Ticker-tape parades usually bring out feelings of pride and joy, but in terms of New York togetherness, Tuesday's Manhattan event was extra special for one local Giants fan.
"Everybody was so happy, it was a beautiful thing," said Ed Kolderman from East Northport who left his job on Park Avenue at about 9 a.m. Tuesday, just as an estimated 1 million people began to gather for the 11 a.m. parade in lower Manhattan.
"The next thing I know, I'm looking around and I see all the blue and I said to myself, hey, that answers that question," said Kolderman, at the on Main Street in Huntington Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, Kolderman said as he headed up 59th Street in Manhattan he got caught up in the emotion of the festivities which rivaled the togetherness and camaraderie New Yorkers felt after 9/11.
"It was great, a positive experience," said Kolderman, with a Long Island accent. "Everybody coming together and everybody trying to help everybody out. You just felt a very positive vibe. Nobody was trying to do anything to aggravate each other."
Beginning at Battery Park and Washington Place, the parade moved through the Canyon of Heroes to Worth Street before ending at City Hall with a presentation of the key to the city by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"When you talk about the economy and everything else, here, you've got something to cheer about," said Kolderman, a converted Jets fan who was talked into rooting for the Giants years ago by a friend — a Giants fanatic who once broke his wrists on a table when a game didn't go the way he wanted.
Enjoying his lunch at counter while watching and the second half of the parade on TV, Kolderman said he enjoyed the Super Bowl and commended the New England Patriots for playing a good game.
"They have nothing to be ashamed of. I basically looked at it this way: Who got lucky?" said Kolderman, who admitted remaining calm throughout close games.
"I didn't break my hands," he said. "I'll let him do the breaking of the wrists."
