With the Eli Manning era in Giants football apparently ending on Tuesday, fans might want to recall just how fortunate they were that Manning ever wore the team’s uniform.

The exit of a fading hero is always sport’s version of tragedy, and there was, fittingly, a considerable amount of melancholy enveloping Giants-land on Tuesday.

But Manning’s story is also laced with a healthy dose of kismet. That should be remembered now as well.

Manning turned out to have everything he needed to become the ideal quarterback for New York’s most stately franchise after he arrived in 2004 — from the quirky, quizzical look that came over his face in times of duress on the field to his unswerving resilience when battered physically to his clever ability to avoid the celebrity maelstrom in the country’s biggest market.