<p>Long-time Patriots fan here who sat through many years as a season ticket holder when you practically could give them away because the team was SO bad! I remember in the early 70’s driving to Foxboro from Boston College to meet my father to go to the games. After many years, he finally gave up his season tickets, and now I sure do wish we still had them! Yesterday was really tough - it almost felt like someone had died and we were all in mourning. Very odd feeling. But, the Giants absolutely “outplayed” and “outlasted” the Patriots on Sunday and deserved to win that game hands-down. It is a huge disappointment to us here in NE to see our almost-perfect season end this way, but I believe that this will only make them work harder next year. Kudos to Eli Manning - finally coming out of his big brother’s shadow and proving that he deserves to be a starting NFL quarterback, too. The funny thing is that D goes to school in NY and when she called after the game, her campus was going crazy (to the point that I could hear it over the phone). She was in a tiny majority of Patriots fans watching the game, and felt left out of the celebration. Oh well, there is always next year! So, congrats to all of the CC’ers who are Giants fans. Enjoy the celebration!</p>
<p>I just tuned into the ticker tape parade. Mayor Bloomberg is standing on a float between Eli & Strahan. He’s so tiny that he looks like a different species!</p>
<p>New Jersey fans of the Giants (and Jets):
How do you feel about the name for the teams being “New York Giants” and “New York Jets” when both teams play in NJ? While I am somewhat ambivalent about it, one of the guys that I work with is so irate about it that he always roots for whichever team the Giants or Jets are playing.</p>
<p>This issue resurfaced in my mind when Mara or Tisch (I forget which one) said during the trophy ceremony on Sunday night something to the effect of how proud “New York” was of them.</p>
<p>I seem to remember the Giants changing their helmet logo to a NJ at one point? (Am I imagining this?) We in NJ are used to playing second fiddle to NYC. Even the Statue of Liberty is in NJ water, yet it’s placed on NY signage, their state quarter, etc. The sports announcers always say “Live from the Meadowlands here in New York.” I live ten miles from NYC & have to pass Giant stadium to get there. It’s on our side of the river, guys…I like living in NJ, but having the city so close. I get my “fix” and then get out. Works for me.</p>
<p>We’ve always viewed the Giants as our team & didn’t care if they were considered NY or NJ. I seem to remember them playing in Yankee stadium, and they didn’t play at the Meadowland until 1976. (Nice to avoid bridge toll if we go to the stadium for any events.) But you’d be surprised how thrilled NJ fans were to get the Devils franchise. Tons of loyal Rangers fans (including me & H) switched our allegiance.</p>
<p>I was there. It was very cool. </p>
<p>We were sitting with Giant player family/friends for some reason – in the rafters. I am not as enthused about the stadium as some …I felt like I was in a huge barn!</p>
<p>The chant in our section was 18-1 … the Pats fans at our hotel were very cocky about how they were going to make history. And in general, the Giants fans were quite humble. It was great to be there and their guys had a chance to upset. And upset they did!</p>
<p>A once in a lifetime experience. What I came away with though was how much it is considered a <em>drinking</em> event. Lots and lots of booze being pushed on all levels – from hotel check-in through the pre-game exhibits.</p>
<p>Re being a Giants fan in NJ–basically, ditto everything Sticker said (we live pretty near by each other). Yup, the Stadium is definitely here, but every game they invariably focus a longshot camera across the distance to NYC and kind of pretend it’s right there.</p>
<p>We are even, like SS, former loyal Rangers fans who switched to the Devils when they started (H figured it’d be much more likely to be able to take his kids to a Devils game then get a rare ticket to a Rangers game–and it’s true, they’ve been to scores of them–and love the new Newark arena (not to get off topic.))</p>
<p>Anyway, FF, though we’d like to see more of an acknowledgement of NJ, we’re sticking with our G-Men!</p>