The fact that the Cowboys have fans all around the world is nothing new.  What’s unusual is that a player who will be trying to knock America’s Team out of playoff contention Sunday was — and perhaps still is — one of them.  Read more after the jump.

@Shay_Marie x @gametimegirl

Giants wideout Victor Cruz confessed yesterday to a raging, lifelong love of the Cowboys — the team he will line up against this weekend at MetLife Stadium with the NFC East title and a trip to the postseason on the line.

How much of a Dallas devotee was (and perhaps still is) Cruz? He appeared to accidentally refer to the Cowboys as “we” when describing how upset he was at Big Blue’s sweep of Dallas in 2009 — the year before he made the Giants’ roster as an undrafted free agent.

“I was pretty upset when we lost to the Giants a couple of years back when I was in college,” said Cruz, a Paterson, N.J., native. “I was pretty upset for a while.”

Cruz said he has no split NFL loyalties now that he is a rising star for the Giants and among the league’s leaders in receptions (76) and receiving yards (1,358).

But Cruz, who said he wore a No. 21 Cowboys jersey with Deion Sanders’ name on it all the way through college, sounded as if he wished the Giants’ road to the playoffs Sunday didn’t have to go through his former favorite team.

“Being a former Cowboy fan, there’s none of that hatred there just yet,” Cruz said. “You understand the rivalry and you understand that a lot of Giants fans don’t like the Cowboys. I just want to win, regardless of how I feel about the other team.”

Cruz’s love of the Cowboys came from his late father, Michael Walker, whom he described as “Cowboys fan since birth” thanks to Dallas’ glory days of Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett and Drew Pearson in the 1970s.

Because of that father-son bond, Cruz said Walker will be at the forefront of his mind during the game Sunday night.

“It’s going to be one of those games you dream about playing in your whole life, getting the chance to make plays against them,” Cruz said.

Cruz never had a chance to visit Texas Stadium before it was demolished two years ago, but he said getting to play in the Cowboys’ palatial new home was a thrill.

“To be there, in that stadium, in that setting, was an amazing feeling,” he said. “I had goosebumps going into that game. It was huge for me.”

NY Post