramatically change its tune after learning that Manning was part of one of the hometown teams.
"I still heard a few boos," he said. "I heard a few more cheers, one or two more cheers, so that was a good feeling."
But it wasn't a whole lot to hang his new Giants hat on (he refused to wear a Chargers hat when he posed for photographers with the Chargers jersey, which he held as if it had been smudged with some sort of toxic substance).
Manning's negotiating rights might belong to the Giants, but the rest of him is far from being thoroughly embraced by their fans. There are simply too manly troubling issues that still linger, beginning with the wild path he traveled to ultimately land in New York -- even though he had arrived here days earlier. He began the draft as a Charger while another quarterback, Philip Rivers, became the Giants' choice in the fourth slot. Then the Giants and Chargers promptly swapped Manning and Rivers, and the Giants also had to give up their third-round pick this year and their first- and fifth-round choices in 2005.
It was a hefty price for one player. But it is only a small part of what fans in New York and throughout the country are factoring into the Manhattan skyscraper-high bar they have set for Manning's NFL career.
OK, you thought you were too good for the Chargers? Show us you were good enough for the Giants in a year from now, or whenever, the Kerry Collins era officially ends. Show us what that Manning pedigree is all about, that you have something in common with your older brother and reining NFL co-MVP, Peyton Manning, other than the same parents. Show us you were worth all of those draft picks that Giants gave up and all of the commotion you caused.
Until he starts doing good things with a football in his hands, it will be that surly and terse for young Eli. And that's on the conservative side.
"I've dealt with pressure a long time, having a father and a brother who have played in the NFL, and I'm following up in their footsteps," he said. "People have been expecting things of me ever since high school, through college. You can't worry about it. You've got to go out there, do the best you can do, work hard, try to win games and to be really dedicated to what you're doing and do everything you can do. That's all you can ask of yourself."
Perhaps. But due to the unusual circumstances that brought Manning to the Giants, he can figure on some jaded and even resentful fans asking him to do a whole lot more.
