GIANTS FANS AMONG US
Some will root against the tide on Super Sunday
by Steve Sheppard Independent Sports Editor
Here, on the southern, snowblasted tip of New England, our collective devotion is to the home team, otherwise known as, "Your New England Patriots." Many Nantucketers are long-time season ticket holders who plan their autumns around the Pats' schedule. Hey, the coach even lives here. Clearly, this little island is a central point in Patriots Nation. The anticipation is building for Sunday, when all islanders will be cheering for Tom "How did you get so handsome" Brady as he leads our boys against the Eli's Coming team, otherwise known as the New York Football Giants.

In our midst, however, diehard Giants fans linger. They are savoring the runup to their team's first Super Bowl appearance in seven years.

It isn't surprising that there are some Giants fans lurking about. New Yorkers have been known to visit the island from time to time. Yet there are actual yearround residents who claim allegiance to the New York football team that plays its home games in the great state of New Jersey. Some of this may come from the days, decades past, when the closest professional team to us was, indeed, the Giants.

MICHAEL GALVIN/The Independent Beau Almodobar and Chris "Willis" Ferreira

Take Chris "Willis" Ferreira for example. The Nantucket native and coach of the girls' varsity basketball team has been a Giants rooter all his life. "Growing up," he recalls, "the Giants were what was on TV." Watching games with his older brother, Louis, who passed on his fidelity to his younger sibling, Ferreira formed an attachment to the team. "I liked the uniforms, I liked their colors," he says. "I have a Giants hat, but it's hard to buy their stuff in New England."

Following the exploits of players like tight end Mark Bavaro and Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor over the years, Ferreira has remained a dedicated fan who is happily surprised by the Giants' lateseason surge. In the season's early going, he said, "I thought they had the talent to be good, but they never seemed to win the big game, they gave up big touchdowns."

He likes their chances this Sunday, but he also knows the team they are going up against presents a formidable challenge. "I like the Patriots," he admits. "I respect the coach. They have the best wide receiver in the game, and Wes Welker is unstoppable." He said fellow Giants fans should be wary of running back Kevin Faulk, who was instrumental in the Patriots victory over San Diego two weeks ago.

Ferreira's coaching counterpart and fellow Nantucketer Beau Almodobar also will be rooting for the Giants this Sunday, but for a different reason. Almodobar played for the team in 1987.

"I am rooting for them," he said. "I feel that they were good to me; they allowed me to play for them." Called up from the Connecticut Giants during the players' strike of 1987, Almodobar played four games for the New York Giants on special teams and as a wide receiver. Coaches on the team at the time were the two Bills: Parcells and Belichick. He thinks one reason he was called up was because of his Nantucket roots and Belichick's ties to the island.

"I don't think I would have played for the Giants without the Nantucket connection," he notes. "When I met Belichick for the first time in the locker room he said, 'You're from Nantucket, right?' "

Almodobar still runs into Belichick on the island from time to time. "He's such a great guy. He always asks how the football and basketball teams are doing."

Like Ferreira, Almodobar appreciates what the Patriots have achieved, but says he was drawn to other teams when he was young.

"When I was growing up, the Patriots weren't that good," he notes. "The kids I knew were rooting for the good teams of the time: Pittsburgh, the 49ers."

For Almodobar, the team that garnered his interest was the Kansas City Chiefs. "That's still my favorite team," he said. "Although I do like the Patriots. It's a win-win situation. But I'm going to go with the Giants."

Ray Moores has been a Giants fan ever since Johnny Unitas retired in 1973. He, too, said his interest may have been stoked by the Giants being the only game in town for so many years. "I used to watch the Giants when Y.A. Tittle played for them," he recalled. The Patriots, he said, "were always blacked out on TV because nobody went to the games."

Moores, who is also a life-long Yankees fan, retains his loyalties amid fierce opposition - his wife, Mary, is a diehard Red Sox and Patriots fan. "That's the way it is," Moores said.

There's also this for Patriots fans to ponder as Super Sunday nears: don't forget that Frank Gifford

lives here, too. I

SUPER BOWL FACT SHEET

New England
2004 (def. Philadelpia, 24-21)
2003 (def. Carolina 32-29),
2001 (def. St. Louis, 20-17),
1996 (lost to Green Bay, 31-24)
1985 (lost to Chicago, 46-10)
Giants
2000 (lost to Baltimore, 34-7)
1990 (def. Buffalo, 20-19)
1986 (def. Denver, 39-20)