SUPER BOWL XXI : NOTEBOOK

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) isn’t getting a particularly warm response from Giants officials in his effort to change the team’s name to the New Jersey Giants.

Lautenberg said he sent Giants’ co-owner Wellington Mara a letter asking him to consider the name change after talking to Mara about it a party. Mara was “noncommittal,” he said.

The team has been based in East Rutherford, N.J., since 1976 but still calls itself a New York team.

“New Jersey’s 10-year investment in money and morale deserves a ‘Giant’ dividend of some kind,” Lautenberg said.

Giants’ management has refused to comment on the name change, though team spokesman Ed Croke offered his feelings on the matter: “This is totally disruptive, a total distraction and something we will ignore.”