Eli Manning has had his share of sleepless nights as the quarterback of the Giants, but his latest bout of insomnia is one he can deal with.
“I’ve had other reasons for not being able to sleep after bad games and bad performances,” Manning said yesterday morning as he prepared for the team’s victory parade. “This is one where I’m just sitting there smiling. I can handle it for a few more days probably.”
Manning looked exhausted after being tugged in different directions as Super Bowl MVP. Manning was supposed to fly to California on Monday to go to Disneyland as part of his duties as MVP. When it was clear that was not going to happen, the plane’s destination was changed to New York where he was scheduled to appear on “The Late Show with David Letterman.” As the hours went by, it became clear he would not make that show either. He is now scheduled to appear on the tonight’s Letterman show.
Manning joined his teammates yesterday morning at Giants Stadium before their victory parade began. The players had their season-ending physicals and final team meetings. They packed up their belongings as former Giants fullback Charles Way, who now works in the team’s front office, made his way around the locker room with a device to determine their ring size. Manning checked in at 111/2.
All of the commitments Eli has faced have prevented him from watching Sunday’s game yet.
“I’ve not seen the tape, which is rare after two days,” he said. “I tried to come in today but I couldn’t make it in there. There’s too many people to see, too much going on. I’d like to see the game version, how we watch film, but also get the TV copy and see it with all the commercials and all the breaks and watch it how the fans watched it.”
For Manning, being a Super Bowl champion is still sinking in.
“There’s times you don’t think about it then all of a sudden you might be driving or just sitting around and just thinking we’re the world champions,” Manning said. “We just won the Super Bowl. It’s a great feeling.”
Michael Strahan circulated the room handing out fliers for a party he is hosting. He sipped on some coffee, trying to gain some energy after a busy few days.
The Giants already are being placed in the middle of the pack by Vegas oddsmakers to win next year’s Super Bowl, which made Strahan smile slightly.
“There’s always going to be doubters,” he said. “They’ll find a reason why we won the game or the Patriots lost the game. For us it doesn’t matter. Every time you look up and realize in 2007 the Giants are world champions. We’ll have the trophy and the ring to back it up. We were the best team in the league this year.”
The locker room cleared out at 9:30 as players and staff members walked to the idling buses outside the stadium waiting to take them to the parade.