New York to fete Giants with parade up Broadway

[February 07, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Giants are returning from their Super Bowl win to a celebration the likes that only New York can throw: a ticker-tape parade in the Canyon of Heroes on Broadway, where the city has honored stars for almost a century.

Members of the Giants will be showered with a mile of confetti as they travel up Broadway from Battery Place. Then, in a ceremony at City Hall Plaza, the team will be presented with symbolic keys to the city.

"Big Blue gave us a game to remember, and on Tuesday we're going to give them a parade to remember," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said after Sunday's triumph in Indianapolis.

The parade for the Super Bowl champions will have an estimated economic impact of up to $38 million for the city, depending on the number of spectators, Bloomberg said. As many as 1 million are expected -- about a third of them from outside New York.

After the parade, the team will travel to New Jersey for a 3 p.m. rally at Met Life stadium.

This will be the second Super Bowl championship parade for the Giants in four years. They also beat the Patriots in the NFL title game in 2008.

But it's hard to imagine a victory more exciting than the Giants' last-minute, 21-17 victory over the Patriots.

The hero of this year's parade undoubtedly will be Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning. The Giants quarterback and Mario Manningham connected on a clutch play, as the receiver made an over-the-shoulder catch along the sideline on the opening play of the game-winning drive.

On Monday, 250 fans nabbed pairs of tickets to the festivities at City Hall. About 50,000 people entered sweepstakes for a place at the ceremony.

The parade itself is open to all and promises to draw impenetrable crowds behind police barricades, as it did four years ago.

Three large screens around City Hall will allow members of the public to watch the ceremony. Streets will be closed between Broadway and Church Street from Canal to Pearl streets, as will Brooklyn Bridge access to and from Park Row.

New York has feted its public heroes since 1919, with the first parade for World War I General John Pershing and his victorious troops.

They were followed by more than 200 parades honoring everyone from aviator Charles Lindbergh to scientist Albert Einstein, Pope John Paul, South African leader Nelson Mandela and pianist Van Cliburn. Their names are chiseled into the Broadway sidewalks.

The Giants will be showered with at least 30 tons of manufactured confetti from skyscrapers lining Broadway.

[Associated Press; By VERENA DOBNIK]

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