Published: January 29, 2009

By now, all of the ladies representing the unattached, straight, female population of Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) recognize the following statement as fact*: the single, straight and attractive male students of FCLC are comparable to the unicorn… or in plain English, they’re impossible to find. (So why I thought this would be a fun, easy, fluff piece to do is really beyond my knowledge.) But like any journalist, or in this case, believer in the non-existent creatures such as Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster, I accepted the challenge and set out to find this mythical population that my editor spoke of. And after all the asking, lurking, dollar-beer-drinking and yes, Facebooking… BEHOLD! Ladies, I bring you The Sweetheart, The Brooklyn Heartthrob, The Southern Gentleman and The Boy-Next-Door… just promise not to maul them when you spot them walking through Lowenstein. (Winks, however, are acceptable…  and welcome.)

*If you did not know, now you do.

THE SWEETHEART

Name: Mike Fabano
Age: 21
Birthday: Jan. 26, 1988
Sign: Aquarius
Height: 5’9”
Hometown: Bergen County, NJ
Year: Junior
Major: Philosophy
Minor: Not yet, but maybe. Maybe business. Maybe not.
Hobbies: Guitar, reading.
Word on the street is that you like to serenade people in the stairwell… Hah! Yeah, well, I mean, I don’t particularly play to people in the stairwell, but I play in the stairwell a couple of times… a day… maybe… It’s fun—it’s just the acoustics in there are really great.
Interesting fact about yourself that people may not know: I went to the Junior Olympics twice for shotgun sports: for shooting skeet and trap.
Tattoos/Piercings: No. Not yet.
Do you mind them on a girlfriend? Not at all.
What do you look for in a lady? Clearly, there’s got to be some kind of initial attraction. Most of the time that’s going to be physical… But past that point, a girl pretty much has to keep me stimulated mentally. I can’t be bored… I’d like a girl to be able to have good conversation with all the time and be able to confide in. And a girl who’s fun and who likes to have fun.
But would you say you have a type? I have no set type, really. If a person’s interesting, a person’s interesting.
Biggest turnoff: Someone who is not that nice.
Vices worth publicly mentioning: Good Lord, how much does the public want to know? I smoke cigarettes. I don’t think it will be permanent thing… I like to drink. But who doesn’t?
Registered on Match.com? No. Unfortunately.
Longest relationship: 1½ years.
Most memorable date: One time I was on a date, and we started walking back from dinner and it started snowing outside, and it was nice just to catch a flurry—And I did get a kiss in the snow.
One thing you wish girls knew about guys: Stop playing so many games. Be a little bit more upfront about things because I mean, games are fun and all, but I don’t want to play the SuperBowl. I just want to play a nice pre-season game and have some fun, you know!

THE BROOKLYN HEARTTHROB

Name: Anthony McGowan
Age: 19
Birthday: Dec. 5, 1989
Sign: Sagittarius
Height: 5’10”
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Year: Sophomore
Major: I’m not declared right now, but probably I’m going to go into communications and history. Most likely. Major/Minor.
Hobbies: Music. I’d like to play music forever… I like to dance.
Interesting fact about yourself that people may not know: Probably that I like really bad movies. Like the movie “Get Over It”… that shit makes me laugh so hard! I don’t know why.
Tattoos/Piercings: I’m going for my first tattoo in a few weeks when I get the right amount of money. And I have four piercings—just my ears.
Do you mind them on a girlfriend? I think they’re kind of cool. I think they add uniqueness and self-expression.
What do you look for in a girl? There’s got to be an attraction and that has to of course be present—definitely a sexual attraction. And then secondly, I’d say if I’m hanging out with her, I don’t want a girl who I’m just going to sit and look at because I get bored really easily. I like talking. She’d better be fun and cool and [able to] hold her own in a conversation… Let me be me, and I will let you be you and, you know, we can work together.
Biggest turnoff: [Being] over-flirtatious with other men. If she’s all over every guy, I’d be like, “Hell no! I don’t feel special!”
Vices worth publicly mentioning: I’ve got probably… a million. I just don’t want to share them with Fordham. Or maybe… I like to get into fights… maybe… Smoking cigarettes is my biggest vice. Because I don’t like that I smoke cigarettes… but I do.
If you could be any animal, what would you be and why? I’d be a phoenix. Hell yeah! That’s actually what I’m getting tattooed. Phoenixes are, by far, the coolest animal that I wish existed.
Worst date: It wasn’t even a date. It was like, hanging out. Like in high school, no one even really went on dates. At least no one could afford to anyway. So we’d just hang out and I’d be with the one girl I was sort of seeing, I guess you would say, and she started making out with my other friend. That’s got to be the worst date!
Registered on Match.com? Am I 40 and desperate?
Describe yourself in 10 words or less: Charismatic. Independent. Stubborn. Adventurous. Outgoing. Not afraid of a challenge.

