INDIANAPOLIS -- A handful of comments from Giants rookie linebacker Mark Herzlich, who played collegiality at Boston College and waged a successful battle against cancer to get to this point:
* On the irony of playing the Patriots in his first Super Bowl: “Yeah, it’s neat. I remember when I was at BC, I sat in the basement of Chris Fox’s house, a (former Boston College) teammate of mine -- Tim Fox was his father--– and watch the Super Bowl in ’07. Everybody was rooting for the Patriots, and I played the devil’s advocate and rooted for the Giants, purely to play devil’s advocate. It was a great feeling when they won, and it’s going to be a similar feeling this weekend.”
* On whether he ever thought of the Super Bowl during his cancer treatment: “No. All I wanted to do was be able to get back on the field at Boston College. I was able to do that, and this is all amazing.”
* On having so many supporters from Boston, despite playing for the Giants: “It’s interesting to have Boston fans rooting for any sort of Giant, but I appreciate everything. The support that I got all through school was unbelievable, even up until today. I got tweets from people saying, ‘I am a Patriots fan, and I hope you lose, but I wish you well in your life and career.’”
* Many of the questions Herzlich was asked had to do with this tweet he sent Monday:
* On his motivation for sending out the tweet: “It was really kind of something I just felt. I was walking off the plane and said, ‘This is awesome.’ I’ve come so far and our team has really come so far. All we thought about was getting to this. It’s a dream come true.”
* On whether he thought it would become such a big hit: “I did not. That’s the thing about anything you say – whether good or bad – on social media that will be around the world in a second. I was very pleased and very happy that so many people got to see it, because that is part of what my goal and mission. Obviously, this week is all about football and all about playing, but there are people out there who are going through cancer right now who see that and say, ‘Hey, if he is doing it, I can do it.’”