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For some fans, long wait to buy Giants gear

BY JENNIFER MALONEY AND ANDREW SCHARFF | jennifer.maloney@newsday.com
and andrew.scharff@newsday.com

February 5, 2008

The Giants had won. It was time to get decked out in blue.

But some fans yesterday found that Super Bowl XLII gear was as elusive as a Phoenix hotel room on game night.

It all depended on where you looked.

"I got a hoodie, and that was a battle," said Mike Ahmed, 26, a banker from the Bronx, who returned several times yesterday to the Modell's Sporting Goods on the parade route in Manhattan. He came away empty-handed at 10 a.m. and at noon scored two hooded sweat shirts, but no hat.

He got the hat at 2:45 p.m.

While other sporting goods chains said they had enough Super Bowl stock in stores before the game to last through yesterday's buying frenzy, Modell's stores across Long Island and New York City filled with long lines as customers waited hours for delivery trucks to arrive.

Modell's stores didn't pre-stock much memorabilia, waiting instead for the game to end Sunday night before rush-ordering, Modell's managers in Farmingdale and Manhattan said.

Delivery trucks dropped off the first batch of championship gear about 4 a.m. yesterday, and made additional drop-offs throughout the day, they said.

Jonathan Snowball, the Modell's store manager in Farmingdale, said, "Customers may be disappointed they're not getting it right on the spot but ... they keep coming back."

Some customers, however, headed elsewhere.

"I have to get a hat and shirt for my son," said Michelle Cowit of Syosset, who had no luck at Modell's and headed to Dick's Sporting Goods in Melville. "He said if I don't come home with this stuff, I won't be his mother anymore."

Dick's and Sports Authority bet on a Giants win, loading up before Big Blue beat the Patriots, managers said. And, with shipments arriving throughout the day, managers said they kept their shelves stocked, though a Sports Authority in Westbury sold out of locker room sweat shirts.

Pervaiz Shallwani contributed to this story.