Giants welcomed with ticker-tape parade

NEW YORK, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- An estimated 1 million people turned out Tuesday on the streets of Manhattan to cheer the Super Bowl champion New York Giants at a ticket-tape parade.

Less than 48 hours after the Giants upset of the previously undefeated New England Patriots, 17-14, the Giants made a triumphant pass through the Canyon of Heroes in New York's Financial District.

Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, 15-year veteran Michael Strahan and Coach Tom Coughlin joined New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the lead vehicle. Bloomberg capped the parade by awarding each member of the team a key to the city.

"I've waited 15 years and I never thought that this would happen," Strahan told the crowd. "And I've had the most fun in my career playing with this crew. For me I want to say thank you to them, thank you to the coaches ... and most of all thank you to New York City!"

The ticker-tape parade was the first for New York City since the New York Yankees won the World Series in 2000 and the first for a football team since the Giants last won the Super Bowl in 1991.