THE SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN

Name: Paul DiSilvestro
Age: 20
Birthday: Nov. 5, 1988
Sign: Scorpio
Height: 5’9”
Hometown: Nashville, Tenn.
Year: Sophomore
Major: Theatre
Hobbies: Baseball
Interesting fact about yourself that people may not know: I was recruited to play college baseball.
Tattoos/Piercings: My mom would smack me in the face.
Do you mind them on your girlfriend? Not at all. It’s [her] choice.
What do you look for in a girl? Something that’s really valid. Something that comes off like an honest, down-to-earth-ness. I don’t like something that seems contrived or you’re putting on or something. I just want to be around you. I don’t like it when it seems like there’s an implication behind the time you spend with somebody, because then it feels like you’re… I don’t know… Your time feels like you’re working toward something she had played up in her mind.
Biggest turnoff: They text you and then you don’t text back in the next 30 seconds and they send you question marks. Just question marks.
Vices worth publicly mentioning: Vanity.
One thing you wish girls knew about guys: We’re sensitive about things too, but in different ways. Sometimes girls accuse me of not tuning out [so to say], but not being amped up when they’re elevated about something. And I am, but sometimes I do that on my own time and handle a problem. So I think girls should know that guys tend to get freaked out about things too… It just doesn’t happen in a public form sometimes.
You seem like a sweet guy. What’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever done for someone or that someone’s done for you? I had a girl fly to Nashville one time for my birthday when she knew I wasn’t going to have anybody there. All my friends were out of town; my family wasn’t there. She flew in and saw me, and that was really nice… My [old] girlfriend, I used to leave notes in her purse. I love getting notes too. I used to get them on the windshield of my car… and note scavenger hunts! That’s one of the nicest things someone’s ever done for me. My [old] girlfriend did that for me one time for my birthday. That was awesome.
Words that you live by: My dad says just simplify things and just do the right thing in the next 15 minutes, and you’ll always come out all right.

THE BOY-NEXT-DOOR

Name: Joseph Lynn
Age: 21
Birthday: June 5, 1987
Sign: Gemini
Height: 5’11”
Hometown: Kings Park, NY—Suffolk County, Long Island
Year: Senior
Major: Economics
Minor: Business Administration
Hobbies: Music, playing guitar, playing baseball.
Tattoos/Piercings: I probably won’t get any tattoos. Definitely no piercings.
Do you mind them on a girlfriend? Depends. I mean, there’s a big difference between cute and classy and raunchy and not attractive… It has to be original too.
What do you look for in a girl? It’s kind of supernatural I think, what attracts me to women, because there could be girls who could be very similar, and I would be attracted to one and not the other. I guess a lot of it has to do with personality. I’m big on personality because… I’ve known really, really gorgeous girls who I couldn’t stand to be around just because she’s loud or obnoxious.
Vices worth publicly mentioning: I’ll skip that one.
Longest relationship: Eight months.
Sweetest thing you’ve done for someone or that someone’s done for you: Write a song. And not even like a song I would play, just a song that is just for her that I would play for her.
Worst date: [When I was in high school] I went to a Friendly’s with a girl, and it was just really awkward. Because we were at a Friendly’s.
You found the perfect girl… Ideal date: 5 p.m.: Cocktails. Not a long time, maybe one or two. 6 p.m.: Dinner at a nice restaurant and then 8 p.m.:  A concert… just a random band. Whatever is happening that night… See how each other reacts to it because I think music is one of the best ways to get to know people.
One thing you wish girls knew about guys: That even though we pretend not to be, we are very emotional and can feel the pains and throes of love. It’s not just a female thing to be heartbroken. It’s a human thing.
So have you ever been in love? Yes, twice.
Did she break your heart or did you break hers? Any girl I’ve ever been with, I’ve never broken her heart.
Describe yourself in 10 words or less: Accidentally charming.