Victory parade from the fans' perspective

Putting aside his reporter hat in favor of being a dad for the day, Tyler Kepner of the New York Times took his 7-year-old son to Friday's victory parade and mixed with the throng of celebrating Yankee fans.

The result was that Kepner had a great day with his son. And, maybe because I am dad with three kids much too old to sit on my shoulders at a parade, he turned in my favorite parade story of the day.

Here is a snippet.

We were not really sure where to go. I had never been to a parade for a sports team, and I have also never lived in the five boroughs. I am basically a Mike Mussina-style New Yorker — I live in the suburbs and know the route to and from Yankee Stadium.

Anyway, I think we got off at Cortlandt Street. Wherever we were, there were so many people standing just outside the station exit that down below, we could not move at all. Eventually we found another exit and wedged onto Maiden Lane. Needless to say, we were a little late.

Teenage revelers stomped and hollered from atop a sanitation truck. There were horns blaring and beach balls bouncing and paper fluttering everywhere. We bought a pennant on a stick for $5. Floats and buses went by, and we couldn’t make out anybody, really. I think I noticed some front-office people.

Then, I’m pretty sure, I saw (Dave) Robertson. I shouted this to Michael, up on my shoulders, and my tip spread virally through the fans. "Dave Robertson!" someone said. "That’s Dave Robertson!" And in a few seconds his float had moved on.

I know I saw C. C. Sabathia holding up an index finger. And Michael saw Jorge Posada. Neither of us laid eyes on Nick Swisher, who, judging from the swooning girls and whooping guys, is apparently some kind of rock star.

Michael sort of expected to be closer to the action. He was a little bored, he admitted, and his feet fell asleep a few times. But he never complained; skipping school is always fun, and we found a subway back uptown, grabbed some slices of pizza and saw Derek Jeter get the key to the city on the big screen in Times Square.

We stopped in at the arcade on the top floor of the ESPN Zone, and Michael pitched to a virtual Jeter at a booth. Jay-Z was performing at City Hall by then, as we could see from dozens of TV screens. The arcade was his favorite part of the day.