THE YANKEES HAVE THEIR PARADE IN THE CANYON OF HEROES!

The chant echoed through the Canyon of Heroes even before the parade began Friday morning: "Twenty-seven! Twenty-seven!"
It only got louder from there.

The New York Yankees celebrated their 27th World Championship in pinstriped style, returning to lower Manhattan for a raucous lovefest with fans who waited nine years for this moment.

"I didn't even go to sleep last night because I was so excited," said Chris Mortenson, 20, of Edison, N.J. "Just to be around all these Yankees fans ... It's a great day."

Mortenson used those hours where he should have been sleeping to paint pinstripes on his face and an "NY" logo on his forehead.

Wild cheers greeted World Series MVP Hideki Matsui, who was beaming as he arrived at the start of the parade route.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," the Japanese slugger said to fans - and he didn't need an interpreter.

Yankees Hall of Famer Yogi Berra joined in the festivities, riding in a convertible as ticker tape swirled down from the buildings above Broadway.

And Mayor Bloomberg rode on a float carrying the World Championship trophy.

Fans began arriving hours before the 11 a.m. start of the parade on a brisk but sunny morning. Some had come before, when the Yankees were winning almost annually in the late '90s.

For others, this was their first chance to celebrate.

"The last time they won I wasn't old enough to grasp the magnitude of it all," said Jonathon Rivera, 22, who came down from Rockland County.

"But now I do and I want to cherish it," he said. "I love these guys."

Eddie Sanchez, 24, left his home in upstate Rockland County at 6 a.m. with his pal Rivera to get a good spot.

"This is the pinnacle of being a New Yorker," he said. "I'd stand out here all day just to catch a glimpse of A-Rod and Jeter."

The last Yankees' parade came after their 2000 victory over the Mets in the Subway Series.