Giants linebacker Mark Herzlich blocked off some time to field questions from Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Lawrence Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, Anne Frank.
Q: Why Lawrence Taylor?
A: He’s my favorite football player of all time. I read both his books. He just seemed like, “I don’t care what you think of me, I’m just gonna ball out on the field.”
Q: Lincoln?
A: I always respected the office of the presidency, it’s probably the hardest and coolest job. I think he’s probably my favorite president. He was also a guy, it didn’t matter what anyone said to him, he did whatever he thought was right.
Q: Anne Frank?
A: My grandparents grew up in Germany at the time of the Holocaust, and my grandfather has told me tons of stories from that time. I guess I’d want to see her perspective and what it felt like. She was scared probably her entire life.
Q: Your grandfather and great-grandmother fled the Austrian-German border for a ship to England, but your great-grandfather had to escape the Nazis first.
A: My great-grandfather stayed behind to try and get some stuff together. Before he got to leave and take everything with him, that’s when the Nazis started doing roundups. They were going through the whole town they were in in Austria. As they were going through his village, he snuck out the back. He left everything behind.
Q: Why were the Nazis looking for your great-grandfather?
A: My whole dad’s side of the family is Jewish.
Q: Eventually, they all boarded a ship to New York with $10 in their pockets.
A: That’s how they had to start a new life in New York. He did it by going on street corners and selling neckties. They started in New York. That’s why it’s kind of cool to be here.
Q: Boyhood idol?
A: I always wanted to be like my dad. He was always my coach and everything when I was little. He was always happy and funny and just got along with everyone.
Q: Talk about the support he gave you during your battle with bone cancer.
A: We were very close. We used to play board games, card games, video games together. The great thing he did was really treat me the same as he always has. That’s what I looked for from my family. Everybody outside my family treated me differently. They tiptoed around the cancer, people were on edge. The one thing he would have liked to have done was be in my treatments more and be with me all the time. I knew how hard it was for him to go to work every day wondering how I’m doing in chemotherapy.
Q: New Year’s resolution?
A: I think my New Year’s resolution is to find more time for myself this offseason. I want to be able to have time to visit some more hospitals and see more kids who are battling cancer.
Q: The most uplifting story you have seen?
A: There’s this kid I talked to last year, and he was going through cancer and was having a hard time. I talked to him again this year, and he was not only cancer-free, he was playing football again and going to college — doing everything he told me the year before he wanted to do. … That’s a cool thing for me to see them succeed. I know how hard it is to get there and I know how good it feels when you do. In college, I got close to this little boy and his family. His name was Jack. I met him at Notre Dame. I haven’t talked to Jack in a few months. He was diagnosed with cancer at age 3 or so. I think he’s 5 or 6 now, and he had his last treatment about a year ago and he’s doing great now. All he knew when I talked to him was going to the hospital. Now he’s starting his life and his cancer’s in the rearview mirror.
Q: Describe the day you were diagnosed with cancer: May 12, 2009.
A: It’s one of those feelings where you just lose all consciousness. You know when it’s like really, really quiet and you’re trying to go to sleep and all you can do is hear yourself think? All I could think about was, “Why me? Is this it?” I immediately wanted to know when I could play football again.
Q: When did you vow to fight the cancer?
A: It was the same day. I had to go home, laid in my bed and kind of shut the world out, put my iPod on and laid there and thought to myself, “How have I beat any challenge in my life? Not by backing down. It’s by fighting it head-on.” My only option was to beat it. I went downstairs and said, “Dad, I’m gonna beat this cancer and I’m gonna play football again.” He knew me well enough to look in my eye and said, “If you believe you can do this, anything’s possible.” He’d seen that look before. All through high school when people would say, “You’re not gonna be able to get a scholarship, you’re not gonna be able to do this, do that” … Well, he saw me do it.
Q: You believed you would beat cancer?
A: I really did. I don’t think it was cockiness or anything. I wasn’t gonna run away from it. I trained my brain from questioning whether it was going to happen to really believing it was going to happen. I had no other choice.
Q: Does your football team believe it will work out to make the playoffs today the way you believed in yourself?
A: I think it’s the same type of mentality. It’s obviously not life and death, but for us, this is our livelihood and you don’t make the playoffs, there’s a lot of changes made to the roster. We believe that we can, pretty much because we have to do it. There is some desperation in the way we’re going to play this game — if we lose, we’re out. You gotta win and then see what happens. If the doctors weren’t there helping me, if I didn’t get a little bit lucky, I wouldn’t be here.
Q: Will you look up at the Lions-Bears score?
A: Yeah, I’ll probably glance up every now and then.
Q: Can the Lions beat the Bears?
A: I think if they have Megatron [Calvin Johnson], anything’s possible. If we get that first game out of the way, things could fall the right way.
Q: If the Giants beat the Eagles and the Bears lose, you’ll go home and watch Packers-Vikings?
A: [The Packers] have to stop Adrian Peterson, which is not very easy to do, force them to throw the ball and hopefully get some turnovers.
Q: Then it would all hinge on Cowboys-Redskins.
A: If the Redskins get the ground game going, that’s when they hurt people in the passing game with play action.
Q: It probably won’t be decided until the fourth quarter.
A: It’ll be stressful, but it’ll be something we’re used to, I think.
Q: And if there are no more games to play?
A: It’ll be very tough. It’ll be depressing. You learn to love your teammates. Who knows what the team’s going to be like next year? I’m counting on that not happening.
Q: You’re optimistic?
A: Yes.
Q: Michael Vick?
A: The most devastating thing for a team is when you stop them, you stop them, you stop them, and on third down they beat you with their legs. That’s what we can’t let happen.
Q: LeSean McCoy?
A: Personally, I think he’s one of the best running backs in the league. I think he’s one of the most shifty backs since Barry Sanders.
Q: Because you rooted for the Eagles growing up [in Pennsylvania], is it weird for you playing against them?
A: Not really. I am 100 percent Giants now. It’s not really any sort of conflict of interest for me.
Q: Favorite Eagles?
A: Randall Cunningham, Duce Staley, “fourth-and-26” Freddie Mitchell, Jeremiah Trotter.
Q: Do you think you’re close to being a starter?
A: I believe so.
Q: Your on-field temperament?
A: My natural emotion is to be amped up and crazy. I try to calm myself down, so I can figure out what’s happening in front of me and then get my energy up after the snap.
Q: Hobbies?
A: Camping. I’m pretty outdoorsy. I love playing with my dogs, they’re awesome. I like board games and video games, too.
Q: What kind of dogs are they?
A: Two English bulldogs, Champ and Scout, from the same litter.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Top Gun.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Edward Norton.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Jennifer Aniston.
Q: Favorite singer/entertainer?
A: James Taylor.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: My dad’s cheeseburgers.
Q: Some of the kids from the Sandy Hook Elementary School and Newtown, Conn., community members will be at the game today.
A: I think it’s great to be able to have them. It’s probably pretty big Giants country up there. What happened there is probably one of the worst things I ever heard about in my entire life. I feel terrible for the children and everyone else who survived and for the ones who lost their lives. It’s not how anyone wants a school day to go.
It’s great that the kids can have something to look forward to and remembering their friends and parents remembering their children and have a day where they’re surrounded by friends and family … and hopefully a great win.