Don Pierson

Welcome to San Diego, Eli Manning. The Chargers and their fans have been waiting for you.

Had Manning chosen to become a Charger instead of forcing a trade during the 2004 draft, he couldn't have imagined more enthusiastic treatment than he's likely to get Sunday.

"I don't think it'll be too pleasant. I'm sure I'll get booed," Manning said.

The New York Giants haven't exactly been a bitter rival of the Chargers over the years. They've only played eight times since the 1970 merger, and this is their first confrontation since 1998.

But some rivalries transcend the field of play. Manning is a sworn enemy of the region, an area of the country unaccustomed to critical attack. Couldn't have been the weather. Manning never really elaborated, but his action spoke for itself. Nobody ever referred to the Chargers as the armpit of the NFL, as defensive end Simeon Rice once described his former team, the Arizona Cardinals. But Manning's surprise decision caught San Diego so off guard that there was a run on deodorant, just in case.

The funny thing about this game is the Chargers really can't afford to pay much attention to the Manning visit. At 0-2, they have too many more important things to worry about. They have to win no matter whom they're playing. That it's Manning is incidental. Convenient maybe, but incidental to their motivation.

Manning was a Charger for only a couple of hours. If the Chargers get all wrapped up in some contorted idea of revenge against a teammate who abandoned them, the distraction could work in Manning's favor.

Manning tried to clear up some misperceptions about his decision this week. First, he never chose New York or asked to go to New York. He just didn't want to go to San Diego. Second, he feels bad that dad Archie got falsely accused of manipulating the whole thing.

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The Mannings are the NFL's First Family, so the whole league felt the black eye when Eli and his dad were punched around for tampering with such a revered national institution as the draft. Never mind that Eli was just trying to exercise the right of every outstanding young college business recruit to have a say in where he worked.

"I had nothing against San Diego or the people of San Diego when I made this decision," he said. "I had actually never been to San Diego before, prior to making the decision last year so everything I'd heard about it — it's beautiful, it's got great weather, it's a great place to live — and I don't deny that. I've been there since, last year for the rookie symposium, and saw what it is like and it is beautiful. My decision was not based on where I'd be living; it was about being there and playing football there for possibly six or seven years with a contract and it just didn't seem like the right fit for me."

Think of it this way: The Chargers hadn't had a winning team since 1995. If you were the best accountant in your graduating class, would you want to be forced to work at a poorly managed accounting firm?

Manning used the scant leverage he had — a threat — to see if he could get the system to work for him. As popular as the draft is, Manning's desire was hardly un-American. It also wasn't going to undermine the entire draft system by inciting college football players to picket en masse. It was one player expressing an opinion about where he didn't want to play. By the reaction, you would have thought he was going to set the entire league on its ear. 

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As for preferring New York over San Diego, Manning said, "I didn't choose to come to New York. I didn't know what would happen with the draft or after I sat there, where I'd get traded or to what team. I didn't specifically say I wanted to go to this team or that team."

Archie Manning played gallantly for the hometown New Orleans Saints for 11 years and never enjoyed a winning season. He also never had a chance to become a free agent. But Eli said that wasn't a factor in his decision and his dad never tried to guide the situation with San Diego.

"He got asked to be brought into it by the Chargers," Eli said. "After I'd made my decision and told them, they wanted to talk to my dad and visit with him, so he agreed to talk to them. It wasn't him talking to me or any of his (doing) because of his experience with the Saints. He had nothing to do with it, so I'd like to clear that up."

There have been 18 regular-season weeks in the NFL since Manning just said no to San Diego. Let's examine the fallout.

Had Manning landed in San Diego, happily or otherwise, as the No. 1 overall pick, the Chargers probably wouldn't have gone 12-4 last season and wouldn't have made the playoffs. Why? Because the Chargers would have been more compelled to play their first choice, Manning, ahead of Drew Brees instead of allowing Brees to compete. It was easier for the Chargers to rationalize making Philip Rivers sit than it would have been to sit Manning.

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