GIANT NOTES
ALBANY – It’s still early, but thus far, Eli Manning has made a favorable impression on the field and yesterday, he was a hit in the cafeteria as well.
Before lunch, Manning was instructed to get up on a chair and sing, participating in the traditional rookie initiation. Others in his rookie class – guard Chris Snee and tackle Drew Strojny – were also instructed to show their skill at carrying a tune.
College fight songs were not allowed. “Too easy,” left tackle Luke Petitgout explained.
Manning’s choice was “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling,” and it should come as no surprise that he sounded as if he’d practiced. He was well-prepared. “It was good, he did a good job,” Petitgout said. “I was impressed.”
Snee tried the theme song from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and did not attract rave reviews. Strojny started to mimic Manning with “You Lost that Loving Feeling” and was quickly shot down.
“Manning was the best and the worst was Drew Strojny,” Petitgout said, “but Chris Snee was pretty bad too.”
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When Manning came to the Giants in a trade on draft day, he wanted No. 10 and quickly made a deal with punter Jeff Feagles, who wore that number last season. “I took his family to Florida for a week,” Manning said. “Well, I didn’t take them. I supported them.” As the first pick in the draft, Manning had bargaining power. Not so Kurt Warner, who was not drafted out of Northern Iowa. “In St. Louis my first year I was No. 10 and then they brought in Trent Green and I realized I wasn’t [number] 10 when I saw him up on the news holding up the No. 10 jersey with ‘Green’ on it,” Warner said. “Then they gave me 13. I haven’t been in that position where I’ve had to pay anybody or take anybody’s family anywhere.”
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There’s a determined effort to improve the turnover ratio (it was a dreadful minus-16 last season), as defenders, often in exaggerated fashion, swipe and grab at the ball. RB Tiki Barber calls it “Extreme stripping.” . . . Giants shuffled their reserve RBs, sending out Antwoine Womack and Jermaine Green as waived/injured and signing Derrick Knight and Chris Douglas. Knight is the all-time leading rusher at Boston College and Douglas is the career-rushing leader at Duke. . . . DE Keith Washington and S Jason Doering sat out in the afternoon with knee injuries sustained in the morning.