nyny

best tuesday

Yesterday was the best Tuesday ever; it was truly a triple threat.

First, it was the New York Giants Super Bowl victory parade. I watched some of the pre-parade festivities on TV before work, and it just sucked me even further into Giants mania. Growing up as an Illinois resident/Chicago Bulls fan during the Michael Jordan era, I've certainly seen my fair share of unbelievable sporting accomplishments. However, the Giants' victory on Sunday was one of the best sports spectacles I've been privileged enough to witness during my quarter-century on this planet. Pulling from my last couple years of memories, it ranks right up there with the game that sent the University of Illinois basketball team to the Final Four in 2005. They were losing to Arizona by 15 points with just 3 or 4 minutes left, and then tied the game with a 3-pointer in the final seconds. Then they went on to win by 1 point in overtime. Unbelievable. What a great night. Anyway, this Giants victory is similarly amazing. Besides the sheer athletic aspect, I love how it's pulling the city together in ways I've only witnessed twice before. After the game, it was so fun being outside and I didn't really want to go back to my apartment. Cars were driving around honking like crazy, I was high-fiving strangers I passed on the sidewalks, and we were all whooping, hollering and cheering at/with each other like crazy people. It was so fun. In the past, I've experienced this same sort of city-wide unity only on New Year's Eve, when we were reveling in the streets/subways with the rest of the hoi polloi, and also when the final Harry Potter book came out and people would strike up conversations with any number of the dozen or so strangers holding a Potter book that would be in any person's line of sight at any given time. To me, the Giants parade represented the city at its best. And fyi… they used 50 TONS of confetti. I can't even wrap my mind around the amount of paper it would take to comprise 50 tons. At first, this seemed to me supremely wasteful. Then, however, I discovered that they used recycled paper, so no additional trees were harmed. Also, throughout this whole thing, I was reminded of what I love about sports: it's completely unscripted and no one knows what's going to happen. It's virtually the only thing like that. Movies, tv shows, books, pictures, etc. are all organized and created. Somebody made/produced it, and so knows how it will end. Even live things, like concerts, are planned out. Sports are so great because no one knows what's going to happen, and that unpredictability is addictive and fascinating.

The second awesome thing about yesterday was, of course, that it was election day. I am having a BLAST following politics this year. I mean, forget about the writer's strike… we've got all the drama we need with this race! I felt so privileged to exercise my democratic right and go to the polls. And well, I was going to write more about this, but this post is already WAY longer than I thought it was going to be, and I'm getting tired. So, real quick, the third awesome thing about yesterday was that it was MARDI GRAS! I had this great party to go to, but I forgot to vote before work, so I had to go vote after work, and after that I didn't feel like trucking it all the way to the Village for the party. So I had my own little Mardi Gras celebration while watching all of the election coverage. I love Mardi Gras... what a great excuse to have a party. I've never been to a really crazy Mardi Gras party, but some day I hope to. Maybe I'll even make it to New Orleans one of these Februaries.

Ok, so more on politics later. It's only 11:30, but for now I'm going to bed.

posted by becka @ 9:30 PM