Q&A: Kate Mara

Mara: It's gotten bigger and bigger throughout the years because my family keeps growing and growing. There's 41 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. There are a lot of babies in the family, but most of us are old enough to want to watch the game. We started out with one owner's box and now we have four. But we always try to keep the original box where my Grandma sits. Frank Gifford sits there all the time with us too. You can't really get too crazy in there unless my grandmother is going crazy. One of the boxes is the kids' box. All the grandchildren go in there. And then the third box is usually for friends. There's a fourth box across the stadium as well. My dad and my uncle John and my Grandpa when he was alive would all sit by themselves. They would never sit with the women. They would never sit with us. They sat literally across the stadium in their own box. I've actually never even been in that box (laughs). My dad has seven sisters and they are all intense.

SI: If the Giants are playing the Steelers, who do you root for?

Mara: You have to realize who you are asking this of. If I actually said I was rooting for the Giants, there would be hell to pay. So I root for both offenses. Or I root for whoever has a better chance to make the Super Bowl.

SI: Have you ever tried to influence a trade?

Mara: (laughs) No, but maybe I'll try next year.

SI: When you are not working, how many games do you go to?

Mara: I plan on going to almost every one this season. Last year I was working a lot and I missed a lot of the games and that's really hard. I hate being in Los Angeles when it's football season. I want to be in New York. It just doesn't feel right if I'm away. I feel like I should be with my family, and it's so hard watching football games in the morning in L.A. So I'll try to go to all the games and the away games, too.

SI: You've sung the national anthem prior to Giants games many times. For a while you were a good-luck charm. What happened?

Mara: I started when I was 16. They would try to get me to sing Opening Day every year. Then if we were in the playoffs, I'd try to sing at every home playoff game. Yeah, I was the good-luck charm for a while.

SI: Then came last year's Carolina playoff game and the opener this year against the Colts.