WASHINGTON—Desperately hoping to avoid humiliation on the national stage, sources confirmed that members of the New York Giants pleaded with NBC play-by-play sportscaster Al Michaels to avoid using their real names during the starting lineup introductions of Thursday night’s broadcast. “Please do me a solid and say my name is Jerry or Tim or something,” said running back Paul Perkins, noting that he had hoped to avoid humiliating his family members and friends who would likely be watching the Thanksgiving Day game. “I can’t have my family name associated with this. It would crush my mother, so please just either make up a name or say mine super fast. I’ll owe you one.” At press time, Eli Manning was reportedly asking NBC producers to also blur the image of him used in the lineup graphics.