The New York Giants playoff victory over the Green Bay Packers last night was one of the most exciting games I can remember. I am a huge sucker for all the postgame hooplah -- I loved watching Michael Strahan running around the field high-fiving Giants' fans despite the frigid temperatures. The cameras are always trying to catch the human interest stories at the end of the game. I loved that Eli's Dad, Archie Manning could barely watch as the game wound down and the Giants missed several opportunities to seal the victory. I can, however, only stomach so much of the post-game commentary -- all these football "experts" who killed Eli all year are now willing to elevate him to the level of star. (He was never as bad as when the naysayers suggested he was adopted [?!] and he's not a superstar now. Heck, he didn't even throw a touchdown yesterday; does not throwing an interception qualify you for the Hall of Fame now?) Nevertheless, in the minutes immediately following the game-ending field goal, I watched Eli as the camera zoomed in on him. He was clearly scanning the stands for someone. He muttered, "No, she'd be down here," and then "she's in ... where's section 119?!!" and continued to search as the screen faded out to commercial. I then remembered at the end of the one of the previous playoff games, Eli mentioned that he was looking for his girlfriend, Abby in the stands. So minutes after the biggest victory of his life, the kid from Mississippi who'd always lived in his brother Peyton's shadow had every opportunity to be mugging for the cameras, and instead he wanted to share the moment with Abby. Moments like that make it easy to root for a kid like Eli.
No comments:
Post a Comment