The stage is set.

The New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles play tonight in the National Football Conference Playoff Division Round. The winner moves on to the NFC Conference title game. The loser goes home.

Speaking of home, this historical rivalry between these two teams that are separated by less than 100 miles will cause some angst and much anticipation in houses of families and married couples who are split between which team they will be cheering on.

A green Giants man cave

Kerry and Jason Kish of Saylorsburg have been married since 2000 and have taken their loyalty for each team to a different level. Kerry, an occupational therapist in Catasauqua, has been a Philadelphia fan since she could “walk and talk.”

“I have always liked football, even though Jason tried to get me to be a baseball fan before we married,” she said. “Now, he has a man cave above our garage and in the past, when he’s not been home, I’ve gone up there and decorated the whole room in Eagles’ green and white before they play the Giants.”

Jason is a business teacher and bowling coach at Phillipsburg High School. Originally from Carteret, New Jersey, a hotbed for New York sports, he now has to endure several Giants- Eagles games with most of his friends rooting for the Birds.

“During the first game this year between the two teams, I think we had 33 Eagles fans to just two Giants’ fans, one of them being me. The Eagles won that game by a lot, but I was thankful for my friends who enjoyed the misery I was feeling,” he said with a laugh.

Kerry and Jason often make a wager on Giants- Eagles games and in recent times, he has had pay up more than she. “We might bet on simple things like doing household chores or having a date night when the losing fan drives to a restaurant and pays for dinner,” he said.

Kerry goes all in during these games as she will for this one on Saturday night. She’ll even dress their og in a green and white Eagles’ sweater.

“I don’t know where she gets all the banners and decorations,” said Jason. “Other than wearing my Giants’ jersey, I tried once to buy a crock pot with the Giants logo and it never came out of the box before we returned it to the store.”

“He might be a bit of a crybaby when the Giants lose,” Kerry said with a chuckle, “but he gets over it after not too long.”

Dogs divided between teams

Another couple at odds with each other about these two teams is Lorianne and Jason Roke from Bath. She’s a Palmerton High School Blue Bomber graduate who now roots for Big Blue, the G-Men.

“I used to be a Steelers fan and my favorite player was Plaxico Burress, but when he became a Giant, they became my team.”

Her new favorite player is running back, Saquan Barkley, a graduate of Penn State who played his high school football at Whitehall.

Jason has been a Philadelphia fan before he ever saw the light of day. “I was born an Eagles’ fan because of my father,” he said.

The manner in which the Rokes get ready to watch a Giants- Eagles game is always the same.

First, they dress up their four dogs. Two wear Giants blue sweaters and two wear Eagles’ green. Then Lorianne, wearing her New York jersey, and Jason, wearing his Philly jersey, take their appointed seats on opposite ends of the couch. A pregame wager is placed. The loser might have to cook dinner or take the dogs for a walk.

“If the Eagles win, I’ll have to hear from my father- in- law, too who will probably call me right after the game,” said Lorianne.

“There is no speaking to each other during the game,” she said. “Our total concentration is on every play. Even our dogs are staring at the TV.”

Jason pulls no punches about the rivalry in the game and the other one that takes place on the couch.

“We need to win so I don’t have to hear about it from the wife,” he said with a laugh.

“I have to say being married to a Giants’ fan is tough. We become enemies on game day and we do a lot of trash talking. I always want to buy Eagles’ stuff for the house, but I don’t because then she wants Giants’ crap as well. So, all we do is dress up the dogs.”

Sunday cheers and jeers

Lorianne hopes her Giants give a better account of themselves than they did in the first two meetings between the teams.

The Eagles won both games by scores of 48-22 and 22-16, the latter being the last game played during the regular season. The Eagles are heavy favorites to win this game and post the better record at 14-3 this season, earning them home field advantage and a first- round bye while the Giants finished at 9-7-1 before beating the Minnesota Vikings last week in a Wild Card playoff game. That sets up the NFC Divisional match up at Lincoln Field on Saturday night at8:15 p.m.m.

Throughout the game, the intensity will be red hot in the Kish and the Roke houses. One thing is for certain once the outcome has been decided. There will be both joy and disappointment at the breakfast table on Sunday morning.