A football fan reacts to last night's Super Bowl:

For one night, hardened New Yorkers acted like shameless tourists in Times Square, begging one another to take their pictures in the middle of a moment that felt a long time in coming.

"It's all about the Giants winning," said Greg Packer, 44, a retired highway maintenance worker. "I'm as proud as I was in the Yankees dynasty years."

Quite the opposite reaction, after a bitter defeat by the Yankees' cross-town rivals in 2006:

For most of the drizzly night, the Mets gave its towel-waving fans plenty to cheer about, including an acrobatic home run-robbing catch by left fielder Endy Chavez.

Through it all, Cardinals fan Andy Cohen cheered the St. Louis highlights, quietly.

"I am very excited, but I am trying to be very quiet about it," said Cohen, a Clayton High School graduate who lives in New York and attended the game with comic Jerry Seinfeld.

"There's another Cardinal fan over there, and I am BlackBerrying people in St. Louis."

Greg Packer of Huntington, N.Y., stepped forward to offer grudging congratulations after the Cardinals took the lead late in the game.

"It looks like you guys are going there," Packer said. "I just can't believe what I saw. … Heartbreaking for us."

Earlier that year, though, things were much cheerier for the fan of the Giants, Yankees and Mets:

Greg Packer, 42, a lifelong Steelers fan from Huntington, N.Y., wanted to see it in person after failing to bag a ticket to the Super Bowl.

"I couldn't get into the game, so I decided to make a detour to Pittsburgh to root for the team here at the rally," said Packer, who staked out a front-row spot near the stage at 5 a.m. "There was no way I was not going to be up close for this. It's fantastic."

So who is Greg Packer? Why, he's a Jets fan:

No. 1 in line is Greg Packer, a 43-year-old "retired highway-maintenance worker." He's been here since 5 a.m. Monday, 110 hours before the iPhone goes on sale. No one else showed up until midway through the afternoon.

(snip)

At the moment, he's shirtless, to display his round and hairy belly for morning TV. Littered around him are the provisions for his five-day techno-vigil: two camp chairs, a small New York Jets bag of clothes, an umbrella, an entire box of Kettle gourmet potato chips, and a large bag of Flava Puff Cheese Balls.