So I did something kind of uncharacteristic a few days ago.
Perhaps against my own better judgement, I decided to go ahead and attend the New York Knicks parade following their incredible run to the NBA championship. Figured that it has not happened in 53 years, so who knows if the opportunity will rise again in my own lifetime.
Everything felt like it could work out. My girlfriend is in Poland for a few weeks, so she would not be upset or miss me. I was working the night before, but would get out at 6:30 in the morning, after which I could find a way into the city to experience it.
And I figured: you know what? Why not? At least once in my lifetime.
Now, I had attended some post-championship celebrations a few times before in my lifetime. During the 1998 World Cup, my brother somehow got tickets to the semifinal game, which still manages to astonish me when I think about it. He invited me, and so I wound up building a whole trip to France out of it. That was my first trip to France in nine years, at the time. But we went to the semifinal which, as luck would have it, featured the home country, France, versus Croatia. It also probably happened to be one of the most exciting and intense games of the entire tournament, which France just barely managed to win to qualify for the first World Cup Final in their history. We walked back home after the game, taking in the celebrations, soaking up the atmosphere. Four days later, we watched France defeat Brazil 3-0 to win their first ever World Cup title, then went out on the streets to celebrate, as most of Paris did. They say it was the biggest party that Paris, or even all of France, had seen since Liberation. I was not sorry to have been there.
Then in 2003, my then wife and I went to the parking lot of the Meadowlands Arena (then called Continental Airlines Arena, soon renamed the IZOD Center, and now probably torn down and part of the American Way Mall. The New Jersey Devils had won the Stanley Cup, and they had official celebrations in that parking lot. It was not a ticker tape down the Canyon of Heroes, but it was something, and it was cool. Very enjoyable. A memorable experience.
Years later, in February of 2012, I took my son to MetLife Stadium a few days after the New York Giants won Super Bowl XLVI over the New England Patriots. The Giants had a ticker tape parade, but we opted for the celebrations at the stadium instead, which also was pretty cool. That was just before I got a cell phone and would have been able to take (and share) pictures.
But those three times were each different in their own way. I did not have to travel extensively in any of those cases. I was staying with my brother in Paris in 1998, so we just had to leave the apartment, which we did. In both 2003 and 2012, it took a drive to the Meadowlands, which is roughly about half an hour from where we were then living.
If you consider other free events which attracted massive crowds, then there were a few other things that could be added to this list. My brother and I were in Paris for the massive fireworks for the 14th of July (the national holiday, known in English-speaking countries as Bastille Day) back in 1989, during the Bicentennial of the French Revolution. Massive crowds there. My father, brother and I went to see the Fourth of July fireworks in New York City back in the summer of 1994, although surprisingly, that felt surprisingly stress-free compared to many of the other events I am mentioning here. I also attended the Garth Brooks concert at Central Park in 1997 with some friends, the Three Tenors at the Champs-de-Mars in Paris in 1998 (associated with the World Cup), and Paul McCartney giving a free concert in Quebec City for the 400th anniversary of that city in 2008. The Paris occasions attracted massive crowds and had some unpleasant aspects which you might expect from events which attract massive crowds like that. Same could be said for all of them, including the Garth Brooks concert and Paul McCartney at the Plains of Abraham in Quebec, although I pretty much only have pleasant memories from most of those events, especially the McCartney show in 2008.
This Knicks parade, however, was different from all of those other things. It was another beast entirely, requiring travel into the city, and staying there for several hours.
Still, I decided to go ahead, at least once. Why not, I thought?
At the parade itself, I found out why not. It brought out the very worst in people, something which I kind of knew, but had probably allowed myself to forget.
In each of those other free events mentioned earlier which I decided to attend that attracted massive crowds, there really was no problem actually seeing what we were there to see. Obviously, the fireworks generally can be seen from a distant. But I also had great views for the other events celebrating championship teams (France in '98, the Devils in '03, and the Giants in '12), and had clear views of the performers at the shows (Garth Brooks in '97, the Three Tenors in '98, and McCartney in '08.
That was not the case with this Knicks parade. There were massive crowds for those events mentioned prior, but I never experienced anything quite like the intense and sustained crowding of this parade. Add to that the heat - and it was not as hot as it could have been, but the body heat and inability to get a break from the bodies surrounding you adding to the heat - and it began to feel almost like a nightmare. By the time that I got to a spot which seemed like it would offer some views, I was done trying to move around. I found a spot against the glass entryway of a building and just decided to take my chances.
There were always some unpleasant aspects to those previous massive gatherings that I had attended before. Crowds could be a huge problem and annoyance. The bicentennial celebrations in Paris were very, very crowded and loud, as I recall. Ditto with New York City's fireworks in 1994, although to a lesser extent than Paris in 1989. Garth Brooks was a lot like that, and so was the Three Tenors concert in 1998. People can be loud, and that was particularly problematic, as I recall, for the Three Tenors, which is not loud rock music that can largely drown out the crowd. Even Paul McCartney, the one event which I really almost have exclusively pleasant memories of, had one frightening scene. We went with my son, who was just two years old at the time. So we found a spot atop the wall, which allowed us to see McCartney and his band warm up, which the large crowd actually did not get to see. However, when they opened the gates after having people stand around for hours, it looked like a herd of buffalo stampeding. How nobody got seriously hurt is beyond me. I was very happy that we had not tried that, but parked atop the wall. Even if it was a bit farther, we had a clear view and could hear everything clearly, and my son was never in danger due to crowds. But witnessing that kind of behavior can be disturbing nonetheless.
