BOSTON — Giddy fans of the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots chanted “Brady! Brady!” and leaned on massive snowbanks for better views as players danced and waved their way through Boston in a Wednesday parade celebrating their fourth NFL title.
Well-wishers pumped their fists and screamed from behind barriers as the team rolled through downtown aboard the World War II-style amphibious “duck boat” vehicles that have become a staple of the city’s championship parades.
Some fans peered from behind giant piles of snow left from last week’s blizzard, straining to get a glimpse of quarterback Tom Brady, coach Bill Belichick and other players as a truck blew plumes of confetti into the air.
The crowd roared as Belichick and his players snapped selfies and took turns waving the Lombardi trophy as the convoy rolled down Boylston Street and past the finish line of the Boston Marathon, where two bombs killed three people and wounded more than 260 others in 2013. Dozens of police officers walked alongside to secure the team.
Fans sported No. 12 Brady jerseys, shouted the MVP’s name and held “We are the CHAMPIONS” placards. One had a sign that read: “Belichick for President.”
A beaming Brady held his young son, Benjamin, who grinned and waved to the crowd.
PHOTOS: Patriots draw wild cheers from giddy fans at Boston parade
Sunday’s 28-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks was New England’s fourth championship and their first in a decade, and that brought exuberant fans out into the winter chill.
“I’m freezing but it’s been great. It’s exciting,” said Annie Cushing, of Quincy, wearing a Rob Gronkowski jersey and a homemade Lombardi trophy hat made of tin foil and tape.
By the granary burial ground where famous Bostonians are buried, a boy held high a sign on a wooden picket saying: “13 years old, nine championships,” a nod to the city’s other successful sports franchises.
A few parade watchers furtively sipped from small bottles of booze to keep warm, while others stood on snowbanks piled along mostly cleared sidewalks.
Carl Estrelle of Cambridge wore a white T-shirt saying “deflate this” — a reference to allegations that the Patriots used underinflated footballs in their AFC championship win against the Indianapolis Colts. But he made his loyalties clear.
“That was the best championship,” he said. “They deserved to win. They did their job.”
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