The Giants have arrived in Indianapolis and their coach is making a bid to become the home team this weekend.
At Monday’s media session, Tom Coughlin said that he “would think Indianapolis fans will become Giants fans” for this weekend’s game. There are two reasons why things would play out that way. One is that the Patriots and Colts have had a rivalry for the last decade that has ended up in some memorable games and some painful losses for both sides. It would be natural for that antipathy for the Patriots to become a rooting interest in the Giants.
There’s also the matter of the last name of the Giants quarterback. Colts fans are pretty used to rooting for a quarterback named Manning, which should make it fairly easy for them to pull for Eli this Sunday.
I’m not in Indianapolis right now, but Rosenthal sends back word that he thinks things are playing out the way Coughlin predicted. Giants beat writers Mike Garofalo of the Newark Star-Ledger agrees with that assessment. Conference pride just isn’t what it used to be.