So that kind of thing is always present for massive gatherings. But it felt like it defined this particular event. Besides the heat, people yelling and fighting proved annoying and stressful. There were some crazy people doing dangerous things, like one guy literally climbing the side of a building. People were watching, smiling and cheering him on, calling him Spiderman. Maybe I would have taken it in stride when younger. Now, however, I know the dangers, and wondered what would happen if the guy made one mistake and fell. He could hurt of even kill himself, or possibly the people below him.
Other than major free major events, the only other time that I remember being in massive crowds like that were for major events (ticketed and in stadiums or arenas). There were mosh pits or standing room only concerts - mostly decades ago - when I was in situations where people were packed in that tightly, on top of one another. Maybe a couple of major sports events, particularly playoff games, when there are hardly any empty seats to be found. Before and after getting to your seats, you have to deal with massive crowds. Those are the only other times that I can remember being in such a packed crowd, where it begins to possibly get dangerous. And in my case, at least I am a fairly big guy who can usually take care of himself in such situations. There were some tiny women and even children. Hell, I even saw one guy with a service dog there, which hardly seemed like the best idea.
There were people who had also claimed the steel pillars around where I was, too. You could see their legs and feet hanging (see the pictures). At one point, there was a lot of noise, and I saw one nutcase trying to grab someone's feet and pull them down from that height. Again, it could have ended very badly. People were booing this guy. I overheard someone saying that he had gotten angry because he had been pissed on. No way for me to know if that was true, but I could understand that being infuriating, not to mention absolutely disgusting. That said, the image of seeing that nutcase continually jumping up and trying to grab the guy's ankles above him (he almost succeeded once or twice).
Speaking of needing to go to the bathroom, of course that is one of the major concerns with a gathering like this. One of those things which might not necessarily be obvious when you first think about going to an event like this. Yet, you better think about it and have a plan for it. In my case, this time around, I simply went at the World Trade Center Path Station after first arriving in New York City. Then, I was going to limit what I ate and/or drank. As it turned out, I forgot to bring anything to eat or drink with me, so that kind of solved the problem for me. Still, I know that this is an issue which can become an actual problem if you are not careful. When you are going to be stuck in a large crowd for a long time, then it is something which you need to think about and plan for.
It seemed to me that now, being older, my focus was much more on the annoyance and dangers of being at an extremely large and uncomfortable gathering like this. The heat was there, but it admittedly could have been worse. Still, being pressed up against a bunch of other bodies does make it worse. And these kinds of events, as a rule, seem to bring out the very worst in people.
In a massive gathering like this, people are loud and not even close to being on their best behavior. Everyone feels entitled to go to their special place, the one place where they will get that great view and not have to deal with anyone else. Only one problem: it generally does not exist. Everyone is gathered tight. There are these tiny little paths which suddenly seem to open up, and lines of people struggling to get past one another. Loose lines of people going one way, and another makeshift line going the opposite way. Nobody figuring out that if there are that many people heading the other way, that probably should suggest that things are uncomfortably tight no matter where you are going. People on their phones, thinking that they are actually going to find and meet their friends, trying to figure out where they are.
The only people who did not struggle with this are the people who were up in the surrounding buildings, with a great view and no massive crowd to deal with. For the rest of us down below, it was uncomfortably tight and, frankly, annoying. You could tell that people were getting easily agitated. Near fights almost broke out. Some people would continue chanting things, which can get pretty annoying. One guy started a chant, "This guy's got gas, get him out." Somewhat funny maybe the first or second time around. But when that guy keeps chanting that a few dozen times, you feel like telling him to shut the F up already.
Also, I do not remember any massive gathering where there were quite as many apparent medical emergencies. In each case, on this day, at least in my section, it was women. It was hot and even hotter inside of the crowd, so people would urgently ask if anyone had any water to splash on them or have them drink. Getting them out was not easy or quick. One young woman stopped right by me and asked if the door I was leaning against was open (many people asked me that). I told her what I told everyone else, that these doors had been locked well before I got there. I almost felt like adding if they expected any different but largely refrained from doing so.
Ten o'clock came, and word had it that the Knicks were late to their own parade. One guy joked that the Knicks are always late, even to their own games, which I think was a joke he got from Brunson quipping about the same thing. Finally, they started, as someone was watching the live broadcast on their phone. Somehow, I was able to see it. But they were on foot, walking. God, I hope that they get on something a bit higher so I might actually see them, I thought. Tall as they might be, there would simply be no way of seeing them if they were merely on foot and walking.
Finally, the parade went by. It always seems that they go slowly, at least when watching on television. Yet, it felt to me that they passed by incredibly fast. I could barely make out anyone through the forests of arms and hands raised, each one with a cell phone to take pictures or get video. But I did the best I could, raising my own phone and snapping pictures, even a couple of video clips. Admittedly, I tried to sift through the pictures later to actually try and see what I had gotten. Still difficult to tell, frankly.
On the train ride back to Somerville, the closest train station (I think) to my town that goes to Newark, where you can catch the PATH train for New York City, I heard some young men (maybe high school or college aged kids) talking. One of them said that this was, hands down, one of the best experiences of his entire life.
Funny how different the same experience can be for two different people. For me, it was more annoying than anything else, admittedly. I had always wanted to see a parade down the "Canyon of Heroes" in New York City. Years ago, I had the same desire to see the New Year's Ball drop. Now that I have experienced both at least once, I am fairly certain that it is not an experience that I would want to duplicate on some other occasion.
Still, I snapped some pictures and took a few video clips. Below are some of the pictures which I took from the day.
Enjoy.
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