It was destiny, or at least that's what Luis Nunez called the New York Giants' improbable 17-14 win over the New England Patriots as he looked on with a rowdy crowd of students gathered Sunday in the Livingston Student Center to watch Super Bowl XLII. The Super Bowl party, celebrated for the eighth year on the campus, used to strictly be a commuter program, said Victoria Rowlands, secretary of the Livingston campus board of the Rutgers University Programming Association and a Livingston College junior. "The crowd gets bigger every year," she said. This year's crowd was made up of mostly Giants fans, though Patriots fans could be heard cheering or jeering throughout the night as well. The audience heated up quickly, with shouts of "Idiot!" heard in the first half when the Giants' Steve Smith bobbled a pass from quarterback Eli Manning that was then intercepted by the Patriots' Ellis Hobbs. Patriots fans made their presence known by getting on their feet after every big New England play. They especially erupted when the Patriots took a 14-10 lead late in the fourth quarter. But Giants fans got the last laugh, going wild after a spectacular completion from Manning to receiver David Tyree with 59 seconds left. Bedlam ensued when the Giants later scored to take the lead for good. Fans reacted accordingly to the game's stunning finish, marked by the sound of an air horn in the crowd after several big plays by the Giants. "After the play [to Tyree] from Eli, you knew it was destiny," said Nunez, a Mason Gross School of the Arts sophomore and Giants fan. But School of Arts and Sciences sophomore Ihuoma Onwunali, a Patriots fan, had a different opinion. "This is the cruelest joke ever played on humanity by God," he said. Some students' motivations for attending the party varied from those of the cheering sports fans. Free food and watching Patriots quarterback Tom Brady on TV attracted Brittany Hannigan, a School of Arts and Sciences student. "Tom Brady's sexy, and I wanted to see him on a big screen," she said. Livingston College sophomore Ryan Doyle echoed those sentiments, minus the praise for Brady. "I came for the food … and the big screen, too," he said. Crowd reactions to the widely anticipated Super Bowl advertisements were generally subdued, but fans erupted at several moments during the game. Livingston's board treasurer, Garynn Noel, a University College student, said this was the first year RUPA and Residence Life planned the event together.
Fans erupt over Giants' Super Bowl XLII win
Published: Monday, February 4, 2008
Updated: Sunday, February 22, 2009
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