Sad Triumph for Jermaine Lewis

Jermaine Lewis’ super season is tinged with sadness.

He’ll never forget the December day he and his wife, Imara, went together to her obstetrician’s appointment.

“It was my day off on Tuesday and we went in for a weekly checkup. The heart wasn’t beating,” Lewis said.

The couple’s child was stillborn at eight months.

“Out of all the babies, why mine?” the Baltimore Raven punt returner and receiver said.

Baltimore’s game that week was at Arizona, and Lewis felt torn.

Coach Brian Billick stepped in: Take this one off, he told him.

“Basically, after the tragedy he faced, he was conflicted about his responsibilities to the team and the emotional crisis at home,” Billick said.

“It’s hard to think clearly at times like that. I just felt he needed to hear a voice of reason that we’d be OK. I know if he’d gone, looking back, he would have regretted it.”

A pastor visited the couple as they grieved. They have a picture of their son, but Lewis has not looked at it.

“I had that sight in my brain,” he said. “I think they said the cord got twisted up.”

Lewis returned to the team and had a spectacular performance, returning two punts for touchdowns of 54 and 89 yards.

It was the second time in his career he has tied the NFL record by returning two punts for touchdowns in a game.

“I really just tried to stay focused. I was confident all week I would play well,” he said.

“I really don’t know how I did it. . . . The Lord helped me through it.”

He writes a remembrance on his wristbands, and if Lewis makes a big play Sunday, you will probably see him raise them high.

At home, it has been hard to know what to say to his older son.

“He really didn’t understand what was going on. He knew my wife was pregnant. She was eight months, and we told him, ‘Your brother is in there.’

“I haven’t really said anything about it to him yet. Like I hope maybe he’ll forget. Most likely, I’ll tell him when he’s older.

“I’ve learned that everything can be here and be gone. I heard that statement before, but never really appreciated it.”

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Raven defensive tackle Tony Siragusa, on his burgeoning celebrity status:

“I was thinking to myself, ‘Man, if you get on the cover of Sports Illustrated, you have arrived.’

“I never in a million years would have thought that I would be on the cover. . . . They want to sell magazines, these people. They usually got some guy with the square chin, the cleft, all svelte. Why are they gonna put the porky guy on the cover?”

Siragusa’s mother called to tell him he was on the cover.

“I said, ‘Is it the swimsuit issue, Ma?’ ”

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More Siragusa: “When I grew up I was a lot shorter. I sprouted up when I was in eighth grade. I was always a short, fat kid and everyone used to make fun of me.

“I think it’s tough growing up when you are a little heavy. Everybody has got to look inside and not worry about what people think. I absolutely do not care what anybody thinks about me as long as my wife, my kids and my family care about me.”

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The Replacement: Sean Payton, the Giants’ offensive coordinator, had a brief and unusual career as an NFL player.

He was a replacement player with the Chicago Bears during the 1987 strike, drawing more attention for the sweetness of his last name than anything else.

“I’d been painting condos in the western suburbs--Fine Line Painting,” said Payton, who had been a backup quarterback for the arena league’s Chicago Bruisers. “I was out of college, getting up every morning and painting condos, spilling more paint than I was putting on the building.”

He knew he wanted to get into coaching, and the opportunity to get an up-close-and-personal look at the way Bear Coach Mike Ditka did things was too good for the former Eastern Illinois quarterback to pass up.

“It was an opportunity,” he said.

Payton, now 37, began his coaching career the next season as a graduate assistant at San Diego State.

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The Giants are the notably quiet team at this Super Bowl, purposefully providing none of the controversy or cocky quotes the Ravens do.

That’s outside the locker room.

Inside, it’s different.

“I still run my mouth,” defensive end Michael Strahan said. “[Linebacker Jessie Armstead] still runs his mouth. We don’t shut up in there.”

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That doesn’t mean the Giants aren’t funny.

“It’s so nice to see a familiar face,” Strahan told a reporter from the podium, smiling.

“Like those glasses too,” he teased. “Your wife picked those out? She’s got nice taste--in glasses, not men.”