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- Eli Manning might be a great quarterback in the NFL. He also might be a mediocre one. At this point though, it is impossible to tell. Unlike his whiny counterpart John Elway and brother Peyton, scouts were not unified in their belief that Manning will be a star in the NFL. Some think he might be, others disagree.
On some draft-boards Philip Rivers was ahead of Manning. On others Ben Roethlisberger was too. I guess the Giants saw things differently.
For all their maneuvering, the G-Men get a quarterback who never won anything substantial in college and wasn’t considered one of the best QBs in the game last fall. There are Elway-esque expectations for Eli, but he has little credentials to earn that sort of hype.
So why did Giants GM Ernie Acorsi give up a third-round pick this year and a first- and fifth-round pick next year, plus Philip Rivers for Manning? It’s insane.
Let’s put it this way. Look at the picks the Giants gave up to get Manning. If you do, you’ll see that Acorsi thought that Manning was better than Rivers, Randy Starks (drafted in the third-round), Jonathan Vilma (#12 this year, even though the Giants will probably hand the Chargers a Top 10 pick next year) and Chad Lavalais (5th round) combined.
Who knows? Maybe Manning will be better then Rivers and all the players the Chargers will stockpile with those draft picks. But even if Eli is an NFL-version of LeBron, the Chargers still could get the better end of the deal.
And if Eli doesn’t live up to expectations? Well, at least the fans in New York will be understanding.

- The only thing worse then watching Eli Manning get his way in the end was listening to Chris Berman defend his actions. Berman used the word “classy” when talking about Manning more times than Mel Kiper used the word “upside” when breaking down players.
I have been souring on Berman ever since his holier-than-thou soliloquy on Sunday NFL Countdown after the Rush Limbaugh “controversy” and I think his performance on Saturday was his jump-the-shark moment with me.
Chris, it’s not classy when a guy goes up on stage to shake hands with the commissioner and hold up a jersey (and refused to wear the hat) of a team he has repeatedly said he would not play for, all while having a look on his face that made it seem like he’d been drafted to go to Vietnam instead of San Diego.
It’s also not classy to sit in an interview with Suzy Kolber and say “I told the Chargers what would happen if they drafted me, and now they’re going to find out.”
The Waldorf-Astoria is classy. Eli Manning is a brat.

- Why is Kellen Winslow’s son known as Kellen Winslow II instead of Kellen Winslow Jr.? What is he, the Pope?

- If the University of Miami had six players drafted in the first-round this year and have had 20 in the past five years, how aren’t they winning the National Championship every season? A better question might be, how does a team with Sean Taylor, Kellen Winslow, Jonathan Vilma, D.J. Williams and Vernon Carey start Brock Berlin at quarterback? That’s like Larry Bowa managing the ’27 Yankees.

- 2004 NFL Draft All-Name Starting Lineup
Offense
QB – Jeff Smoker
RB – Mewelde Moore
WR – Jericho Cotchery Sounds like a biblical STD,
WR – Triandos Luke
TE – Kris Wilson Is it spelled Khiefs? Didn’t think so, loser.
T – Travelle Wharton
T – Kevin “I Wanna Talk To” Sampson
G – Rex Hadnot
G – Sean Locklear Not related to Heather, but claims to be.
C – Dominic Furio You should have never made eyes at Carmela.

Defense
DE – Kenechi Udeze
DE – Travis LaBoy
DT – Igor Olshansky
DT – Ryon Bingham Ryon? Seriously>
OLB – Keyaron Fox
OLB – Colby Bolckwodt
ILB – Niko Koutouvides Holla at your boy.
CB – Dunta Robinson It’s pronounced DON-TAY. Yup.
CB – Von Hutchins
FS – Deandre’ Eiland
SS – Guss Scott

- Did John Navarre really get drafted? I think we’re all taking this Tom Brady thing a bit too far.

- Maryland’s Randy Starks probably thought he was going to be a late-first or early second-round draft pick. And for good reason too. Most of the mock drafts had Starks as a top 30 pick. Well, everybody was wrong about that, as Starks had to wait until the 71st pick to be selected. Then, in the ultimate kick-in-the-groin, Randy suffered the indignity of seeing a kicker (Nate Kaeding) taken before him. Probably should have stayed in school, dog. I refuse to spell that “dawg” by the way.

- If everybody in the NFL Draft turns out to be as good as Mel Kiper Jr. says they will be, then the Pro Bowl is going to have to expand its rosters ten-fold.

- I won’t say much about Pat Tillman because it seems that’s what he would have wanted. His heroism and sacrifice, as well as that of all the men and women serving our country, should never be forgotten or taken for granted.
To leave condolences for the Tillman family and Arizona Cardinals, send an e-mail . And to do the same for other U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan,
And if you want to read more about the extraordinary life of Pat Tillman, read Mike Wise and Josh White’s from Saturday’s Washington Post and also
Peggy Noonan, of The Wall Street Journal wrote a two years ago. And Adrian Wojnarowski to the former Arizona Cardinal player and all the other men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the country on ESPN.com.