The New York Times-20080125-All the Elis Encircle the Bandwagon

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All the Elis Encircle the Bandwagon

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Not every bandwagon rolled after the turn of the year. Not every weekly observer of the Giants questioned whether their quarterback would live up to his famous surname.

For a lesson in the kind of fidelity that few in or around New York have shown, a rarely expressed faith that Eli Manning was not overmatched by genetic expectation, we look to the northeast Mississippi town of Iuka, which counts Michael Puckett among its citizenry of roughly 3,000.

Puckett, 42, is a graduate of Ole Miss, a Rebels football fan of the highest order who grew up idolizing the state icon Archie Manning and as a young man happened to attend the ceremony for Papa Manning's induction into the Mississippi Hall of Fame.

The three Manning boys were there -- Cooper, Peyton and Eli -- dressed in their father's jersey, No. 18. I can still see Eli, with that little boy's face and the jersey draped all the way down his legs, wearing it like a dress, Puckett said.

Puckett, an information systems analyst, sent me an e-mail message after the Giants' victory in Green Bay last Sunday, with a story about his own little Eli, 9 years old, named for Manning even before his birth on Nov. 12, 1998.

It is not unusual for children to be named after celebrities, especially when the names are uncommon. How many Martinas (after Navratilova) must by now be in young adulthood? How many Shaquilles (after O'Neal) have recently entered adolescence?

To that end, Puckett said there were now several young Elis at his family's church. But, he said, they were born after Eli Manning became a college star, whereas Puckett persuaded his skeptical wife, Rhonda, to name her second child and first boy after a high school senior.

My problem was, O.K., you're naming him after this guy who's not even at Ole Miss yet, Rhonda Puckett said in a telephone interview.

Months later, Michael Puckett was driving in his car, tuning in to sports talk radio, when he heard the song Eli's Coming, written by Laura Nyro and made popular by Three Dog Night.

Believe it or not, that song peaked on the American charts in 1969 at No. 10, Eli Manning's number, and the one Eli Puckett has worn from the time he began playing cornerback in Peewee football.

The boy's bedroom has become a shrine to Ole Miss and the Mannings, mainly Eli, beginning with the football Michael Puckett placed in the quarterback's hands after standing in line at an autograph session at the Ole Miss campus.

Can you sign it to my son? he said.

What's his name? Manning said.

His name is Eli, Puckett said.

Cool, Manning said, with his trademark sheepishness, even before he was told that he was the inspiration.

At Giants Stadium on Thursday, Manning said he had no recollection of the encounter, understandable given the probability that he posed with at least half the state. For the record, Michael Puckett said his son's room also included a framed photograph of the two Elis, taken on another such occasion when Manning was a senior and little Eli was 5.

I know it sounds a bit strange, Puckett said. And I suppose that anything might have happened after Eli got to Ole Miss. One way or another, no matter how he did, I had great respect for the Manning family, a feeling about what always looked like special relationships Archie had with his sons.

Conversely, it has occasionally been difficult not to wonder about Archie Manning's influence, beginning with Eli's refusal to play in San Diego, precipitating the trade for Philip Rivers in what was essentially a swap of draft picks. Archie has said he had nothing to do with the demand, but how could we resist, under the circumstances, asking why he wouldn't have discouraged a move to New York, given Eli's laid-back temperament and the issues it seemed to create for him until, well, this month?

For his fans at Ole Miss, where they called him Easy, Manning's personality was more luxury than liability. You see the way he handles himself, the way he doesn't overreact, how he dealt with Tiki Barber's criticism last summer, and you say, 'That's the way I would want my son be,' Puckett said.

Eli hasn't yet arrived as a Peytonesque star, but has he proved himself tough enough yet for New York? He did the minute he got up after being leveled in frigid Green Bay by the Packers' blitzing safety Nick Collins, moved forward with the yardage on the roughing call, and proceeded to complete a 69-yard third-quarter drive.

To my son, Eli never had anything to prove, Puckett said. He was with him from the time he was old enough to be told that's who he was named for.

New York fans and critics are not wired like a wide-eyed namesake, but if the results of the last four weeks have taught us anything, it is that we could all be a little more patient before jumping to conclusions and then having to reverse field to jump on the bandwagon.

[Illustration]PHOTOS: Eli Puckett, 9, of Iuka, Miss. He was named after the current Giants quarterback, when Manning was still in high school.(PHOTOGRAPH BY ROLLIN RIGGS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)(pg. D1); Eli Puckett, in Manning's No. 10 Giants jersey, is one of several boys named Eli at his church.(PHOTOGRAPH BY ROLLIN RIGGS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)(pg. D3)