I got home last night a bit exhausted from the hot day and sat down to watch
the news on the telly. My 6 year-old son comes over to me and asks,"Can we
sing Chelsea again tomorrow?" I ask, "Did you enjoy yourself today?" and he
beams and shouts, "Yes!" What can I say? It was some day! From Billy Idol to
my 6 year-old, it was simply an incredible day. The two youngest members of
the group (congratulations Jeff!!) could not be polled as they don't speak yet
but their future actions will be shaped by their thoughts from today (and help
from their parents!!).
It was a beautiful sunny day with a nice blue sky! Very appropriate!! The
bus arrived more than 30 minutes early which gave us some extra time to put up
the banners and place the sponsor's gift bags on the seats. We needed that
extra time and thanks go out to those that we asked to come aboard to help with
the banners (especially our lovely Independence Community Bank rep!). The MSG
field (camera) team were there early as well to do some interviews (including
Fernando and Chopper!!) and film most of the ride. We were given only two
rules for the bus...no smoking and no standing while the bus was in motion!
Right...thoughts of singing "one man went to mow" suddenly came to mind!!
Of course, the occasion would not be complete without the Premiership trophy
and Wobbly made sure that it was present! Excellent job especially with the
lions on the handles, Wobbly, and the centenary crest completed the trophy!!
To make this day even more incredible...Wobbly met Asaf, an Israeli Blue who had been Jose Mourinho's tour guide when he was in Israel!! After meeting Wobbly, Asaf who had been watching the Ireland vs Israel game at Nevada's, decided to go back to his hotel, put on his Chelsea shirt and joined us for the bus parade!! Incredible!!!
With everyone on the bus, we were ready for the tour! So, while the Irish
supporters were making a lot of noise as the game headed for injury time, we departed Nevada Smith's!
Of course, riding in public, we needed to soften our songs so the "f" word
was replaced by "toss" and Wobbly got on the bus microphone to give the riders the
rules (word substitutions) before leading us in our first "carefree" chant!
Now, rules are rules and rules are meant to be broken!! As we headed off
Third Avenue and zig-zagged towards First Avenue we immediately realised that the
"no standing" rule was a good safety rule as we came very close to tree
branches hanging over the street (trees in Manhattan...who knew??). With a traffic light almost taking away half of our camera crew, the "no standing" rule was actually a good rule and one we would abide by so "one man went to mow" was
saved for the Times Square traffic!
The Telephone Bar was the first English restaurant to hear our chants and
their patrons were clearly taken by surprise!! Their staff probably had
flashbacks to December 11th last year when the New York Blues and US Blues
partied/sang the night away and were probably grateful for us being outside rather than
inside this time! (Still no tuna in the Telephone Bar, Nicky, but no place is
perfect!) As we approached the United Nations building we saw the first clear
attempt by MSG to show New York and the Chelsea fans. Unfortunately, as the
cameraman panned from the UN building to us we were in the middle of a song
with naughty wording. Oops! Well, we do have so many songs and they all seem
to have naughty wording!!! What could we do but join in as Simon started the
"Oh West London" song? Was it me or did Simon appear to be "on stage"
yesterday? Great job mate!!!
Heading onto 42nd Street (heading west), we went under our first overpass.
Oh, yes...we sounded great with those accoustics! Another overpass dead
ahead!!! Incredibly, the accoustics between the tall buildings in certain parts of
the city were so much better than the enclosed terraces at Nevada Smith's!
Excellent!!! The citizens of New York gave us strange looks while the tourists
took photos and video. There were, of course, those that yelled out for their
team! Yes, United fans were serenaded with chants of "oo are ya?" and "small
team in Tampa!" Arriving at Times Square (behind the building where they
drop the ball) we commenced our "one man went to mow". Naturally, this long song
was too long but luckily we had passed the potential "decapitation devices"
(traffic lights) when we stood up at 10! Thankfully, the traffic ensured our
safety as the bus was unable to pick up any speed. A United fan yelled at us
from his elevated position outside a theatre! Cue serenading from us and waves
from others in his immediate vicinity!
Should girls wearing ultra-mini-skirts ride elevators that have glass walls
and face the street? Well, we were still on 42nd Street so who knew her true
intentions! The cameraman was looking in her direction! Is that legal??
Cue more songs and the new enjoyment; serenading the tourists on other open
top double decker buses! Chopper's new song for a stopped bus..."sing when
you're moving..you only sing when you're moving!" Chopper's singing has been
made fun of to no end in the past and yet he was the one wearing the microphone
(brilliant!!!). Chopper is truly the New York Blues Media Representative (did
I mention his plug/interview for our bus tour on Big Blue Radio last week??).
