Historically, great blunders in judgment have been committed by New Yorkers. We are a stubborn, strong-headed people. We are also extraordinarily intelligent people. We either ignore our mistakes or intellectualize our way out of them. There was Tammany Hall, the Attica prison riot, and guaranteeing full pension with health care at 50 years old to MTA workers. The Tappan Zee Bridge is pretty ugly.

Add, possibly, to this list, the 2004 NFL draft, which was probably the most dramatic in the league’s history (save maybe for when John Elway was almost made a baseball star because he refused to play for the football team that drafted him). It was also an example of an incident where New Yorkers may have made a mistake and are still, two years later, loathing to admit it.

It was obvious from the get-go that Eli Manning would be selected No. 1 overall; the Giants traded away veteran defenders, valuable draft positions the next year and money to acquire him. He fit the bill for a Giants quarterback perfectly. He is a soft-spoken, modest, well-mannered kid from a purebred football legacy and proven pedigree. He was a perfect fit for the extremely gentile Giants management and the merciless New York press.

Ben Roethlisberger, or “Big Ben,” the gargantuan 6-foot-5, 240-pound quarterback from Miami, Ohio, was available. He was not selected until the 11th pick. He set the record for passer rating and most wins by a rookie quarterback. His Pittsburgh Steelers this year are in the Super Bowl after being beset by critical injuries during the regular season and beating the No. 1 ranked Indianapolis Colts in the process. He has demonstrated uncanny toughness, poise and a precocious understanding of the much, much more sophisticated NFL game.

Eli Manning, in his first playoff game, threw three interceptions and had something in the area of a 30 passer rating (on a scale of roughly 158). Eli’s brother, Peyton, is arguably the league’s best passer and his father is one of the game’s legends, and a Hall-of-Famer. This is, potentially, tantamount to someone that is marginally good at math getting into MIT on a legacy and failing all his calc finals.

I hope, oh how I hope, that I’m proven wrong. I wish next season, Eli’s third, to be his break out year. A year and a half of development and acclimation to NFL speed and sophistication is enough. If the kid doesn’t produce next year, New Yorkers may have to swallow another hard one and admit we would have been better off with Big Ben, or another stud in development, Philip Rivers, who we initially drafted and traded (along with highly valuable draft picks and money) to acquire Eli. For Eli’s sake I hope I’m proven wrong – the back cover of the New York Post has not been known to act kindly to having to correct itself.

Joe Galante Eisenberg is a junior economics major