Write something bad about Eli Manning.

I just find it fascinating when a writer invents a reality and sticks with it.

Case in point is Mike Lupica's love affair with Eli Manning. Four interceptions in a game won't invite as much criticism as one GIDP by Gary Sheffield.

Similarly, Lupica is one of many writers who are still insisting that baseball fans care about steroids:

"The real star of the baseball offseason won't be Alex Rodriguez, or Johan Santana. It will be a former United States Senator from the state of Maine, a cancer survivor, slightly hard of hearing, named George Mitchell."

I didn't know that George Mitchell was a former Senator from Maine. That's mildly interesting. I couldn't name the current Senators from Maine if you put a gun to my head.

Like most baseball fans, I will now fast forward to the end of the article without reading the part about steroid use in baseball. At the end of the article, I find an amazing occurrence. Mike Lupica sort of indirectly criticizes Eli Manning:

"You know why the Giants have to be right about Eli Manning?

Because if they're wrong, they've burned nearly a whole decade, that's why."

"If" they're wrong.