David Tyree's fame is catching

BY BARBARA BARKER | barbara.barker@newsday.com

February 5, 2008

It had been less than 24 hours since the catch, less than a day since David Tyree went from a little-known special-teams player to a name on the lips of nearly every household in the New York metropolitan area.

Still, that seemed to be enough time for the Giants receiver to adjust to his newfound status. Tyree emerged from the team bus last night at Giants Stadium looking every bit the star, wearing a pink tie and designer sunglasses, even though it was well past sunset.

Then he was mobbed by at least two dozen reporters and camera operators, all of whom wanted to know how he managed to make the circus catch with a minute left that was the pivotal play in the Giants' 17-14 upset of the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

"I didn't realize the magnitude of it until I saw it on TV myself," said Tyree, who pinned the ball to his helmet with his right hand. "Once I had the ball, I was holding on for dear life. It was the closest thing to me other than my family and my children."

Tyree grew up in the shadow of Giants Stadium, playing high school ball in Montclair, N.J., which is just down Route 3 from the Meadowlands. He came out of virtually nowhere - entering Sunday's game, he had made only five catches all season - to stun the Patriots.

Tyree finished the Super Bowl with three catches for 43 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown pass. But it was his third-down reception during the winning drive - after Eli Manning somehow freed himself from the grasp of two Patriots, scrambled to his right and flung the ball 32 yards - that his teammates can't stop talking about.

"I don't know how he caught that thing," receiver Amani Toomer said. "He had it in his hands, off his helmet. It was unbelievable. But that kind of play is why we won. Their defender was right in the path and could have knocked the ball away easily, but we just wanted it more."

Said wide receiver Steve Smith: "It was like he had an angel on his shoulder."

Tyree thinks so, too. He knows no one would have been happier to see him wear a Super Bowl ring than his mother, Thelma, who died of a heart attack Dec. 15 at the age of 59. Tyree missed two games, against Washington and Buffalo, after her death, returning for the regular-season finale against the Patriots.

"I can just look up there and know that she's up there dancing and rejoicing and having a good time in heaven," he said.

Back down in the Giants' parking lot, there were maybe a hundred fans dancing and rejoicing as the players picked up their cars and drove out of the parking lot. Today is their big celebration parade in Manhattan, and as he left for home, Tyree said he had a few more moves to work on.

Said Tyree: "I'm going to get my nice little beauty pageant wave, my presidential wave going."