Peyton Manning's little brother is popular in Indianapolis.
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning gives a thumbs-up during pregame warm-ups before the Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday.INDIANAPOLIS – Eli Manning jerseys were all over the place at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Peyton Manning’s little brother was popular all week in Peyton’s town, and Colts fans seemed to be rooting more for Eli’s Giants than Tom Brady’s New England Patriots in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
While Eli jerseys were prominent, it didn’t take much walking around to find Colts blue Peyton Manning jerseys. Those wearing them were Giants fans for a day.
“I’m pulling for Eli,” Colts fan Harry Dimitriaois said. “And it has something to do with Peyton.”
Dave Demlow, a Colts season ticket holder, also wearing a blue No. 18 jersey, didn’t want to see the Patriots celebrate on Indy’s home field. The Colts and Patriots have had one of the NFL’s most intense rivalries for the past decade.
“We love Eli, we love the Giants,” Demlow said. “Anybody but the Patriots.”
NEW JERSEY 2014: It’s still two years away, but there should be optimism that a cold-weather Super Bowl in northern New Jersey in 2014 won’t be a frigid one — at least based on the past two years.
Once again, the weather at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on Sunday was perfect for a Super Bowl: sunny, with temperatures around 40 degrees and almost no wind.
The weather was even better last year. It was sunny, with a high of 46 and winds out of the northwest at 10 to 15 mph — and that happened during one of the worst winters in the New York metropolitan area.
As for Sunday’s game between the Giants and Patriots, it was a pleasant, sunny day with temperatures in the mid-40s in Indianapolis. Then again, Lucas Oil Stadium has a roof and MetLife Stadium doesn’t.
League owners voted in May 2010 to play the title game in the $1.6 billion stadium co-owned by the Jets and Giants, deciding to play the first outdoor title game at a northern site.
There have been memorable cold-weather playoff games. The Giants beat the Packers 23-20 in overtime in the NFC title game on Jan. 21, 2008, in Green Bay, Wis., with the temperatures at minus 3 — and a wind chill of minus 24.
Cincinnati beat San Diego 27-7 in the 1981 AFC title game known as the Freezer Bowl. The temperature in Ohio was minus 9, with 35 mph winds making it feel like minus 59.
Of course, there’s the 1967 NFL title game — the Ice Bowl in Green Bay. The Packers beat Dallas 21-17 in a game played with the temperature at minus 13 and a wind chill of minus 48.
The coldest kickoff temperature in Super Bowl history was 39 degrees at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans for the 1972 Super Bowl, when Dallas beat Miami 24-3. It’s been at least 57 degrees for every outdoor Super Bowl since 1975, when it was 46 degrees.
DISNEY OR ARUBA? The Super Bowl MVP usually walks away with a shiny new ring and a trip to Disney World.
Sunday’s losing team may have its day in the sun, too.
The Aruba Tourism Authority wants the team that loses Sunday’s game between the Giants and Patriots to visit the island nation and is offering an all-expenses-paid trip to lure them.
There’s no word on whether either team will accept the offer, but it’s unlikely any players will be shouting “We’re going to Aruba.”
GOODELL RAPS PRO BOWL: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says he is disappointed in the quality of last week’s Pro Bowl and changes must be considered, perhaps even dropping the game altogether.
Speaking on ESPN Radio, Goodell says this year’s Pro Bowl wasn’t “the kind of football we want to be demonstrating to our fans, and you heard it from the fans, the fans were actively booing in the stands.”
Goodell made his remarks on Sunday, hours before the start of the Super Bowl.
Goodell has spoken to the NFL Players Association about his disappointment, adding, “We are going to either have to improve the quality of what we are doing in the Pro Bowl or consider other changes, or even consider eliminating the game if that is the kind of quality of game we are going to provide.”
The AFC won the game 59-41.
NO PEYTON PIC: The space on the north end outside of Lucas Oil Stadium which normally has a large photo of Colts quarterback Peyton Manning instead has a Patriots logo.Just to the left of that spot: a photo of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
MAKING DOUGH ON DOUGHNUTS: A northeast Ohio farm market saw its doughnut business more than double after word spread that some of the New York Giants would be chowing down on blueberry doughnuts from the farm ahead of their Super Bowl appearance, the owner said Sunday.
The mother-in-law of Giants center and former Ohio State player Jim Cordle initially ordered some White House Fruit Farm doughnuts for New York’s offensive line, but it created so much buzz that owner Debbie Pifer said the shop decided to donate 10 dozen of the blueberry doughnuts, a favorite of visitors to the small farm in Canfield. The doughnuts were picked up Friday for the trip to Indianapolis, and Pifer said she received photos of team members enjoying the doughnuts on Saturday, a day ahead of their big game against the Patriots.
“February is a pretty slow time here on the farm,” Pifer told The Associated Press. “It’s been quite an adventure this week.”
Pifer said things worked out well because the blue icing on the doughnuts coordinated with the team’s colors.