The series that made me a Yanks fan...

I always hated the new Yankees. Sure, Mantle, Ruth, Gehrig, Dimag, Berra and the pinstripe mystique was cool, but the new team always beat up on my beloved Braves and just about everyone else. They had it all, the swagger, the uniforms, the looks, the big city, everything, you had to hate them. You HAD to hate them.

But, just like this great documentary demonstrates, certain moments in your life hinge on sports and how they grow larger than the confines of the field. During that month of October I realized that the New York Yankees not only served as a representative for a devastated city I'd barely known, they personified EVERYTHING that makes America great. They were brave on the field, every night they played until the 27th or final out. And if you looked hard enough you'd see even more: They represented winning, excellence, glamour, pride, fun, and heroism--all things American. And they were polarizing, like the country in which they played. Hate them or love them, it mattered not, but you damned sure better respect them because they were the best of the best.

Indeed, it was because of that one month in 2001 that I became a die-hard Yankees fan...because the Yankees really are America's team.