“Kids growing up here today, they obviously aren’t going to be Giants fans,’’ said Belotti, 52, who will drive to Indianapolis for next week’s big game. “But for a lot of us, it’s in our blood.’’
Belotti is a member of the NYFootball Giants Fan Club Of New England, which once boasted several hundred members. But now there are less than 100, and it’s harder for some of the longtime members to make the meetings.
“It’s a dying breed,’’ Belotti said.
By the time the Patriots came along in 1960, a new franchise in a upstart league, the Giants were entrenched as championship contenders, the team of legends like Frank Gifford, Charlie Conerly, and Sam Huff. They were on TV every Sunday, building a base of support that even a Boston team couldn’t shake.
“We were New England’s team before New England,’’ said Craig Manseau, a 57-year-old Giants fan who grew up in Worcester.
Some Giants fans have developed an affection for the Patriots over the years, and many cheer them on as long as they aren’t playing the Giants. But they scoff at the notion they could ever abandon their childhood team simply because of geography.
“They’ll always have my heart,’’ said Hank Bengis, a 90-year-old from Natick who saw his first Giants game in 1938, the year they beat the Green Bay Packers for the championship.
Bengis had season tickets to the Patriots for three decades, and was thrilled during their run to three championships. But his Patriots’ interest is a passing fancy compared with his ferocious loyalty to New York.
Manseau, who now lives in Douglas, learned to love the Giants from his late father. On fall Sundays, they would rush home from church, ditch their ties and get ready for the game.
Afterward, Manseau and his two older brothers would rush outside to mimic the plays they had watched. Their dad was right behind them.
