SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- The Super Bowl rematch between the New England Patriots and New York Giants has Maine football fans excited and their loyalties divided.
The Giants defeated the Pats to spoil New England's bid for a perfect season in 2007.
While the Pine Tree State sits squarely in New England, many people grew up watching the Giants on TV with many remaining die-hard fans to this day.
"My mom's a big Pats fan, but my dad is a big Giants fan, so it is kinda going to be torn in the household," explained Sam Hotham. "I'm pretty sure they are not even going to be watching it in the same house."
"I think you will get a lot of people that will watch it, even if they aren't a big fan of either team," stated Seth Pollender. "It is a good story to have a rematch of what might go down as one of the best Super Bowls ever played."
Pollender, who is the manager of the Olympia Sports store in the Maine Mall, says the rematch is also good for business.
"I would like, personally, a rematch of 2007 to see if the Pats can actually win," he admitted. "But just as a retailer, it is a blessing to have two Super Bowl teams that are in our demographic area, you know what I mean, so we can get sales from both teams."
"It is Boston/New York. The Sox/Yankees goes back a century," explained NEWS CENTER sports anchor Lee Goldberg, who has been a Pats fan since the days of Schaefer Stadium.
"After what happened in '07 - you lose to a team from New York and you have a chance to make history and the guy catches it on the side of his head - this is hard to get over for Patriots fans," exclaimed Goldberg. "So we've been sitting around since you know February of '08 waiting for another shot at the Giants and where else to do it, where better to do it, other than the Super Bowl."
"When we grew up, that's all we had on television was New York Giants," explained New Center's senior sports anchor Bruce Glasier. "It was done regionally and that was the closest team to Maine."
"These were my heroes growing up, and we just stayed loyal," he added. "I mean, I am still a Patriot fan, I like the Patriots, but I am die-hard loyal to the Giants and a lot of people still are."
"For the Patriots, it is a grudge match," he said. "For the Giants, it is a chance to prove it wasn't a fluke."
Sounds like the makings of a good, old-fashioned rivalry with nothing but the championship tittle on the line on the biggest stage in sports.
NEWS CENTER