With Sunday's victory of the New York Giants over the New England Patriots in Superbowl XLVI, or 46, the City of New York and the State of New Jersey planned to throw the winning team a parade to celebrate the championship. The team is supposed to be a New York team, but since the stadium they play in(for tax breaks) is in New Jersey, the team was given two parades. My focus was going to be the NY event and although I'm not much of a parade person, the weather was a generous 47 degrees, and I had been going to alot of their games recently, so it was only fitting to to put the cherry on top by going to the victory parade.
The last Giants parade in 2008 for their win in Superbowl XLII, or 42, was a misty and rainy day when I went, Tuesday was the opposite story as this unbelievable warm winter in NY continues. I took the subway downtown and noticed immediately that alot of people from my own neighborhood were wearing Giants stuff, so I could only imagine how crowded this parade was going to be with people coming from all over. As soon as we reached the City Hall-Brooklyn Bridge subway station, which was only of the recommended places to see the parade, the police had everything taped off and were shuffling people off like cattle of where they wanted them to walk. No one really had a clue where to go, so everyone just followed the line of blue Giants shirts and jackets. It took a few blocks, but then there were parade gates along the sidewalk so it was safe to say this was a good place to be. Initially, a group of people were leaned up against a gate after the nearby policeman said the parade was passing this way, but then after twenty minutes another cop comes by and tell us to move, it's not where the parade was passing. People were lined up all over the place, everyone had a theory were the parade would be going, people were breaking out maps published in the newspaper of the route, but neither people or cops seemed to have a clue.
There was a spot that seemed logical for the parade to go by and people were already lined up, so I moved over there. Since I wasted so much time at the first place, by the time I got to the second spot I was fifteen people back from the sidewalk, which isn't ideal. The parade was scheduled to start 11am and where I was located was towards the end of the parade route, so really it wouldn't be until 11:20am I would be able to see any of the floats with the players on it. With about an hour to kill, people were keeping themselves busy by throwing toilet paper back and forth across the street. There were also beach balls(in the shape of footballs) being bounced around and a few people sneaking in drinks of liquor as well as puffs of marijuana. As time passed, more and more blue shirts accumulated and there was a sea of blue Giants shirts covering the streets and sidewalks. It was getting difficult for people in the back to get a good view, so some resorted to climbing trees. Looking up, I could see viewers looking out their windows and balconies, waiting to throw down shredded paper as soon as the floats approached. People were getting anxious to cheer for something, so anytime a bus or police vehicle passed by, there were some yells and screams. A helicopter drew applauses, as well as a "f%ck you" from some unhappy camper.
There were true Giants fans in the crowd, but there were also a significant amount of high-school kids and college students who needed a reason to skip class, plus people who looked like they never saw a football game in their life and just wanted to go to a parade. Fans or not, people kept packing the sidewalks in anticipation of seeing the Giants players and coaches. It was standing room only and people were packed in like a can of sardines. I could barely even move my arms or elbows. Soon enough more helicopters gathered and that was a sign the floats were approaching. Naturally, I had to have the two biggest people in the crowd in front of me and blocking opportunities to take good pictures. I was also faced with the difficulty of being more than a dozen rows back, some people sitting on other people's shoulders, and gigantic iPhones and iPads blocking my view. There were some traditional parade floats, but they also used sanitation trucks(not the stinky garbage trucks) and other construction vehicles for players to ride on. One of the first group of players I recognized was wide receivers Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks.
A few minutes another group of players came which were running backs Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw, with offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbrite. Another player I recognized on another float was offensive lineman David Diehl, who has been with the team for quite a number of years. Then came the big one, Giants quarterback and Superbowl XLVI MVP Eli Manning, holding the Lombardi Trophy, and was joined by team co-owner Steve Tisch and defensive lineman Justin Tuck. After that, people assumed the parade was over and started walking away, but then soon after more parade floats turned the corner and made its way down the street. People went running back to the gate to snap more pictures. By this time, I had moved back further and was only able to make out FG kicker Lawrence Tynes and punter Steve Weatherford. They were followed by a college or high-school marching band, and it was then the parade was offically ended. There was to be a ceremony to held at City Hall, but it required special passes to get in. There was sound for people to hear the ceremony from outside, but after being crushed for over an hour and surrounded by thousands of people, I was just looking to get out of there. Luckily, there was a subway entrance close by and I went in and headed uptown.
There was going to be part-two of the Giants celebration at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey at 3pm, but the way the police had everything sectioned off, it would have been a task to get to the PATH train to go to Jersey, then battle the crowds getting back to NY after, I figured to call it a day in terms of the celebration. Instead of going home, I actually got off the train stop near my old job and decided it would be a good idea to have lunch with one or some of my former co-workers. I sent out some text messages and had one fellow return that he would be able to do lunch. As I walked closer to the office building to meet him, I noticed small pockets of people wearing Giants gear were walking around as they too must have been at the parade. The ol' co-worker and I went to a diner which had a very 50s-60's theme to it called Big Daddy's. It was a real throw-back to the days when diners focused on burgers and milkshakes instead of healthier wraps and paninis. I tested them out immediately by ordering a vanilla egg-cream, but the waiter told me they had no vanilla syrup, so he improved the next closest thing and used chocolate syrup with milk and 7-UP. It tasted alright, but I was disappointed they carried themselves as a 50's place, but weren't even serving egg-creams properly. Since I left early for the parade in the morning and didn't have breakfast, I ordered the malted waffles with strawberry compose. It turned out to come with blueberries as well and the taste made up for the slight insult with the egg-cream issue. The perfect ending to a near perfect day.
