The TA's not moving, do something.
(11-03) 18:22 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- It was a deliriously fun combination of Mardi Gras, New Year's Eve and world championship - with the crowd of the century on hand to celebrate.
Hundreds of thousands of people jammed downtown San Francisco on Wednesday for the Giants' World Series victory parade, one of the largest gatherings the city has seen in years. They perched on building rooftops and stood 50 deep at some spots along Market Street, screaming themselves hoarse as the first San Francisco Giants team ever to win the world championship rode motorized cable cars from the Financial District to City Hall.
At the head of the parade were luminaries associated with the team and the city - Hall of Famers Willie McCovey and Willie Mays, managing general partner Bill Neukom, Mayor Gavin Newsom and Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Manager Bruce Bochy rode in a classic car, with the World Series trophy in his hands and a big grin on his face.
The Giants estimated that more than 1 million people watched the parade along the 1 1/2-mile route. Police, in keeping with their practice in recent years, declined to give a crowd size. But few, if any, could remember a bigger throng.
Downtown looked like an open-air festival gone wild as confetti rained from skyscrapers. Fans dressed up in black beards to honor star reliever Brian Wilson and long-haired wigs for two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum.
Everywhere along the route, people stood on fire engines, automobiles, benches, portable toilets - anything that would give them a view.
Even the weather seemed to get into the spirit, blessing the day with blue skies and summer-like temperatures in the high 70s.
"It's unreal," Lincecum marveled as he leaned out of his cable car.
Wilson, with his Mohawk haircut and curiously black beard, hopped off his cable car at times to slap high fives with the crowd.
As late-season pickup and playoff star Cody Ross' cable car rolled by, chants of "Cody! Cody!" filled the air, bouncing off the walls of the skyscrapers. When World Series Most Valuable Player Edgar Renteria's car came into view, the crowd screamed, "MVP! MVP!"
Vindication
Some staked out choice spots for the parade the night before. Others braved packed public transit to get there - both BART and Caltrain said ridership was up by tens of thousands.
Despite the huge crowds, police reported no major incidents.
Lisa Fitzgerald, nine months pregnant and due any day, said she traveled with her husband, Rick, from Daly City, rolling the dice with fate. "If she's born today and right here," Fitzgerald said, "then I'll have a great story."
For many, it was a day of vindication for years of following a team that had great players, good years and bad and a few near-misses, but had never won it all since 1954 - as the New York Giants.
Bruce Riordan, 52, carried a life-size cardboard cutout of Will Clark, the former Giants stalwart whose team was swept by the Oakland A's in the 1989 World Series.
"Will didn't get a parade," Riordan said. "So I thought I'd bring him to this one."
A father on Market Street held his infant high above his head, and in the baby's hands was a sign reading: "I've waited for this for seven months."
At the end of the route, thousands of fans overflowed Civic Center Plaza - the same place the original San Francisco Giants ended their welcome-to-the-city parade when they came to town in 1958.
Politicos and players
City Hall politicians and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger mingled with the Giants as the team hung out in the South Light Court, waiting for the ceremony at which Neukom was given the keys to the city. Newsom, sporting an orange tie, seemed particularly awed to meet Wilson, who was sporting silver shoes.
"This is the easiest crowd I've seen in a long time," Newsom said. "Just announce you're running for mayor. I just won the lieutenant governor's race. It's an opportunity, man."
Wilson didn't do that when he addressed the packed plaza a few minutes later. "I'm kinda having a mini-heart attack," he said. "I don't really know the cause ... maybe the smell of Prop. 19" - an allusion to the heavy aroma of marijuana wafting everywhere.
First baseman Aubrey Huff lit up the crowd when he shoved his hands deep into his pants and produced his red rally thong, a good-luck charm that he supposedly wore as the Giants surged into the playoffs.
Several Giants made a point of telling the crowd that the world's championship belonged as much to the fans as it did to them.
"They wanted to win it for you as bad as they wanted to win it for themselves," Bochy proclaimed, pointing to the team.
Jason McClintock, his two teenage children and their friend came in from the Central Valley city of Madera and took up a spot at Fifth and Market streets at 1 a.m. The teens dozed while McClintock guarded the folding chairs.
"It was easy to get out of school," said 16-year-old Steffanie McClintock. "Dad said, let's go, and that was it."
John Shugarte and friend Anthony Poggi drove from Sacramento to the Walnut Creek BART Station, where they got on a standing-room-only train.
"I think our bosses understand," said Poggi, 27. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You should see me - I listen to KNBR (the Giants' flagship radio station) all day. There's no way I would miss this."
Stacey Wehr, a dental assistant from Novato, left at 6 a.m. for the drive into the city. She pulled her two sons, ages 7 and 5, from school for the occasion.
"It may not happen again," Wehr explained.
Far from being upset, the 5-year-old's kindergarten teacher took the day off and came with them.
Chronicle staff writers Henry K. Lee, Heather Knight, Jessica Kwong, John King, Michael Cabanatuan and Will Kane contributed to this report. E-mail the writers at
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Read more:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/03/MNM51G6DMS.DTL#ixzz14IR6BAdT
That one's going in an e-mail to be forwarded for quite some time. 
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