Fans say they couldn't miss this party

BRANDON BAIN AND CARL MACGOWAN

February 6, 2008

Joe Delio, 35, Lindenhurst, retail manager, with son Joey, 6

I thought it would be a great opportunity for Joey, at 6 years old, to go and see the Giants parade and we're just extremely excited that they won the Super Bowl. I'm not a huge Giants fan, but because they're New York, we're taking the opportunity to go. We're missing work and school and will be there for four to five hours.

Eileen Lewis, 45, Port Washington, stay-at-home mother, went to the ticker-tape parade for the Mets' 1986 World Series victory with her late husband, Bob. Yesterday she brought her children to the parade to honor his memory.

This is a very important piece of history. If my husband was still alive, he'd be going to the parade. ... These are the things you're not allowed to miss.

Tom Vidder, 42, West Babylon, family appliance store worker

You gotta be there. Who knows when this is going to happen again? It's going to be a fun time. I've never been to one of these parades before. I expect it to be wild, like the game the other night. Everyone else is working, no one else took off. I called in sick today. I'm a pretty big Giants fan. I'm not the best fan in the world, but I'm there with the Giants and I go through it every year. When they won, I was over at Dave and Buster's, and it was great. It was a heart attack game.

Nick Benedetto, 37, Wantagh, institutional sales

The last time I went to one of these was in 1986, the New York Mets, when they had their ticker-tape parade. I'm going to have a good time, show support to my team and just enjoy the moment for now. I plan my Sundays around Giants games. I was at work today for a little bit, then people said I can go, because you're a huge Giants fan. So I wasn't playing hooky all day.

Tom Romeo, 42, Massapequa, sales

I'm here today because I'm a longtime Jets fan and over the last few games of the season, the Giants embodied the spirit of New York and it really won me over here in the second half of the season. I thought that their defense posed a major threat. ... I'm going just to take it in. And then I'm going to work. I work in New York City. Hopefully this will rub off on me for the rest of the day, because I have meetings for the rest of the day.

Theo Letmann, 44, Freeport, transportation construction

As a New York fan, you root for your team through thick and thin. Whether it's bad or good, you root for them. I just want to go down to the parade, take some pictures and shoot some video. Probably go to ESPN Zone; it should be hyped around there. My dad took me to the parade in '69 for the Mets. It's been a while. I definitely had to go experience this.

Brian Preston, 24, Wantagh, Internet company

Well, I've been growing my hair out for the last few months and I was definitely due for a haircut and I said I'm shaving my head into a Mohawk if the Giants win. Why not? And they won, so my friends held me down and shaved my head right after the game.

Michael Murphy, 24, Wantagh, X-ray tech

I've never been to a ticker-tape parade. It's not a parade like St. Patrick's Day that happens every year. You just can't miss it. How can you miss something that can only happen once? I went to the Yankees parade in 2000 and it was crazy. It's like a blizzard of paper. It's awesome. . . . We have a dart league, so we're going to play later on tonight with all of the Giants fans and it's going to be a great night. It's a great Tuesday ... super Tuesday.