So the week is drawing to a close, and we’re just beginning the ten-day countdown to the Super Bowl. Sports fans are stocking up on beer and flat-screen TVs. Spouses and roommates of sports fans are watching Rachael Ray to see what they should cook next Sunday. And gay people, well, they’re starting to finally pick up on the fact that there’s something going on. But what have Giants quarterback Eli Manning and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady been doing? It would be a great insight into the interior mental workings of those two pivotal players to see how they are spending their final days before the contest. If only we knew.
Oh, just kidding. As if the press would let either of them out of their sight for a minute this time of year. We know exactly what they’ve been doing, and, indeed, it does tell us something about the two athletes.
• Tom Brady got rid of that scary orthopedic boot he was wearing earlier in the week, just in time to stay out late at downtown hot spot Butter and hang out with Gisele and her ex-boyfriend Leonardo DiCaprio. [Boston Herald]
• Earlier in the week, he took her out to BLT Bistro for dinner, and then spent a full 24 hours in her West Village apartment, ordering in Mexican and Chinese food for sustenance. [NYP]
• We’re sure a workout was involved somewhere in that period, so he certainly deserved the rest he got while idly shopping in Soho and visiting a “teahouse” on the Upper West Side. [NYP]
• Manning, meanwhile, is laying low. He’s spending his free time “studying plays and watching game footage.” [NYP]
• He’s not reading the sports pages, so he won’t get distracted by all of the intensity and speculation. [NYDN]
• And all this solitude and contemplation isn’t even making him nervous! [Bloomberg]
Okay, people, so what have you learned? Eli Manning needs to focus, and Tom Brady needs to be distracted. Manning is more of a geek; Brady is more of a playa. Brady is acting more like a stereotypical New Yorker, and Manning is showing his quiet, southern instincts. Oh yeah, and us? You’ve learned that we are nosy bitches. But you knew that.
Related: Eli Manning Wins One for the Geeks