When Eli Manning returned to his posh New York City hotel room

late last Saturday afternoon, he was still hungry for NFL draft

talk. This was fairly remarkable considering the Mississippi

quarterback had just completed one of the wildest rides in draft

history--declaring in the run-up to selection day that he

wouldn't play for the San Diego Chargers if they took him with

the No. 1 pick, hearing them select him anyway, getting booed

mercilessly by the draftniks at the Theater at Madison Square

Garden and then anxiously going through the motions until the

Chargers traded him to the New York Giants an hour later. Yet he

still wanted to catch up on the rest of the first day's

selections before meeting his family for dinner. So he sat on the

edge of his bed and turned on the television just in time to see

the Giants make guard Chris Snee of Boston College their second-

round pick.

"I admit I got a little worried at times, but I'm glad things

worked out quickly," said a relaxed Manning. "I didn't want to

sit out a season. I wanted to play." It's uncertain how quickly

Manning will get that chance--the Giants, who finished 4-12 in

2003, still must figure out what to do with Kerry Collins, 31,

their starter for the last five years--but what this draft flap

showed is that though Manning may look as fresh-faced as your

paperboy, he has a toughness that he'll need to play quarterback

in the Big Apple.

Manning's father, Archie, says Eli is "going into a hornet's

nest" for young passers, and the buzzing began almost immediately

after the Giants sent their choice with the No. 4 pick, North

Carolina State quarterback Philip Rivers, to San Diego along with

a third-rounder this year and their first-and fifth-round picks

in next year's draft. Critics crowed that the Giants gave up too

much to get Manning, but New York general manager Ernie Accorsi

called such talk laughable, declaring that he had landed a rare

talent for a team that averaged only 15.2 points a game last

season.

In four seasons at Ole Miss, Manning completed 60.8% of his

passes, set 45 Rebels records and impressed scouts with his size

(6'4", 218 pounds), arm strength, athleticism and intangibles.

"He elevates the play of the people around him," Accorsi says.

"The majority of the teams Mississippi plays in the SEC have far

better talent, but Mississippi still won 10 games [last season].

He makes people better."

Expectations are high, but there is good reason to believe

Manning can live up to them. He has the genes, of course--Archie

played for 14 years in the NFL; brother Peyton was the league's

co-MVP last season with the Indianapolis Colts--and he'll be

working with Giants offensive coordinator John Hufnagel, who was

an Indianapolis assistant with Peyton in 2001. The Giants'

offense has big-play capability with running back Tiki Barber,

wide receiver Amani Toomer and tight end Jeremy Shockey, but as

the drafting of Snee confirmed, they know they need help along

the offensive line. New York allowed 44 sacks last season.

There was no doubt among the 3,000 fans who attended a draft-day

party at Giants Stadium, where Manning made an appearance in the

middle of the afternoon. Standing on a stage in one end zone,

with fans chanting, "E-li! E-li! E-li!" he put on a blue Giants

jersey bearing his name and the number 10. The scene moved his

relatives and friends. "It felt good to see Eli and our whole

family happy," said Archie. "This situation took a toll on

everybody."

Though Eli says he was prepared to deal with the backlash from

his decision to shun San Diego--"I knew I'd take a lot of heat

once that got out," he says--he couldn't have imagined how

venomous the situation would become.

A week and a half before the draft, Manning told his agent, Tom

Condon, to inform the Chargers that he wasn't interested in

playing for them. Manning wouldn't make his reasons public, but

he could not have been impressed with the club's personnel (shaky

offensive line, dearth of playmaking receivers and the league's

27th-ranked defense) and its long squabble with the city over the

Qualcomm Stadium lease and a proposed new stadium. Last November

the Chargers filed suit against the city, claiming they had met a

contractual requirement that enables them to renegotiate the

lease or relocate the franchise. "The stadium situation is

difficult there," said Condon. "They've threatened to move to Los

Angeles. It just didn't look like a great fit for Eli."

Still, Condon, who also represents San Diego coach Marty

Schottenheimer, didn't expect that Eli's request would explode in

the media. "San Diego had told me they had three players they

were comfortable with as their first pick," he said on Saturday,

"and they also said they were going to entertain trades. When I

told them about [Eli's decision], I thought we were eliminating

one of their three candidates and still leaving them with plenty

of options."

