NEW YORK GIANTS MEDIA DAY - LINEBACKER MARK HERZLICH - Ingles

Super Bowl XLVI – Tuesday, January 31, 2012

(on his recovery from cancer) “Playing football again was that goal, and that really pushed me. After six hours of chemotherapy, you’re sitting there and your body just feels drained. You don’t want to move, but I said, ‘I am going to be playing football again in eight months, so I need to go and workout. I need to go ride a bike, get some cardio in.’ That’s what I did. I made a highlight video for myself from my 2008 season. The real bad days, I would put that in in the chemo room and watch that kind of on repeat over and over again just to kind of see myself succeeding. That’s something that as you go through things, you learn that you have to see yourself succeed, whether mentally or actually in person. That can help you do it.”

(on the irony of playing the Patriots in his first Super Bowl after playing at Boston College) “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 if the tweet he sent out yesterday was spontaneous) “Yeah, it was. It was a tweet that I just thought of at the time and said, ‘Hey, this is pretty cool how far I have come.’ Then I sent it out.”

(on his motivation to send 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 if 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.’”

(on LB Chase Blackburn’s return to the Giants) “I had never met Chase before he came back, but he is a dedicated and hard-working guy. For him to come back and play the way he has been playing is really kind of special and great for our team.”

(on the Giants embracing Blackburn) “I think everyone who knew Chase and have been around him for a long time knew his energy and knew what he brought to the team. I think a lot of guys were sad to see him go after last season. I know he has a lot of friends on the team still, and it’s good to have him back.”

(on the physical pain he experienced during his battle with cancer) “The physical pain was intense. The pain that I would get in my leg and in my lower back felt like knives being stabbed into my legs. It was just completely random. It didn’t happen when I was running, necessarily. It didn’t happen when I was just sitting down, necessarily. It would be on and off. I think that was one of the hardest parts about it. The pain coming after the surgery where I had to get the scar tissue kind of kneaded out with massage and stuff, that was probably the worst pain I’ve ever been in because they had to actually tear the muscle off the bone and tear the scar tissue away. It was painful. I was screaming on the massage table.”

(on if 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.’”

(on what the reaction to his tweet yesterday has been like) “It’s been great. I know a lot of people. I have followed a lot of people. I guess some people on ESPN followed me and different things. I think it really encompasses more than just the game. I think that that is the biggest thing where the followers from the Giants, they all knew me. To get people out to help people that are going through cancer, that’s the biggest part about it.”

(on where he is at physically) “Physically, I am feeling great. I am not on the injury report, so if I can get out there and help in any way, I hope to.”

(on if he will practice this week) “Yeah.”

(on how often he would watch the highlight video he made of himself to help him get through chemotherapy) “I watched it every once in awhile, probably once every couple of weeks because I was a big believer, and I knew that I had to stay focused on my goal. It was hard sometimes. You are going through it and sometimes you are like, ‘If I feel this bad now, how am I going to be able to play September 4th of next year in our first game?’ I popped the tape in and usually watched it by myself and got into, thought about being with the team again, and it helped motivate me.”

(on the highlight tape) “It was a highlight tape that I actually made for one of my Final Cut Pro classes, and just put together a bunch of different things. I cut in some of the different interviews from some of the Gameday ESPN thing that they did on me. It was a little bit of cancer, a little bit of football. It just made me think I could get back.”

(on what made him sign with the Giants) “I think one of the things that I loved about the team was that I felt very comfortable and felt very happy with my time at Boston College. I knew that this was a very Boston College oriented team. It goes from ownership to coaches to players. I knew I would be comfortable here. Also, I thought it was a good opportunity to mesh well with the linebackers we had. I thought I could offer something – in terms of size – that we didn’t necessarily have. It ended up working out because I got my shot on the team and got to make it.”

(on if there was any point during the season that he felt overwhelmed) “No. I wanted to be in there earlier, but it’s the type of thing where if you get your opportunity, you want to try to make the most of it. Before my injury, I thought I was doing that and helping the team the best I could.”