A cherry on top of the waffle would've been more poetic, but I had to settle for strawberries instead...
The last Giants parade in 2008 for their win in Superbowl XLII, or 42, was a misty and rainy day when I went, Tuesday was the opposite story as this unbelievable warm winter in NY continues. I took the subway downtown and noticed immediately that alot of people from my own neighborhood were wearing Giants stuff, so I could only imagine how crowded this parade was going to be with people coming from all over. As soon as we reached the City Hall-Brooklyn Bridge subway station, which was only of the recommended places to see the parade, the police had everything taped off and were shuffling people off like cattle of where they wanted them to walk. No one really had a clue where to go, so everyone just followed the line of blue Giants shirts and jackets. It took a few blocks, but then there were parade gates along the sidewalk so it was safe to say this was a good place to be. Initially, a group of people were leaned up against a gate after the nearby policeman said the parade was passing this way, but then after twenty minutes another cop comes by and tell us to move, it's not where the parade was passing. People were lined up all over the place, everyone had a theory were the parade would be going, people were breaking out maps published in the newspaper of the route, but neither people or cops seemed to have a clue.
There was a spot that seemed logical for the parade to go by and people were already lined up, so I moved over there. Since I wasted so much time at the first place, by the time I got to the second spot I was fifteen people back from the sidewalk, which isn't ideal. The parade was scheduled to start 11am and where I was located was towards the end of the parade route, so really it wouldn't be until 11:20am I would be able to see any of the floats with the players on it. With about an hour to kill, people were keeping themselves busy by throwing toilet paper back and forth across the street. There were also beach balls(in the shape of footballs) being bounced around and a few people sneaking in drinks of liquor as well as puffs of marijuana. As time passed, more and more blue shirts accumulated and there was a sea of blue Giants shirts covering the streets and sidewalks. It was getting difficult for people in the back to get a good view, so some resorted to climbing trees. Looking up, I could see viewers looking out their windows and balconies, waiting to throw down shredded paper as soon as the floats approached. People were getting anxious to cheer for something, so anytime a bus or police vehicle passed by, there were some yells and screams. A helicopter drew applauses, as well as a "f%ck you" from some unhappy camper.
There were true Giants fans in the crowd, but there were also a significant amount of high-school kids and college students who needed a reason to skip class, plus people who looked like they never saw a football game in their life and just wanted to go to a parade. Fans or not, people kept packing the sidewalks in anticipation of seeing the Giants players and coaches. It was standing room only and people were packed in like a can of sardines. I could barely even move my arms or elbows. Soon enough more helicopters gathered and that was a sign the floats were approaching. Naturally, I had to have the two biggest people in the crowd in front of me and blocking opportunities to take good pictures. I was also faced with the difficulty of being more than a dozen rows back, some people sitting on other people's shoulders, and gigantic iPhones and iPads blocking my view. There were some traditional parade floats, but they also used sanitation trucks(not the stinky garbage trucks) and other construction vehicles for players to ride on. One of the first group of players I recognized was wide receivers Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks.
A few minutes another group of players came which were running backs Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw, with offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbrite. Another player I recognized on another float was offensive lineman David Diehl, who has been with the team for quite a number of years. Then came the big one, Giants quarterback and Superbowl XLVI MVP Eli Manning, holding the Lombardi Trophy, and was joined by team co-owner Steve Tisch and defensive lineman Justin Tuck. After that, people assumed the parade was over and started walking away, but then soon after more parade floats turned the corner and made its way down the street. People went running back to the gate to snap more pictures. By this time, I had moved back further and was only able to make out FG kicker Lawrence Tynes and punter Steve Weatherford. They were followed by a college or high-school marching band, and it was then the parade was offically ended. There was to be a ceremony to held at City Hall, but it required special passes to get in. There was sound for people to hear the ceremony from outside, but after being crushed for over an hour and surrounded by thousands of people, I was just looking to get out of there. Luckily, there was a subway entrance close by and I went in and headed uptown.
There was going to be part-two of the Giants celebration at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey at 3pm, but the way the police had everything sectioned off, it would have been a task to get to the PATH train to go to Jersey, then battle the crowds getting back to NY after, I figured to call it a day in terms of the celebration. Instead of going home, I actually got off the train stop near my old job and decided it would be a good idea to have lunch with one or some of my former co-workers. I sent out some text messages and had one fellow return that he would be able to do lunch. As I walked closer to the office building to meet him, I noticed small pockets of people wearing Giants gear were walking around as they too must have been at the parade. The ol' co-worker and I went to a diner which had a very 50s-60's theme to it called Big Daddy's. It was a real throw-back to the days when diners focused on burgers and milkshakes instead of healthier wraps and paninis. I tested them out immediately by ordering a vanilla egg-cream, but the waiter told me they had no vanilla syrup, so he improved the next closest thing and used chocolate syrup with milk and 7-UP. It tasted alright, but I was disappointed they carried themselves as a 50's place, but weren't even serving egg-creams properly. Since I left early for the parade in the morning and didn't have breakfast, I ordered the malted waffles with strawberry compose. It turned out to come with blueberries as well and the taste made up for the slight insult with the egg-cream issue. The perfect ending to a near perfect day.
A cherry on top of the waffle would've been more poetic, but I had to settle for strawberries instead...
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