Eli is making progess

[Lughead]

He is quietly filling in his role as a leader of the team and calling Shockey and Plaxico tells them he wants them here and He is not going there were they are.

 

bout time this kid "manned up" and showed some balls. ...........but wonder if his mom picked them out too ?

(no Eli wear these balls they look more Manly . The ones you have now are so pre-pubescent)

 

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning has asked tight end Jeremy Shockey and receiver Plaxico Burress to come to Giants Stadium this spring for offseason workouts.

 

Shockey and Burress have worked out in Miami the past two seasons and skipped the voluntary workouts that Manning has attended.

 

Manning has telephoned Burress and Shockey and told them he would like them to be available when he starts throwing in mid April.

 

"I'll talk to them as it gets closer and see what their plans are," Manning said. "I don't want to put words in their mouth, but hopefully we can get them in and I can throw twice a week."

 

Manning said he would not go to Miami to throw to the receivers before minicamp.

 

"I am up here, this is where I have to be," Manning said. "The players are here, the receivers are here. It's my responsibility to be here with my teammates. This is where I work out and I get my film and everything. This is where the offseason program is."

 

Manning has been busy off the field. He proposed to longtime girlfriend Abby McGrew last week. No wedding date has been set, he said Tuesday.

 

"It was fine, I was pretty sure she was going to say 'yes,"' said Manning, who had picked out the ring with a little help from his mother.

 

Manning was also in the audience last weekend when his brother Peyton, the quarterback of the Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts, was the host for "Saturday Night Live."

 

"It's amazing how much they change at the last minute," Eli Manning said of the show. "They do a full dress rehearsal at 8 p.m. and I was there for that. And I was in the dressing room five minutes before they went up and did the live one, and they said: 'Hey, we're changing the opening monologue. This is the new script, this is what you have to say."'

 

Eli Manning quipped he only needed four or five takes to get his part right -- standing up after being introduced by his brother.

 

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Amani Toomer, the Giants' second all-time leading receiver, has started running and hopes to be ready for training camp in July.

 

Toomer missed the final eight regular-season games and the playoff loss to Philadelphia after having surgery on his left knee.

 

"It was tough for last couple of months," Toomer said after participating in a voluntary workout at Giants Stadium. "The swelling has gone away and now I am able to do more and more. I am definitely happy about the way things are going."

 

Toomer doubts he will be 100 percent for minicamp in June.

 

"I don't want to end on an injury," Toomer said. "I have a lot left and I am still ready to go."

 

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Defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka recently returned to the United States after spending three weeks in Uganda.

 

Kiwanuka's grandfather, Benedicto Kiwanuka, was elected Uganda's first prime minister in 1961. He was assassinated in 1972 by forces loyal to Idi Amin.

 

The movie that Mathias Kiwanuka watched on the flight to Uganda was "The Last King of Scotland," which earned Forest Whitaker an Oscar for his portrayal of Amin.

 

"It was good and even in Uganda it got a very good reception," Kiwanuka said. "I think it was pretty meaningful and accurate."

 

Kiwanuka said there is a reference to his grandfather in the film.

 

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EXTRA POINTS:@ Right tackle Kareem McKenzie has no intention of moving to left tackle to replace Luke Petitgout, who was released. ... David Diehl, who has played left guard the past two seasons, said that no one in the organization has told him whether the team wants him to move to left tackle. Diehl started the final two games at left tackle. ... DE Justin Tuck had screws removed from his surgically repaired foot last week. He plans to be ready for training camp. ... DE Osi Umenyiora, who lived in Nigeria as a youth, was made a chief in the Nigerian village of Okbunike during a recent visit.

[Treehugger]

Kiwanuka's grandfather, Benedicto Kiwanuka, was elected Uganda's first prime minister in 1961. He was assassinated in 1972 by forces loyal to Idi Amin.

That's pretty amazing. The world feels somewhat smaller to me after reading that.