The Chargers thought otherwise. Schottenheimer, general manager

A.J. Smith and team president Dean Spanos all met with Archie in

hopes that he might persuade Eli to reconsider. When that didn't

work, Smith leaked word of Eli's decision to the media on the

Wednesday before the draft, claiming that Archie wanted his son

to play for the Giants. (Archie denies saying anything about an

interest in New York. Funny, though, how 17 days before the

draft, Eli filmed a TV spot for Reebok in which he's seen with a

Chargers cap in one hand and a Giants cap in the other.) When Eli

arrived in New York for several predraft appearances on Thursday,

he stirred the media further by saying that if San Diego picked

him, he would be willing to sit out the season and re-enter the

draft next year.

Manning tried to stay cool--he didn't watch television or read

newspapers, preferring to tour Manhattan with Peyton--but the

strain on him was evident on Saturday, when commissioner Paul

Tagliabue stepped to the podium at the Garden and announced that

the Chargers had indeed selected him. Right away the jeering

started. Manning forced a grin as he shook hands with Tagliabue,

and then he posed for photographers holding a San Diego jersey,

but he wouldn't don the Chargers cap. The crowd stayed on his

back as Manning walked through the audience to his press

conference. Outside the door to the interview room, a handful of

fans gathered to taunt him, one shouting, "Peyton is great, but

Eli is bush."

Eli later said the abuse hadn't bothered him, but it clearly

upset others in a family long known for its class and affability.

Archie had been upset with the criticism of his son from the

outset of the controversy, and the depth of the animosity toward

Eli baffled him. "I heard one person say Eli was a punk," Archie

said. "Well, he's not a punk. We're nice people, and we tried to

do the best we could in a tough situation."

On Saturday morning Archie, who was the No. 2 pick in the 1971

draft, had reminded Eli that being taken first was an honor no

matter the team, and that if his son remained patient,

"everything would work out for the best." Those words proved

prophetic later in the day.

According to a league source, the Giants called San Diego 10 days

before the draft in an attempt to move up and select Manning, but

the Chargers' initial demands turned them off: San Diego wanted

New York's first-, second-and third-round picks this year, plus a

first-round selection in 2005 and defensive end Osi Umenyiora.

The teams talked again on the night before the draft, and once

the Giants were on the clock, Smith and Accorsi kicked around

three or four offers. Ultimately, Smith accepted Accorsi's

proposal to give up Rivers plus the three draft picks.

Manning was overjoyed when told--by a kid in the crowd--about the

trade. Upon getting the news, he broke off an interview and raced

to a nearby television for more info. He paused briefly when his

mother, Olivia, asked if she should give away the Chargers jersey

in her hands. Eli told her to keep it.

Sitting in his hotel room hours later, he said his mother

probably had the uniform tucked away somewhere, adding, "It might

become a collector's item one day."

COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID BERGMAN EXPERIENCED BACKUP Throughout the turmoil of the week, Eli had the support of Peyton and the rest of the Manning crew.

COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID BERGMAN Thursday 12:52 P.M. After Eli warned off San Diego, Archie faced the New York media as his sons looked on.

COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID BERGMAN Saturday 11:47 A.M. Eli and Condon braced for any eventuality, including an unwelcome call from the Chargers.

COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID BERGMAN Saturday 12:26 P.M. Number 1 and hating it, Manning held up the jersey he'd vowed he would never wear.

COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID BERGMAN Saturday 12:31 P.M. Amid jeers from the crowd, Eli reluctantly accepted congratulations from a San Diego staffer.

COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID BERGMAN Saturday 1:28 P.M. Good news from the Giants.

COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID BERGMAN Saturday 3:16 P.M. A happy ending for (from left) coach Tom Coughlin, Manning and Accorsi.

COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID BERGMAN Saturday 3:31 P.M. Finally wearing a jersey he liked, Eli met the fans at Giants Stadium.

"I heard one person say Eli was a punk," said Archie. "Well, HE'S

NOT A PUNK. We're nice people, and we tried to do the best we

could in a tough situation."