It’s that time of year again, the time of year that I well up with sadness. I have to face the cold hard truth: my Giants were not in the Super Bowl.

You’d think I’d be used to it by now, since it happens so much. In my many years, the Giants have only made it to the big game three times, one of which they lost miserably. It’s facts like these that make me empathize with the fair-weather fan mentality.

Of course even if the Giants did make it to the Super Bowl, I’d only be there in spirit, transcending through my television. What I really would have liked to do is actually have played in this Super Bowl, maybe tackle The Bus before he gets one of his patented “ram-it-up-the-center” style touchdowns, except for the fact that I’d probably be killed during the opening kickoff while sitting on the sidelines. It seemed like “townies” just didn’t belong in the big-game — until this past Sunday.

That’s right: this year there was a townie at the Super Bowl, and he wasn’t calling fouls, drinking beers in the stands or even in the gate-crasher’s jail. This guy was actually on the field in a Seattle Seahawks uniform.

Mind you, it’s not someone like myself: 170 pounds and cuddly soft. But 6’1’’ 252-pound Isaiah Kacyvenski is a graduate of Union-Endicott High School and of Harvard University (where he started every game of his career)… so BOOYAH.

And for all you haters out there, Kacyvenski is no slouch on the field. In the six years that he’s played linebacker special teams (in 2001 he led the team with 21 special teams tackles, the most for the Seahawks since 1997), he’s averaged three tackles a game. Not superstar level, but solid (Tedy Brushi has about 5.5 per game for his lifetime average).

Would you look at that! Townies just seem to be everywhere. Wherever you look, life just seems to be coming up townie. First Hollywood, then space (well sort of), but that’s a tale for a different day.

Dan Lyons is a junior English and theater major.