SABATTUS – Before there was a team christened the New England Patriots, before there was a game dubbed the Super Bowl, before Tom Brady, Randy Moss and even ageless Junior Seau were born, there were the New York Giants.

They were a staple of snowy, black-and-white television on autumn Sunday afternoons in Maine, and for that reason the Patriots are not nearly the unanimous choice of the 40-and-over demographic in these parts to win Sunday’s showdown in Arizona.

“This house will be decked out and cheering for Big Blue,” declared Dick Leavitt.

Leavitt would fit the profile of most other Giants enthusiasts in Patriot Nation, one who followed his father’s rooting interests and eventually passed them along to his own boys.

There’s a major difference, though, between him and that co-worker who has been torturing you with his renewed passion for the G-Men these past two weeks.

Leavitt stands alone in our area, in fact.

He actually played for the team.

Leavitt held a spot on the Giants’ roster as an offensive lineman and long snap specialist from 1976 to 1978.

“It was the better part of three seasons,” Leavitt said. “I was on injured reserve for two of those years. Two total reconstructions of the knee later, that was pretty much the end of it.”

Several NFL teams courted Leavitt as a free agent after his graduation from Division III Bowdoin College in Brunswick.

Oakland and New York expressed the most interest. The Giants were coming off a 5-9 season, and a slow start in 1976 ultimately prompted a mid-season coaching change from Bill Arnsbarger to John McVay. The Raiders, meanwhile, were a perennial playoff presence under a fiery young coach named John Madden.

“The Raiders were also one of my favorite teams. I passed up more money with the Giants to go to (training camp with) Oakland,” Leavitt recalled.

It was hardly the path of least resistance. Legends Art Shell and Gene Upshaw anchored the left side of Oakland’s line, with Dave Dalby at center.

Leavitt, a right tackle, faced a sturdy incumbent in John Vella, who was entering the third season of an eight-year career out of the University of Southern California.

The battle for No. 2 on the depth chart between Leavitt and Henry Lawrence – Oakland’s first-round pick in the 1974 draft – wasn’t settled until the final days of camp.

“I got cut. A year or two later, Lawrence won the job and ended up going to the Pro Bowl (1983 and ’84) a couple of times,” said Leavitt.

That twist of fate ultimately reunited Leavitt with his boyhood team, but cost him some jewelry. Five months later, Oakland routed Minnesota in Super Bowl XI.

Wins were at a premium during Leavitt’s stay with the Giants. After three straight losing seasons, punctuated by Joe Pisarcik’s fumble and Herman Edwards’ touchdown return in the infamous “Miracle at the Meadowlands” game, McVay was fired.

Leavitt’s summer in Oakland gave him one thin degree of separation from a Super Bowl. His connection with McVay provides another.

“After he left the Giants, McVay ended up as director of football operations for the (San Francisco) 49ers,” noted Leavitt. The 49ers won five Super Bowl championships during McVay’s tenure by the bay.

Leavitt ultimately returned to Maine and revived a long-suffering football program as head coach at Brunswick High School. He is now an assistant coach with the Lewiston football and track and field teams.

One of his sons, Robie, is a 295-pound tackle and long snap specialist at Division III Curry College in Massachusetts.

While many of the physical wounds of his abbreviated football career continue to haunt Leavitt, he expresses no regrets. He’s also no less passionate about the team that has been a consistent presence throughout his life.

As a player and coach, Leavitt is an admirer of what the Patriots have accomplished.

“They remind me of some of these traditional high school programs,” Leavitt said. “They may not have the most talent every year, but they just don’t make mistakes.”

In a one-game playoff, though, he’ll take the Giants.

“What a lot of people don’t realize is that at that level, everybody’s a good player, and everybody’s a good coach,” he said. “You’re looking at a team (the Giants) that has won 10 games in a row on the road. They’ve got a good shot.”