Dispatches: On the New York Giants

About 11pm tonight, I was driving my uncle to Terminal 4, JFK.  I decided to take a route through Times Square, to see what kind of madness was there precipitating in the wake of the Giants' stunning, difficult-to-believe upset of the Patriots in the Super Bowl.  Answer: lots of rhythmic honking, some crowds chanting "Let's Go Giants!" (hadn't they already gone?), and a general sense of subdued mayhem.  Subdued, perhaps, because New York doesn't seem to have the same kind of centralized, working identity that sports teams tend to express. 

There were plenty of manly hugs and back-slaps being exchanged, and a few cars dangerously weaving.  A man on Forty-Eighth street wandered into the street, muttering, "the Giants" into my window as I passed.  Through the Midtown Tunnel, the car behind me spent more time in contact with the orange, lane-dividing rods than not.  But overall the effect was much, much quieter than one would expect in Baltimore or Minneapolis after such a win.  Where is our soul, our grit to be found?

My day, I reflected, had encompassed many New Yorks.  It began with a breakfast of green plantains and fried cheese at a Dominican cafeteria on Flatbush Avenue, the aorta of Brooklyn; I spent the afternoon shooting an art project in a penthouse on Park Avenue, in the most valuable few square miles of property in the country, back to Brooklyn, and through the Battery Tunnel on the way to watch the Amercian pageant with my dad.  I watched the big game near Lincoln Center. Mostly, I felt bad for Randy Moss.

Nearing midnight at JFK, I decided to do a full lap of the boroughs, circling the Belt Parkway, dazzling myself with the Verazzano Bridge, and crossing, on a whim, the Brooklyn Bridge, before crossing Canal Street and getting home.  All in all, I visited three boroughs and crossed the Manhattan Bridge alone three times today, and it was just another day here, really.  Seventeen years ago, the Giants broke my heart by defeating my beloved Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl, so I'm no fan of New York City's football team.  But circulating the city today, I'm happy for it, even if many or most of its citizens don't even follow the American pastime (which is football, not baseball, by the way). 

On my last few blocks home, I waited behind a garbage truck.  It moved slowly down Mott Street, but the solitary man working the street was throwing the black bags into the compactor from ten feet away, with power, with flamboyant verve.  Next to him, an elegant woman walking her dog stood watching, in appreciation of the human energy that this city capacitates.  Not everyone here pays attention to the same civic touchstones.  Boosterism and newscaster morale are much more easily ignored here.  There's more to do.  It was easy, tonight, to forget that the football championship had been won.  We don't need the trophy to symbolize any victorious transformations for us.  This exhausted city renews itself every day.

The rest of my dispatches.

Comments

[Tasnim]

I started to watch the superbowl rooting for the Patriots just so they could have the elusive 'perfect' season. But half way into the game I was excited for the Giants, because they came to the big game to 'play,' unlike the Patriots who were never into this one game. The biggest of their perfect season thus far, winning which would would make them the team for the ages. But they were looking distracted and not competietive. A certain arrogance about them, as if they expected the Giants team to just fold over and let them have the trophy. So it was nice to see that Giants played hard and kicked their behind, creating their own history in the process...the first team perhaps to come from the wild card to win the superbowl! Maybe New Yorkers never got into this game because they expected to lose. They were the decided underdogs, the bookies had them two scores behind! Or maybe New York just expects its teams and its citizens to perform at their best every day for its daily 'renewal' as you say. It was some game. Thanks for writing this timely piece. It is also nice to watch a game with emotions not invested into either of the teams like when I watch the Bills.

[beajerry]

Is that last paragraph uncommonly good or uncommonly bad?

[Jared]

Nothing can get New Yorkers all that excited, not for more than 10 minutes because by then there is something else happening.

[Jm]

Baltimore and Minnepolis have about as much in common as the Giants and the Patriots, and thats saying quite a bit, because at least the latter are both football teams.

[Timofey M.]

A PARADE OF CHAMPIONS
Giants March Through 'Canyon Of Heroes' In Lower Manhattan
NEW YORK (CBS) ― Super Tuesday indeed.

It's estimated more than one million people filled the streets of Manhattan Tuesday, and it wasn't just so they could place their votes in the primary election. A ticker-tape parade kicked off at 11 a.m. in celebration of the New York Giants and their spectacular victory in Super Bowl XLII.

