Super Bowl Fans Jam Streets, Giants Backers Celebrate

In Times Square and across the New York region, screaming fans jammed bars and after the Giants beat the New England Patriots, 17-14, in dramatic fashion in Super Bowl XLII, boisterous throngs filled the streets. The police deployed squad cars and mounted patrols to keep the exuberance under control across the city.

The New York Giants last minute victory over the previously undefeated New England Patriots was wildly popular among the throng watching the Super Bowl at the Playboy Mansion on Sunday evening. No matter who won, 2001 Playmate Of The Year Brande Roderick figured to come out a winner, because she had organized the first annual Playboy Mansion Superbowl Benefit Party, which attracted some 700 guests, models, athletes, celebrities, dancers and performers, producing a profit for California Police Youth Charities.

The New York Giants woke up Monday in Arizona as Super Bowl champs – while back in New York City, Giants championship merchandise has been flying off the shelves.

Of course, there's one catch: You might never get there. Every fan's worst fear. All that energy over the years just getting displaced, no release, no satisfaction, nothing. Season after season, no championship ... and then you die. I mean, isn't that what this is all about? Isn't that the nagging fear? That those little moral victories over the years won't make up for the lack of a big payoff at the end -- that one moment when everything comes together, when your team keeps winning, when you keep getting the breaks and you just can't lose.

It’s just past 8 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday, and 12 20-somethings sit around a 42-inch high-definition TV, no longer interested in what seems to be another dull NFL championship game.

The New York papers, not surprisingly, provide heavy coverage of the Giants’ improbable 17-14 victory in the Super Bowl, which denied the New England Patriots (and their quarterback with the supermodel girlfriend, Tom Brady) a chance at historic perfection and gave the New York team its first Super Bowl championship since 1991.