Feb 4, 2008 6:17 pm US/Eastern
Toilet Bowl: Giant Fans' Massive Murray Hill Riot
Hundreds Of Unruly Fans Engage In Toilet Paper Mayhem On 3rd Avenue
By STEVE FINK, WCBSTV.COM
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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More than a thousand unruly fans piled into the streets of Murray Hill and engaged in a massive toilet paper riot after the Giants defeated the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.
CBS
In Arizona it was the Super Bowl. In New York it was the Toilet Bowl.
Following the New York Giants' extraordinary upset over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, thousands of ecstatic fans took to the streets of Manhattan in a rush of pure joy.
For residents and businesses in Murray Hill, that meant, well, one giant, fluffy toilet paper riot.
"Third Avenue turned into Bourbon Street," said Murray Hill resident Mike Wexler.
In video obtained exclusively by WCBSTV.com, more than 1,000 crazed fans can be seen rushing onto 3rd Ave. between 34th and 35th streets about 11 p.m. on Sunday night, ignoring police requests to stick to the sidewalks.
That's when sanitary paper mania became the theme of the night.
With a Duane Reade conveniently located on the northwest corner of the intersection, some unruly fans ran into the store, purchased (we hope) dozens of packages of toilet paper, and distributed them among other raucous fans. Within minutes, streams of paper flew threw the air, shrouding trees, along with bar and business banners, as a horde of the Giants faithful chanted in unison "Let's Go Giants," and "18 and 1!"
"People were truly excited and just needed to celebrate with the city," said Wexler. "It was pure jubilation -- it just happened to be in the middle of 3rd Avenue."
It didn't take long for several police cars to arrive on the scene, crash the party and push the droves back onto the sidewalks.
But this bunch wasn't finished yet.
The cops spent about five minutes restoring order. They returned to their cars and took off, and the messy masses picked right up where they left off, this time with even more intensity.
Girls hoisted up on the shoulders of rowdy men. Beer cans shaken up and opened, sprayed throughout the crowd. And toilet paper. An impressive amount of toilet paper accumulating from curb to curb.
Cars trying to turn from 34th Street onto 3rd were forced to reverse back into traffic with the street completely blocked and their honking doing no good.
At one point, a flying roll of toilet paper can be seen in the video striking a honking van in the windshield, with several other rolls being hurled at cars passing by.
After about 20 minutes of chaos, about six police cruisers returned to the scene and a dozen officers armed with nightsticks quickly took to the crowds. There was no word of any violence or any officers having to subdue fans, but the damage was done.
The street was an absolute mess. Toilet paper covered everything. Broken glass was sprinkled along the street. Trash cans kicked over.
It took about another half hour before the fans took to the bars or returned home, leaving officers and city workers with a big blue headache to clean up.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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