as a long time giants fan, i agree with you guys only because i don't want to see them give up the #2 pick which is #34. that's pretty close to being in the 1st round.
here is an article i read at msnbc.com that i thought some might find interesting that happens to agree with the mannings:
Papa Manning isn't out of line
Don't lambaste Archie for trying to influence Chargers
COMMENTARY
By Mike Celizic
NBCSports.com contributor
Updated: 1:55 p.m. ET April 22, 2004
We keep saying that professional sports are a business, and if you genuinely accept that, then all you can say to Eli Manning is, ?Good luck, kid.?
What you cannot say is that Manning is greedy or disrespectful or too full of ego for daring to attempt to dictate which team drafts him. He?s a businessman, and the product he?s selling is himself. He has every right to try to insure that his body and the skills that go along with it land in a place with which he is comfortable.
Fans in San Diego surely think otherwise. Their team has the first pick in the NFL Draft, and Manning is considered to be the top prospect in the draft. In San Diego?s view, by being a miserable football team, the Chargers won the right to pick whomever they want. If they want Manning, they should have Manning.
We?ve gone through this before. A generation ago, John Elway was the top guy in the draft and the Baltimore Colts, long past their glory days, wanted to take him. Elway exercised his right to express his opinion about where he?d like to play, and his opinion was that he?d rather have his fingers chewed off by rabid bats than play for the Colts. As he also had a nice offer from the Yankees to play baseball, he was not without leverage.
Elway was roundly abused for being so self-centered, but he got what he wanted, which was a job anywhere but in Baltimore. He went to the Broncos, where he won two Super Bowls, and the Colts, in the dead of night, went to Indianapolis, where they've won won zero Super Bowls.
Kobe Bryant also dictated where he would go in the NBA draft, and fans of his home team, the 76ers, were not amused that Philadelphia was not among his choices. Philly fans still boo him whenever he sets foot on the Wachovia Center Court. It?s a price Bryant has been willing to pay for his three rings with the Los Angeles Lakers.
In a slightly different context, former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Terrell Owens also made demands about his future home when he thought he was a free agent and found out he wasn?t. We all hooted at him, but he got what he wanted ?- a spot with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The reason fans object is that it seems to go against the rules. Sports leagues have a draft system that awards the worst teams with the best opportunity to make themselves better. The efficacy of the system is debatable. For every team that has used the draft to get better, there?s another that remains clueless. The L.A. Clippers have had more high draft picks than anyone, and they still can?t make the playoffs. The Arizona Cardinals are always drafting high and always finishing low.
On the other hand, there?s Indianapolis, which landed Eli Manning?s brother, Peyton, and has developed into a contender with him at the controls.
But Indianapolis isn?t good simply because they won the lottery with Peyton. They also added good coaching and better scouting and management. Without people at the top who know what they?re doing, no draft is going to help.
Which is one reason Eli Manning has no interest in San Diego. The Chargers have made the playoffs four times in 20 years. Only the Clippers would see that as an enviable record. They?ve been through two young quarterbacks in the past five years. If you were Manning, you wouldn?t want to go there, either.
The ?traditionalists? say, ?Tough. You go where they send you. You should be glad just to be in the National Football League.?
And most players are glad just to be in the league. Certainly, nearly every draftee has a team he?d like to play for. Nearly every one of them accepts the team that drafts him. So the few who attempt to pick their team stand out like tulips on a dung heap. They are breaking the ?rules.?
But the rules are written totally for the benefit of the teams, not the players. And the biggest rule we have, the Constitution, says that people have a right to speak their minds and sell their services. The reality is that only a very tiny number of athletes have the talent that allows them to get their way. But that doesn?t mean they can?t try.
Every one of us has the right to ask for anything we want. And nearly all of us will find that we can?t have it. But a few can, if they?re good enough. That doesn?t seem fair to the great majority of people who are stuck where they are. But when they object when Eli Manning tries to broker his own deal, it?s not because Manning is greedy or self-centered, but because they are jealous.
San Diego is not defenseless. It can draft Manning anyway, and, if he doesn?t want to play for them, he can?t play anywhere that year. So it?s not all one-sided. There?s downside for him, too.
That won?t happen, because the Chargers can?t afford to throw a number-one draft pick at a guy who won?t play for them, a guy whose family has enough money to support him for the year he?s willing to sit out.
Besides, the Chargers need a lot of help elsewhere on the team. If they can trade with New York and get the number four pick plus another pick in the second round, they?ll be ahead of the game. They won?t have yet another quarterback who may not turn out to be the savior they?ve been seeking, and they will have that extra pick to improve their team.
Manning will have what he wants, too, which makes him a very, very lucky man. Whether it makes the Giants a great franchise again remains to be seen, but they will have what they want. Lucky them, too.
As for the rest of the players and teams, life will continue as it usually does. The world won?t fall off its axis because one player dared to express his opinion about where he?d like to play. The NFL won?t disintegrate. The draft will continue on as it always has.
It is, after all, a business. And as in any business transaction, there are at least two parties involved. Manning is one of the parties. He has the right to say what he wants. The Chargers have the right to say no. And both have the right to negotiate.
. So it probably doesn't matter which team he signs with, eventually they can become competitive.
