After last year’s wildly successful draft that saw Aaron Ross, Steve Smith, Jay Alford, Kevin Boss and Ahmad Bradshaw all contribute to the Giants’ Super Bowl run, New York could afford to take some risks. This year’s edition was more about creating depth and looking toward the future.

Overall, the Giants addressed the few concerns they had, especially after an off-season that saw them lose three starters on defense. What they received were prospects with the raw talent to produce but some gaping holes in their skill sets. But they are Super Bowl champions, and they clearly aren’t setting out to remake the team right away.

Drafting Miami safety Kenny Phillips with their first pick will soften some of the blow of Gibril Wilson’s defection to the Oakland Raiders. Phillips is athletic and smart and has the kind of speed to cover wideouts as well as the agility to make open-field tackles. The knock on him is that he’s a little raw in reading coverage, but with New York signing Jaguars veteran Sammy Knight to shore up the safety position for the next few years, Phillips can develop and mature.  read more »

Location: What’s the bigger accomplishment: The underdog New York Giants beating the undefeated New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl? Or, New York’s tourism industry rebounding after 9/11?

Mr. Tisch: I would say, for different constituencies, the accomplishments are about the same, and, actually, some of the lessons are the same. The lessons are that by working together, by putting aside your individual concerns, by always understanding the greater good, you can accomplish a lot.  read more »

Can the Giants repeat in ‘09? What does General Manager Jerry Reese have to do to keep the Giants’ momentum going this year and beyond?

Here’s how the world champions can accomplish both as they approach the offseason:

Re-sign Kawika Mitchell and Gibril Wilson

With a reported cap space of nearly $20 million, the Giants shouldn’t spend all their cash on the star-power coming on the market. Instead, the GM should cultivate his home field. Mitchell struggled at times this season as he attempted to get comfortable in Steve Spagnuolo’s scheme. But by Week 16 in Buffalo, the hard-hitting outside linebacker began fitting in nicely, showing some speed off the edge in blitz packages. Wilson could see what the rest of the league has to offer after showing versatility both against the run and in pass coverage. If the Giants aren’t able to show the former fifth round pick a long-term commitment, he might be on the way out. If that scenario occurs, plugging the gap at safety will become their new focus. Cowboys safety Ken Hamlin would be a great replacement if Wilson decides to leave.  read more »

HarperCollins will rush the paperback edition of Roger Director's I Dream in Blue, an anguished love letter to the New York Giants from the perspective of a frustrated lifelong fan, to stores at the end of this month, according to Harper Perennial publisher Carrie Kania.

Ms. Kania said Mr. Director will add two chapters to the book, which came out in hardcover last September, to reflect the fact that the Giants actually won the Super Bowl on Sunday. Ms. Kania said Mr. Director, who has written about the Giants for this Web site, saw the game live and in person, along with his editor, HarperCollins executive editor David Hirshey.  read more »

In the rich history of athletics in New York, the city has produced great champions in all four major team sports. Few victories, however, were as dramatic, memorable and surprising as the Giants’ last-minute triumph over the unbeaten New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII on Sunday.

If you believe in the redemptive powers of sports, if you appreciate the ways in which our games define our self-image and create bonds between families and generations, you understand why two million people gathered in downtown Manhattan on Feb.  read more »

The Giants had their ticker-tape parade this morning. The last time the city hosted a ticker-tape parade was for the World Series champion Yankees in October 2000. Back then, the median price for a Manhattan co-op was $340,000, according to research firm Radar Logic Inc. The median price for a condo was $535,000.

A reader safely tucked into her office at One Centre Street sent this picture from far above the festivities celebrating the Super Bowl victory of the New York Giants.

"This is madness," writes the reader. "I'm already panicked about how to get lunch."

It took me about 30 minutes to work my way through the crowd, and I ran into Peter Vallone, Jr., who was having the same problem.

]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/giants-fans-take-over-city-hall#comments Politics Sports Jr. New York Giants Peter Vallone Super Tuesday Superbowl Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:52:02 -0500 Azi Paybarah 64561 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2008/direct-red-hook-confetti-giants-parade

About 1,000 pounds of confetti will be delivered at 4 p.m. today to the garage of the Alliance for Downtown New York, to be used tomorrow to shower the Super Bowl champion New York Giants. The Alliance will deliver the confetti to Lower Manhattan office buildings Tuesday morning, according to a couple of emails I've gotten in the last half-hour from a Downtown Alliance rep.

The confetti is recycled packaging paper cut into approximately 10-inch strips and is being provided by the Atlas Material Company in Red Hook.  read more »

EAST RUTHERFORD—Newark Mayor Cory Booker is predicting record Newark voter turnout, and high attendance throughout the state.

"We've got another upset coming on Tuesday," he said. (The Super Bowl metaphors are not gonna stop allllll day!) "We're back here not to rock the sports world like the Giants just did, we're here to rock the world!"

"We're going to be hitting hard as soon as the polls open," he said.  read more »

The New York Giants will be honored soon with a new plaque in Lower Manhattan's Canyon of Heroes. The plaque, installed by the Alliance for Downtown New York, will join the 203 already embedded in the sidewalk along Broadway, from the Battery to City Hall. The plaques mark the ticker-tape parades that have traveled up (or, occassionally, down) the route.

The first ticker-tape parade was a spontaneous one marking the arrival of the Statue of Liberty in 1886. The last one, before tomorrow's scheduled parade for the Giants, was for the World Series-winning Yankees in October 2000.