Feeling Appears to Be Mutual
Sixteen months after stiff-arming the Chargers in the 2004 draft, New York Giant quarterback Eli Manning tonight will play his first game in San Diego.
It’s no surprise, then, that the boos will be flowing in sports bars here.
“People are hoping that Eli chokes,” said David Jones, assistant general manager of Sandbar Sports Grill in Mission Beach. “We took it as a personal insult.”
Manning, remember, was selected No. 1 by the Chargers, even though he’d warned the club before the draft that he would never sign a contract with San Diego. As he stood for the traditional pictures on the stage at Madison Square Garden, he was handed a Charger cap but refused to put it on. It wasn’t until he was traded to the Giants more than an hour later that he finally cracked a smile.
Not since Ryan Leaf, the former No. 2 pick and colossal flop, has a quarterback, or any other player, for that matter, evoked so much bile from Charger backers.
“Ryan Leaf was a jerk, but at least he was a Charger,” said Ted Semprini, part-time bartender and co-owner of Players’ Sports Bar in Kearney Mesa. He said Manning “is riding the coattails of his brother and his dad. We were thinking he could be the next savior here. There’s a different kind of hatred for this kid.”
In this game, though, the stakes are higher for the Chargers than simply proving one player wrong. San Diego is 0-2 and, with a loss, could fall as far as three games behind Kansas City in the AFC West. Charger Coach Marty Schottenheimer said he didn’t even want to think about the grim possibility of an 0-3 start.
“That obviously makes it extremely difficult,” said Schottenheimer, whose team has lost to Dallas and Denver by a combined seven points. “We are not looking in those terms right now, certainly.”
Regardless, for Charger fans, the lightning rod is the guy wearing the No. 10 Giant jersey, and Manning knows it.
“I’m sure I’ll get booed and that’s just something I’ll have to deal with,” said Manning, whose undefeated team is looking for its first 3-0 start since the 2000 season, when the Giants last reached the Super Bowl.
“It shouldn’t cause a big problem to me. But I have to be focused on what my job has got to be, and that’s to go out there and execute the game plan and make good decisions and put some points on the board.”
Manning said he heard his share of boos in college -- especially when his Ole Miss team played at LSU, for Eli was a Louisiana boy -- and he says he’s “very comfortable” with the way things worked out on draft day.
“I’ve never looked back on my decision,” he said. “I have no regrets at all. I’m happy where I am.”
The Chargers didn’t miss Manning last season, turning around their fortunes and making the playoffs behind the inspired play of Drew Brees. Learning at Brees’ elbow is Philip Rivers, the promising North Carolina State quarterback acquired in the Manning trade.
Although conceding that Qualcomm Stadium would be a hostile environment for Manning, Brees downplayed the suggestion that Charger defenders would be extra-pumped to welcome him.
“I’m sure it’s just a slight bit of motivation,” he said. “But we have enough motivation as it is.... We’re not making it a bigger deal than it is. But, hey, whatever gets you a little more fired up, more power to you.”
At Moondoggies in Pacific Beach, they’re bracing for a packed house.
“Every TV will be set on the Chargers’ game,” David Haggerty, a floor manager, said. “With every touchdown, every close call, everyone will be yelling at the TV. Everyone will be wearing” the T-shirts that mock Manning and show him with an X through his face.
Everyone, that is, but Haggerty.
“I’m a Giants’ fan,” he confessed. “I sympathize with the people here, but I’d rather see Eli light ‘em up.”
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Tale of the tape
Comparing New York Giant quarterback Eli Manning with San Diego Charger quarterback Drew Brees:
*--* MANNING BREES 24 Age 26 Mississippi College Purdue 2004 Year drafted 2001 1st Overall draft choice 32nd 2nd NFL seasons 5th 6-10 2004 team record 12-4 2-0 2005 team record 0-2 3 ’05 TDs 2 23 ’05 completions 33 47 ’05 attempts 58 337 ’05 yards 384 7.17 ’05 yds. per attempt 6.62 76.3 ’05 QB rating 67.0
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