We left 42nd Street and headed north on Eighth Avenue, turned right (east) in
the low 50's and we were finally on Broadway!!! The New York Blues had made
it to Broadway!! We sang our hearts out to our
appreciative/non-appreciative/stunned/bewildered/amused audience and waved our flags! Yes, New Yorkers and
tourists alike now know that Jose Mourinho is from Portugal and he hates
Arsenal!! Well, don't we all!!!
On the other hand, most of the tourists in the Times Square vicinity saw the
side of the bus that had our sponsors and the Texas Blues banners!! Was this
a bus load of Texas Blues sponsored by a New York pub? Why are they in New
York? Is this a Texas Blues World Tour? What are the Texas Blues?? Who knows
what they were thinking!!! The other side of the bus had the banners of one
sponsor, the New York Blues, the US Blues and one premiership champions flag!
A few of us were also holding/waving Premier League Champions flags!!!
All of a sudden, as the bus was heading south on Broadway, some crazed man
came running after us! Had we enraged a Manc on holiday from Southern
England? No, it was Muraguri who had just finished work!! Of course, we serenaded
him with "One Muraguri...there's only one Muraguri!!!" as he got on the bus.
With the traffic lights in such close proximity to the top of our bus, the
thought had occured to those toward the back of the bus to place a New York
Blues scarf on one of the traffic lights. It was placed perfectly but taken down
due to the fact that the NYPD has cameras in the area that might cause us a
few problems/tickets!
The bus was stopped on Broadway around 44th street so that we could get off
and take some photos. We posed both on top of the bus and off the bus and sang
some songs! Our Jose Mourinho song was made all the more enjoyable as a
couple of Portuguese tourists moved in front of us chanting "Portugal..Portugal!"
Well, this is New York!! Of course, the camera crew wasn't too pleased by
their actions but we were!!!The cameraman headed south half a block from the bus so that he could capture
the view of the bus going past with us going wild! (us..wild?...never!!!)
The shot was taken and the camera crew were very pleased! We then headed down
(south) Seventh Avenue passed Madison Sqaure Garden and the MSG guys left the
bus. Of course, we gave them a nice "MSG..MSG..MSG" chant before they left!
They were extremely happy with all that they had witnessed and filmed!!
While on Seventh Avenue, we were disgusted to see some Arsenal player in his
underwear staring at us!!! Well, former parrot head Freddie Ljungberg wasn't
really there but a billboard with his image in undies (maybe 80 feet in
length) was there and we appropriately serenaded it with "oo are ya" as we passed
that ugly billboard. (Now we know where the New York Gooners hang out when they
are not at Nevada Smith's!!).
We headed east on 14th Street and slowly made our way back to Nevada Smith's.
Some hispanic girl in a car directly in front of the bus was extremely
curious by the noise we were making! She popped her head out of the sun roof
(passenger side!!) to see what was following her!! Should I hold up my Premier
League Champions Chelsea flag as I was now at the front of the bus? No! Not
yet!!! As we passed Fifth Avenue her car moved to the side and stopped! They
absolutely had to see our banners to see who/what we were and what we
represented!!!
We continued east on 14th Street and serenaded the locals buying their fresh
produce at Union Square! It's another very busy area and the traffic was
slow. Just what we needed to continue our songs!!!
Turning south on Third Avenue, we were almost at Nevada Smith's. A couple of
final songs before joining the Irish fans that were still in Nevada Smith's
drinking away almost two hours after their game had ended (our kind of
people!!). A couple of final photos of the banners for the sponsors and we departed
the bus. Thanks go out again to those that took down the banners and helped
clean up. We gave our thanks to our tour guide and driver and headed into
Nevada's for much needed alcohol and completed the day's events with the raffle!!
Thanks to everyone for participating in this unique event. I know words can
drone on and cannot capture the sheer magnitude of the event but I hope this
gives everyone that didn't make the trip an idea of how incredible the day's
events were for us.
A huge "thanks" go out to our sponsors: Nevada Smith's; Independence
Community Bank; Sirius Satellite Radio; New York/New Jersey MetroStars; and DUB Pies.
Thanks, again, to the New York Blues marketing team (Wobbly and Eliot) for
making this event "free" for the club, ultra cheap for the participants, and
televised by MSG via the MetroStars.
