Thousands of fans in NYC cheer on Giants
Giants fever swept through lower Manhattan Tuesday as a million rapturous Big Blue fans packed Broadway to cheer the Super Bowl champs.
It was a day of rollicking celebrations marked by a clear, blue-domed sky, a mountain of confetti, floats full of elated players and the constant, thunderous roar of cheering fans.
"Just being amongst thousands of Giants fans, packing the streets to show support for the team was worth the trip," said Matt McKenna, "born and raised" a Giants fan who traveled by train from Bohemia with his brother, Luke.
True-blue Giants fans wouldn't have missed the victory parade through the Canyon of Heroes for the world.
"How could you not come?" said Bill Hartman, a power plant worker from Massapequa who took a sick day with his wife and five children. "This was definitely worth a sick day."
Quarterback Eli Manning, the Super Bowl MVP whose name and number were plastered on a sea of jerseys, drew the largest cheers as he rode along the parade route on a float with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, defensive lineman Justin Tuck and Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"It's amazing," Gisela Rodriguez, 20, of Hicksville, said as Manning's float passed. "I am even tearing up a little. That's my team. That's my player."
People simply wanted to cheer, and with a variety of high school bands and a police bagpipe brigade tuning up for St. Patrick's Day, the fans had no trouble keeping spirits high.
When one band played "Rock and Roll, Part II" the fans all punched the sky with a fist, chanting, "Hey" in time with the music.
Many in the crowd had the Giants' "All In" towels that were handed out for the home finale against Dallas, but one enterprising fan near City Hall made up his own slogan that was printed on a towel: "Deja Blue," it read, recalling the celebration four years earlier after another last-minute win over the New England Patriots.
Morning trains streaming into Manhattan were packed with blue, red and white-wearing parade-goers who took the day off school or work to celebrate.
"The kids have the blue flu today," explained mother Stephanie Hartman, Bill's wife. The excuse was at least partly truthful. Her husband was hoarse, his voice reduced to a whisper from three days of cheering.
"There was a lot of screaming in my house" on Sunday, he said.
Traveling from his home in Bethpage to the Hicksville-Penn Station express train at 6:50 a.m. were Billy Farley and five friends, all high school students from Plainview and Bethpage. Farley said the group planned to follow the river of Manning jerseys downtown to locate the parade.
There was never a question of not going to the parade, Farley said. Besides, he added, "We're seniors."
