GLENDALE, Ariz. - Jared Lorenzen, at 6-foot-4, 285 pounds, has often been mistaken for an offensive lineman.

The third-year Giant is, of course, the backup quarterback to Eli Manning.

During yesterday's media session at the University of Phoenix Stadium, the former Kentucky star delivered a two-pronged platform about himself:

First, he's "chunky" and quite proud of it.

Second, despite his girth, he's a heck of an athlete.

"Slim is a four-letter word for me," said Lorenzen. "I don' t want to do that. It's not like I'm gross or anything. I've always been huge. God bless my mom, I came out of the womb at 13-3."

That's right, 13 pounds, 3 ounces.

Lorenzen, who attended Highlands High in Fort Thomas, Ky., was happy to expound on his athletic exploits, even outside of football.

"I ran track for two weeks in high school. That was too much running for me," he said. "But I was also all-region in baseball as a pitcher and first baseman. I was also all-state and had my number retired in basketball."

Among Lorenzen's many nicknames, he listed his top three: 1) The Pillsbury Throw Boy, 2) The Round Mound of Touchdown, and 3) The Hefty Lefty.

"But of all of them, J-Lo and Hefty seem to be the ones that stick."

Here are some more interesting, yet trivial, facts culled from an hour with the New Yorkers on Media Day:

* Offensive lineman Grey Ruegamer is not only a Super Bowl winner with the Patriots in 2001, he's lived a fairly wild life growing up near the Las Vegas strip.

Ruegamer talked in depth about one odd job he once held on a Basque-style sheep ranch in the Nevada wilderness.

The job was a sheep castrater, and Ruegamer and the Spanish immigrants performed the task with their teeth. Good taste ends this note right here, although Ruegamer went through it in great detail.

* Bruising Giants running back Brandon Jacobs watches films of opposing defenses against him for one huge reason: "You look to see who wanted to tackle you and who didn't. The guys who dive down at your legs are the guys who don't want it."

Jacobs, a rippling 264 pounds, can't understand how he's grown. "I eat like a bird," he said.

* Defensive lineman Osi Umenyiora grew up in Auburn, Ala., and played at Troy State. But this good old boy would prefer traditional English fish and chips, wrapped in newspaper of course, over Southern-fried catfish.

"That was the best," said Umenyiora, who played with London in NFL Europe. "Besides the playing field on game day, I'd love to go back."

* Believe it or not, Giants punter Jeff Feagles got his start a couple of booming kicks away from Glendale in Scottsdale. He was a Scottsdale Community College Fighting Artichokes.

"My days as an Artichoke were very few, and that was a long time ago," said Feagles, who is hoping to get special dispensation from coach Tom Coughlin to allow him out of the locker room at halftime to take in the performance by Tom Petty. "Coming back to Arizona is surreal."

* Giant receiver Plaxico Burress is about the only player in uniform, on either side, to make a prediction on the game. But don't run off to Vegas based on Burress' words. His theory isn't exactly scientific.

"The Giants, 23-17. My high school basketball number was 23," said Burress, whose current number with New York is, of course, 17.

* Cornerback Aaron Ross, a University of Texas product, has put his budding poetry career on hold. His last written work came when he won the Jim Thorpe Award in college.

The rookie also dismissed the rumors that he was the source of the flu circulating through the Giants locker room.

"No, I wasn't sick.

"It was just a pill I took.

"Didn't have the flu."

Wonderful haiku, Aaron. You're a poet and didn't know it.