Michael Giardi knows that the end is near.

The senior has been under center for two-and-a-half seasons as Harvard's starting quarterback, and this spring he will lead the baseball team into battle as captain and starting shortstop. But it does all have to come to an end, no?

"Fortunately, I've got baseball to fall back on, so it's not really over for me yet," he says. "But I'm sure once that final gun goes off, Saturday against Yale..."

The voice trails off, ever so briefly pausing to contemplate a future without...but it's only a passing notion. The future must continue to be now.

"Right now, we're just taking it game by game," he continues. "Even with a [league] loss, we still control our own destiny. We have lots of games to go--right now a 1-1 record is not so bad, because we can still go out and do everything on our own."

Always focused on what can be done. Giardi is so committed to the Ivy League chase of the Princetons and Pennsylvanias that one wonders if he ever steps back and admires what has been a wonderful two-sport career.

What might he focus on? Maybe the records. Giardi recently passed the legendary Charlie Brickey '15 in career touchdowns with 25, and his career totals of 3,179 passing yards, 3,878 yards of total offense, and 152 total points are all second on the Crimson all-time tallies.

Maybe his play on the diamond. Coming off a year in which he hit .375, Giardi has demonstrated an ability to carry the Crimson with some timely hitting. And he plays the role of field leader like, well, a quarterback might handle things.

Possibly, he might look at the Big One That Got Away, way back in 1991. The Army game. A 21-20 loss against a Division I-A school. Giardi lit up the stat sheet that day for 275 passing yards and a passing touchdown along with 40 ground yards and two TDs.

"Honestly, I think that game changed the season that year," he recalls with a mixture of disbelief and frustration. "I think if we win that one game, we go on and win the Ivy League that year. 4-2-1 in the Ivies, and it could have been so much better."

But seriously, Mike--what a great game you yourself played. Right?

"We lose 21-20, and we missed a field goal, I bobble an extra point, we fumble twice inside the 20, and we were still up 20-7 halfway through the third. I vividly remember how well the Multiflex was working that game, almost to perfection.

"But we just didn't get the breaks we needed to win. I was so devastated, I came home from that game, called my mom and said, 'I wanna come home.' During the game it was great, because everything was going the way it was supposed to, but when you looked at the scoreboard at the end of the game and it still said 21-20, that hurt."

That game and that year led to many individual honors for the still-young Giardi. Voted ECAC Division I-AA Rookie of the Year by the media, he was deemed by his peers to be Harvard's Most Valuable Player, the first-such sophomore to be so selected.

"I was really surprised," he recalls, and he continues to be very quick in deflecting the honor to his team-mates. "The Multiflex just focuses on the quarterback a lot, running the option or throwing over 60 percent of the time. I mean, I'm happy for it, but everyone around me just made me look so much better than I might have been."