‘We’re gonna cover the spread in the first quarter.’--Pat Blackmore : Giants Arrive; Fans Roar a Big Welcome

If you’re a long-suffering New York Giants fan, these are the best of times. Pat Blackmore and Jim Palmieri met the Super Bowl-bound football team Sunday at Long Beach Airport, drove in a horn-honking caravan to The Westin South Coast Plaza hotel and shouted their joy to each player as they got off the bus.

“It’s been a lot of years in the toilet,” said Palmieri, 32, who grew up in Connecticut and now lives in El Toro. Then, he and fellow Giant booster Blackmore, 37, of Van Nuys, chanted their theme loudly: “The road to Pasadena goes through the Meadowlands (site of Giants Stadium).”

Blackmore, also a Connecticut native who moved to California 11 years ago, leaned past security guards at the Costa Mesa hotel and cried out to his beloved team. “Hey Phil (quarterback Phil Simms), we love you! . . . Eat ‘em up, L.T. (linebacker Lawrence Taylor)! . . . We are going to take John Elway and break his tibia. We’re gonna cover the spread in the first quarter.”

That said, Blackmore invited everyone present to the hotel bar where the drinks would be on him.

The same fanatic behavior was evident in others who greeted the team Sunday. About 400 people were on hand at the airport when the Giants’ United Airlines charter jet touched down shortly before 3 p.m. About 50 die-hard fans trekked to the hotel.

Many fans craned necks to spot their heroes at both places Sunday. At the airport, they had no chance to get close because three buses parked on the tarmac whisked the players away within minutes of their arrival. But as the buses rolled down Lakewood Boulevard and onto the freeway, cars and motorcycles followed, honking horns and flashing “We’re Number One” signs. One woman sat atop the sunroof of a car until it had gotten well onto the freeway.

Paul Mierzwa, 33, of Long Beach, arrived with a baseball signed by all members of the 1986 baseball champion team, the New York Mets. Reaching into his blue duffel bag, Mierzwa extricated a $28 red, white and blue football upon which he hopes to get Giants’ signatures.

A Manhattan native who said he used to watch the Giants when they played in Yankee Stadium, Mierzwa failed to get any autographs in either Long Beach or Costa Mesa. But he remained confident. “If (coach Bill) Parcells is as superstitious as I think he is, he’ll sign the ball. It’s good luck. Anyway, I just quit my job, so I’ve got time to work on it. I’ll get ‘em by hook or by crook,” he vowed.

Like most fans interviewed Sunday, Mierzwa doesn’t have tickets to the game. “Do you know anyone who can sell me a pair?” he asked.

The Giants will play the Denver Broncos next Sunday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The Broncos are scheduled to fly in to Long Beach Airport today and will stay at the Newporter Resort. The New York team will practice at Rams Park in Anaheim, and the Broncos will scrimmage at UC Irvine.

Hotel Sellouts

A survey of some Orange County hotels revealed sellouts for the Super Bowl week. For example, the Meridien Hotel in Newport Beach has booked all 461 rooms for four days beginning Wednesday, most of the reservations made by three large corporations, said on-duty manager Pat Clairmont.

Many fans on hand Sunday said they were willing to shell out a few bucks for tickets to the game. Dave Eggie, 28, of Long Beach, said he hopes to buy some through a friend of one of his charges on the wrestling team at Artesia High School.

“I’ve been rooting for the Giants for 25 years. I figure $500 for a once-in-a-lifetime thing isn’t too much to pay,” he said.

Eggie’s comments were immediately assailed by several friends, all of whom, like Eggie, wore blue Giants shirts and kept up a thunderous “G-I-A-N-T-S, G-I-A-N-T-S” chant at the airport. “Once in a lifetime?” said an incredulous Mal Smee. “They’ll be back again next year!” said the 27-year-old former Flushing, N.Y., resident who now lives in Long Beach. “That shows you he’s not a true fan,” he added.

Family Fanaticism

Fanaticism runs so high in Eggie’s family, he said, that his father and brother didn’t speak to each other for three months after arguing their team’s worth during a playoff loss last year. But for now, all bad blood is forgotten.

“My family lives and dies by the Giants. Mostly dying,” he said, noting the team’s dismal record until the last few years. “Everything’s fine now, of course. There is harmony at home.”