N.Y. Giants are The Champs

They won the super bowl on Sunday and today, after a ticker-tape parade, NY is giving them the keys to the city.  I got downtown at 8:30AM; the ceremony is at 1PM and it was already crowded.  So I left.  Do not like crowds and the press is reporting an estimated 1 million people.
But it was very tempting to stay, because the Giants have played some incredible football.  Manning [MVP] has been connecting with his receivers in some spectacular plays.  Sunday's catch by Mario Manningham in the fourth quarter was one of the most spectacular catches ever.

Americans love their team sports: football, basketball, hockey and baseball.  Some folks pay thousands of dollars to attend the games.  Last Sunday, an hotel room at the Budget Inn, $898.99;  next weekend it's back to $55 a night.  Monday before the game 3,000 seats were available from $2,100 to $516,484, the $16,484 is probably shipping and handling fees.  Parking $499, next weekend, $60. Airfare from NY to Indianapolis between $1,379 to $1,837.  Next weekend $400.

The home of rugged individualism, paradoxically loves its team sports.  Track and field will never attract that kind of money.  Golf, tennis, auto racing have a lot of fans, but your average American is much more likely to know who won the Super Bowl then who won the U.S. Open.
Then there is the violence.  Students in Amherst, Massachusetts rioted after the game and 19 were arrested.  Violence in Egypt continues after riots at a soccer game that killed at least 73 people.  It is a universal response when your team wins or loses: riot.  There is that much emotion in spectator sports.

Meanwhile in NYC we have this going on in Union Square:

 Riding with George Washington

He's protesting the lack of freedom in China, and he looks like one of the college kids from NYU, or Cooper Union.   He's going to sit there all week, if necessary, until something is done.
As Jack Paar would say 'I kid you not', he's giving us one week!!
I guess he figures that now the football season is over we can devote more time to world freedom.