The champion New York Liberty celebrated their first-ever WNBA Championship as only the Big Apple could with a ticker tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes in Lower Manhattan on Thursday.
The festivities kicked off just before 10 a.m. with Liberty team members, marching bands and other dignitaries heading north along Broadway from Battery Park to City Hall. Tens of thousands of New Yorkers lined the streets to greet them while the champs were showered from above with a ton of confetti and shredded paper from the nearby office buildings.
Members of the team were split between different floats, each with its own confetti cannon. Jonquel Jones, the WNBA Finals MVP, rode in her own float with family and carried the championship trophy. Breanna Stewart and her family were also on a Puma truck with her “Stew York City” slogan.
“No matter who scored or who shined, we just wanted to get the win,” said Stewart.
The parade also brought out former Liberty members such as Teresa Witherspoon, one of the members of the first-ever Liberty team in 1997.
“It’s just a level of pride, you know, we’re just super proud of what our people have done, our young ladies have done,” she said. “We’re just super excited for what they’ve done. It’s been great. It’s been just amazing.”
City Hall celebration
At the parade’s conclusion, the Liberty were feted with a City Hall celebration. There, fans and lawmakers alike were over the moon to celebrate these hometown heroines.
“I remember just being so excited the first time I saw Teresa Weatherspoon and Rebecca Lobo out on the court. I had my mom take you to an open practice back in 1998 and the last memory I’ll share with you is I begged also for Rebecca Lobo jersey for Christmas that first year, and got one, and I just like, I would not take it off,” said Queens City Council Member Tiffany Cabán, a self proclaimed die-hard Liberty fan. “So this is a very, very cool moment, not just for…
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