REACTION IN NEW YORK AND BUFFALO : Celebration Is Tempered by the Reality of War

New York celebrated and New York cried Sunday night as this divergence in emotion was geographically placed.

Predictably, those in the city of New York and across the Hudson River in northern New Jersey celebrated with the fervor of victors. In Upstate New York, the people of Buffalo kept their hopes strong until the final seconds when Buffalo fell a point short of the New York Giants, 20-19.

But the celebration and sorrow, like the mood of the country, was tempered by the thought that the United States is involved in a war in the Persian Gulf.

Kennard Singleton of Jersey City, one of 1,500 guests in the Pegasus Room at the Meadowlands race track in East Rutherford, N.J., was watching a television showing Cable News Network’s war coverage, even as the room erupted over the Giants’ victory.

“When it’s all over, you have to realize they’re still over there fighting,” Singleton said. “You can never forget about it.”

Leo Harkins, a World War II veteran from New Brunswick, N.J., insisted the game had to go on for the soldiers in the Middle East.

“We’re worried about the soldiers, and they’re worried about the game,” Harkins said.

Arnold Miller, an Army reservist from East Orange, waved his flag at the screens to cheer on the Giants.

“That’s a war going on right now,” Miller said. “Buffalo is Iraq, and the Giants are America.”

But fellow reservist David Roach of Jersey City saw things differently, being one of the few Buffalo fans present.

“Buffalo is like America, who is going to win the war,” he said.

Such talk drew a sharp reproach from reservist Connie Davidson, who was sitting with four other reservists from the Philadelphia-based Fleet Hospital No. 20.

“War is not a football game,” Davidson said.

Davidson, a nurse from Kansas City, Kan., said it was nice to enjoy an all-American event just days before leaving for Saudi Arabia.

“It makes me feel good,” she said. “We needed a good diversion like this to appreciate what this country is all about.”

The Meadowlands event was partially organized by New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio, who is reported to have traded a seat at the 50-yard line in Tampa, to spend the day with reservists, veterans and relatives of troops in the Persian Gulf.

Sporting a Giants sweater in a room dotted with American flags, Florio said the gathering at the Meadowlands was as much about rooting for the so-called “New Jersey Giants” as it was about comforting each other in times of war.

People in Buffalo lingered at bars and on sidewalks wishing the season hadn’t ended with a missed field goal. They tried to rationalize the moment by talking about what an exciting game was played.

“How ‘bout them Bills!” a woman screamed from a car on Buffalo’s Elmwood Avenue minutes after the game ended.

“It was a great game,” said Frank Tobin, an engineer who watched the game with friends Scott Lang and Ronnie Bench at a bar called Toons. “There hasn’t been a Super Bowl like this in years.”

“Ever,” Lang said.

At some bars, the game got underway on a patriotic note. Fans at the Great American sports bar in suburban Cheektowaga chanted “USA USA” as Whitney Houston sang the national anthem and again when ABC-TV broke in at the end of the first quarter to give a Persian Gulf update.

But the fans soon began concentrating on the game, riding an emotional roller coaster as Buffalo fell behind 3-0, then took a 12-10 lead at halftime only to see the Giants come back to make it 17-12.

The cheers were raucous when Buffalo went ahead 19-17 on a Thurman Thomas touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter.

“We’re winning the . . . Super Bowl,” Bench screamed.

“It didn’t look like we were going to do it,” Tobin said.

The Giants took a lead on a late field goal, but the crowd cheered again when the Bills pulled within field goal range with eight seconds left.

“That’s a field goal! That’s a field goal!” Tobin said.

“Please . . . please . . . please . . . “ Bench said.

There was silence as Scott Norwood’s kick sailed wide of the goal posts.

“That wasn’t even close,” Tobin said.

And a minute later, “Guess I’m going to work tomorrow.”

But the fans said they were proud of the Bills’ effort.

“They’re still our team,” Lang said.

“They’re still our team, but they broke my heart,” Bench answered.

“Gave it the best,” Hogan said. “Nothing more you could do. It was exciting, wasn’t it?”