Ticker-Tape Insanity

Like most of New York City, I played hookie from school in order to attend the Super-Bowl-Champion-Giants-Ticker-Tape-Parade event. And what a crazy party it was! There were over a million people there, all packed into the Canyon of Heroes from Battery Park to City Hall. I went with my buddy from school, Rustin Oscar Reidhead. We got there about 30 min before the parade started, and were only about 15-20 rows of people back from the street. Right as the parade started I noticed that we were probably ahead of 20-25 rows of people. It was pure madness, and we were in the midst of hundreds of thousands of rabid Giants fans. Let me just share a couple stories and pictures.



Right before the parade started, a guy in one of the buildings, probably 20 floors up, stuck a sign out his window saying "Go Pats!" Given that true New Yorkers HATE Boston and everything about them, they didn't take too well to the sign. Before I knew it, thousands and thousands of people began yelling at the guy. New Yorkers are also very good at coordinating their anger, and in unison they chanted a three letter word followed by "hole". This chant went on for a good 2 or 3 minutes, until the guy turned the sign around, and on the back it said "just kidding!" What a sense of humor...



Soon after a guy came around selling championship t-shirts. Rustin thought it would be cool buy one, but after checking his wallet he realized he had no cash. Being a good friend I offered to lend him some, to which he replied rather uncomfortably loudly "naw, I'd never wear the stupid thing anyway!" I was sure that his comment was about to start a riot, and that my family would read about me in the paper the following day. Thanks Rustin, for the very uncomfortable few minutes there!

All-in-all it was a pretty good time. I got to see the team, the trophy, people climbing on signs, streetlights, buildings, cars; people throwing things from 50 stories including toilet paper, ticker-tape, papertowels, shredded (and unshredded) confidential documents, newspapers, and entire reams of paper. I got to be in a mosh-pit where I dished out, and received, my fair share of elbows (most of my elbows went towards some 12 year old punks "looking for their mom's" at the front of the crowd).

I was also strategically positioned behind a dude with a portable TV, for those special moments that come over the airwaves that you just can't get in person. So yeah, I'm pretty much awesome.