Oct. 9, 2002

As long as New York City isn’t the target of another terrorist attack in the coming weeks, the nation will continue to be joyous that the Yankees were eliminated in the first round of the baseball playoffs.

Last year, on the heels of the September 11th attacks, the nation felt compelled to root for the Yankees because the team was loved by so many embattled New Yorkers. Much of last year’s support now seems not only fleeting, but insincere.

“I hated the Yanks – even last year,” said Barry Uwright, a Red Sox season ticket holder. “They can suck it during terrorist attacks, and they can suck it after terrorist attacks.”

Uwright said that he felt uncomfortable expressing his opinions during the Yankees World Series defeat last year because of the mood in the country at that time.

“There was all this crap in the media about how New Yorkers needed something to rally around and that the Yankees were that something. But now that we’re all returned to normalcy, I can publicly hate them without fear of persecution,” Uwright said.

The sentiments are the same from coast to coast as diehard and casual baseball fans alike were overjoyed at the news of another Yankees playoff defeat. Even those that took the Yankees defeat last year very hard are back hating them in full force.

But as strong as the hatred of Yankees is now, if New York is the victim of another terrorist attack, people would root for the Bronx Bombers again.

“Oh, of course,” said Mikael Mitchell, a lifelong Philadelphia Phillies fan. “The New Yorkers would need that support. They can’t be expected to overcome tragedy without everyone pulling for their favorite baseball team.”