DENVILLE - Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui got the loudest cheers from the fans, but Denville's Connor Walsh, a 10-year-old fifth grade student at Lakeview School who attended the Yankee World Series Celebration Parade in New York City on Friday, Nov. 6., saved his loudest cheer for Jorge Posada.
    Catchers have to stick together, you know.
    Connor Walsh, his 7-year-old sister Katelyn, and their mom and dad - Kristen and Mike - went into the city with Denville resident Rich Campenella and his 10-year-old son Trevor and Boonton Township's Vicky McNeila and her two kids, Kelly and Joe, to watch the Yankees parade down Broadway in celebration of the Yankee franchise's 27th World Series championship won earlier that week.
    Needless to say, a good time was had by all.
    The group took the train into Hoboken and the ferry to Manhattan where they walked until they got a block away from Broadway's "Canyon of Heroes." Fans who had arrived earlier had been allowed to stand along the parade route but when that area became crowded, barricades were set up where the late comers had to set up to watch the parade.
    "It was cold, and the girls decided to get some window seats at a nearby Burger King and watch the parade from there," says Mike Walsh, 37, a Yankee fan in the Reggie Jackson-Thurman Munson days. "And then a fire truck came along and had to get through the barricades and Rich and the boys somehow got pushed through the opening and ended up getting closer to the parade route ... I wasn't so lucky.
    "I ended up having a front-row seat, too - but it was a block away."
    Connor and his pals quickly found a wall upon which they could stand and had a good view of the players as they came past them.
    "It was very loud and there you couldn't believe all the papers and stuff flying down from the buildings," Connor was saying over the phone from his home days after the parade. "We were in a real good area and saw just about all the players and everything."
    Connor is also a Yankee fan, "... just like my dad," because "... they always seems do to well ... I like Posada the best because I'm a catcher, too. And I liked Joe Torre when he was there.
    "But seeing all these players up close like that was the best ... I like watching them on TV but seeing them in real life was special."
    Connor played Little League baseball in Denville and was an All-Star in the Denville Little League where he played on the Rotary's major-league team last summer. He also caught for the Denville Bruins Cerbo League team and for he Denville Devils travel team. He did some pitching and played first base and the outfield, but he likes catching the best.

    "It was nice," said Katelyn, who plays soccer for the Thunder 9U travel team. "It was fun watching the parade from the window."
    After the parade was almost finished, the fathers took the boys to meet with the girls at the Burger King and they watched the last few floats of the parade go past from that vantage point.
    One double bacon cheeseburger with fries and a Coke later, Connor Walsh and his family and friends headed back to Jersey.
     One group of tired - but very happy - Yankee fans.