Buy me some peanuts
and crackerjacks

The New York Yankees used to be the team baseball fans loved to hate. Not this year.

First, the devastation of the World Trade Center softened many anti-Yankee hearts hardened by the image of George Steinbrenner's big-paycheck, arrogant team. Then the Yankees transformed themselves into a symbol for America.

New York's back-to-back, extra-inning wins -- after tying the games with 9th-inning rallies -- reflected a resilience, of standing strong to the end. The country, ripped by terrorists and anthrax, seemed to yearn for those wonderful ticker-tape parades New York City showers on its sports heroes. Besides, it was hard to back a team named after rattlesnakes.

But in the end, the Yankees succumbed to the Arizona Diamondbacks, a four-year-old club cobbled together with a lot of aging remnants from other teams.

If nothing else, the World Series gave the nation something to cheer for. If nothing else, baseball brought America together.

--Cynthia Oi

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