The extravaganza began on Broadway at Battery Place and moved north through a blizzard of 50 tons of confetti and streamers past the financial district and the site of the World Trade Center, before a finale at City Hall Park.

The stretch is known as the "Canyon of Heroes," where ticker-tape parades celebrating everything from Charles Lindbergh's Atlantic flight to sports championships have been held.

Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning and future Hall Of Fame defensive end Michael Strahan led the way, hoisting the Lombardi Trophy high in the air as they shared a float with Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Fans crowded the streets donned in Big Blue gear, shouting their appreciation for the champs.

"Only in New York City can we have a great parade for such a great group of guys. I love the Giants, I love New York City," one fan told CBS 2.

The parade afforded many players an opportunity to stand on the other side of the camera for a change.

"It's a dream come true, it's amazing," defensive end Justin Tuck, who sacked Patriots quarterback Tom Brady twice in the big game, told CBS 2's Sam Ryan. "To see the fans come out and show their support like they are right now, it's unbelievealbe. I'm at a loss for words, I've never seen anything like this, I've never heard anything like this."

For many players, the reality of their stunning upset of the undefeated New England Patriots -- and New York's first Super Bowl championship since 1991 -- was slowly starting to sink in. "We got fitted for rings today, and we're going to see the reaction of the city and see all our fans," punter Jeff Feagles said. "Those are the things that make this day really special."

While the Giants have actually won three Super Bowls, the parade was the first time that they were celebrated with a ticker-tape parade. In 1987 when they won the Lombardi Trophy, Mayor Ed Koch said he wasn't going to throw a parade for "those foreigners from New Jersey."

And in 1991, the start of the Gulf War had officials feeling a parade would be ill-timed.

That makes this victory, one certainly for the ages, even more special.

"This is amazing. Words can't express how I feel right now, this is amazing," safety Gibril Wilson told CBS 2's Sam Ryan.

The parade came to an end at City Hall Plaza, but it wasn't the end of the party. An official ceremony was held there by city officials including Bloomberg. Whoopi Goldberg was called to the ceremony for opening comments.

"I want to thank the New York Giants for taking our minds off ugly politics. I want to thank the New York Giants for taking our minds of the taint on sports," she said.

The team was then introduced and brought onto the stage to the tune of Tina Turner's, "Simply the Best."

Mayor Bloomberg spoke briefly, making mention that while the Giants may not be perfect, nobody was in the NFL this season. Gov. Eliot Spitzer followed the mayor, and told the crowd he voted this morning for Head Coach Tom Coughlin for president, and Manning as vice president.

He even joked that he would have made Patriots coach Bill Belichick head of the CIA, but unfortunately his "covert operations aren't so good."

Coughlin then took the mic and thanked the crowd for their support.

"You had to experience this parade today," he said. "You talk about emotions, you talk about noise, stamina -- that parade and that show of loyalty and response to our championship was just something that we'll remember for the rest of our lives. Thank you very much!"

Strahan then took the mic and it didn't take long for fans to interrupt him as he spoke, chanting, "One more year!" referring to the possibility that the veteran may retire.

"One more year?" he said. "We'll see."

Strahan then delighted the crowd with his trademark slogan and jump in the air:

"We would like to extend this to every other team in the NFL, in particularly for the last team we defeated, the New England Patriots, because you know what we did to you? We stomped you out!"

Traffic was expected to be chaotic all day, between parade traffic and Super Tuesday voters taking part in the primary. Commuters were warned to consider alternate routes to getting around the city.

To get into town, Metro North, PATH, and the Long Island Rail Road are all running extra trains. NJ Transit is adding cars to some trains, but they suggest people go to either Newark Penn Station or Hoboken, and then take the PATH into the city.

To get into lower Manhattan, the subway is your best bet. However, the MTA is recommending that you don't take the 4-5-6 trains, which will be jammed with morning commuters.

It would also be wise to skip the City Hall, Park Place, and Brooklyn Bridge stops because they'll be extremely overcrowded. Broadway is already closed between Battery Place and Chambers Street

And expect extra company at all of the Lower East River crossings and the Holland Tunnel.