INDIANAPOLIS - Eli Manning has his own way of keeping things light.
Frequently, it involves victimizing Victor Cruz.
After the Giants arrived yesterday, Cruz was getting himself ready for the first day of media obligations, getting showered, putting his good clothes on. Manning was in the prank-pulling mood.
He started with Cruz’s face towel.
“I had it up, and I was taking my shower and I go back,’’ Cruz said. “And I go to wipe my face and it’s soap all on my face, man.
“That’s the first time I’ve caught him. That’s the first time I knew it was him. He walked past and as soon as I wiped my face, he gave me a smirk. So I knew it was him.’’
It’s always something. Baby powder in the cleats. Dye in his receiving gloves.
Cruz said, “He’ll come up and say something slick like, ‘How’re your hands doing today.’ ’’
Last week, Manning emphasized how important it will be to take a businesslike approach to their Super Bowl rematch with the Patriots. Prior to leaving the East Coast around 11:30 a.m., with only a few hundred fans sending them off, the Giants held a walkthrough.
But there’s a difference between being focused and being tight.
There’s absolutely no question where he gets it. His brother, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, found ways to torture him when they were kids. Eli is just passing them along.
“His most popular move, he would pin me down and take his knuckles and knock on my chest and make me name the 12 schools in the SEC,’’ Manning said. “I didn’t know them all at the time, but I quickly learned them. It was a great learning technique. I don’t suggest anyone else try it out, but it definitely made me learn the schools of the SEC. Once I figured those out, he moved on.
“There were 28 teams in the NFL at that point. So all teams in the NFL. I had to get my studying on for that. Then once I figured that out, the one I never got was the 10 brands of cigarettes. When he really wanted to torture me and knew I had no shot of ever getting it, that’s when I just started screaming for my mom or dad to come save me, or maybe [brother] Cooper. That was his go-to move.’’
If Manning can lead the Giants to a win Sunday, he’ll have two Super Bowl rings to wear, one more than Peyton.
No one wants to see him do it more than Giants coach Tom Coughlin, who said, “It would be a great endorsement for the quality of football player he is.’’
Word play
When Tom Brady said Sunday that he hoped there would be more people at the Patriots’ Super Bowl victory celebration than there were at the team’s send-off at Gillette Stadium, the New York media played up Brady’s premature party planning.
But for the Giants, it was a lot of fuss over nothing.
