Watchdog

Here is the complete transcript of an exchange about the Giants Stadium winds during Eli Manning's season-ending session with reporters Monday:

Eli: "The wind wasn't awful. We've played in worse. It didn't affect too much."

WatchDog: "Even after that first pass to Smith? That was the one that really looked like it."

Eli: "Yeah, that one, it was kind of blowing coming from that way, which is a little different from normal. It probably got it a little bit. It was just a little off, yeah."

WatchDog: "Do you think you have an advantage because you're used to this place, or is that overrated?"

Eli: "I don't know if I have an advantage. It just depends on your throws that you have to make and how the wind's blowing and what's going on. So I don't know if I have an advantage over someone else."

WatchDog: "Let me put it another way: Should you have advantage? Over time do you think that it should become an edge for you or that it will become an edge for you?"

Eli: "Maybe, hopefully so, you use it to your advantage somehow, knowing what throws you can make. But a lot of it is just you have to make throws based on what the defense is doing and hopefully you can throw shorter stuff or over the middle where you don't have to go outside where the wind can affect it."

WatchDog: "Of course, in two years it'll be all new wind patterns anyway [in the new stadium]."

Eli: "Exactly. Sure."

I violated the first rule of football writing - "When in doubt, write the quarterback" - by not doing more with this in my Tuesday column. But now you have it.

Blogging over for today. Enjoy highlights of the 1996 World Series at 5:30 p.m. on the MLB Network.