They're like a different team to me.

In his Oct. 15 column, New York Times sportswriter Robert Lipsyte called the Yankees the "Harvard" of baseball. Although in some ways a flattering comparison, I'm not sure when Harvard became synonymous with winning.

Instead, I would argue that the 2000 New York Yankees is the Microsoft of Major League Baseball. They have created two of the most hated dynasties in the last decade. We moan that they are the manifestations of individual power-trips, that they squash the dreams of lesser-beings.

However, when push comes to shove, we all agree that they're both the best out there.

So be it. But I will not make any more false promises to myself--I won't pretend that I am still the fan I was in the early 1990's, during the honeymoon of my fan-ship.

What it all boils down to is that, in a strange way, we fans want our teams to lose, to disappoint us sometimes.

So Yankees, we're through. And I forgot: there's someone else in my life.

In many ways, the Stanley Cup-hoisting New Jersey Devils is the kind of organization that fans like me dream about.