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People say you either love the Yankees or you hate the Yankees.

I say they're wrong. I say you can do both.

I love Fall Classics in Yankee Stadium. I hate having every Fall Classic in Yankee Stadium. I love to watch them play because they're better at the best game in the world than any team we've ever seen. I hate that they're depriving other cities and other fans of the joy of a World Series victory. I love the way they remain committed to winning championships. I hate the way they throw money around. (They're like the guy who walks up to the maitre d' and says, "Reservation for Mr. Franklin?")

I'll never tire of watching Jeter's play in Game 3 of the ALDS. I'm tired of people talking about it. I love the way Torre handles his players. I can't stand the way he curries favor with them by protecting their stats and selecting them to the All-Star team. I love the all-out way Paulie plays. I hate the why-me? way O'Neill reacts to every call against him. I loved Jorge's clutch homer in Game 3 of the ALDS. I hated the way Posada looked at that 3-2 fastball from Isringhausen in Game 2.

I love the Scooter, especially after he took the first ball before Game 5 of the ALDS and threw it backhanded to the catcher as he crossed the first base line. I hate it that the Yankees can't find room for him in the booth. I thrill to Bob Sheppard's voice. I yawn at Eddie Layton's organ-playing. I love that eagle, Challenger, even though he gets more PT than Clay Bellinger. I could do without the plug for his unnatural habitat, Dollywood. I love "YMCA." I detest "Cotton-Eye Joe." I love the camaraderie of the concession line. I hate the food at the end of it.

Most of all, I love the way the Yankees never give up. And most of all, I hate the way some Yankee fans do.

I have to be careful here, for fear of offending the Rooters that Ruth Built, who for all their toughness are very touchy. I have a love/hate thing about Yankee fans, too. They're passionate, knowledgeable, funny, larger-than-life. They're like Lou Ferrigno to the Mets fans' Bill Bixby. They'll give an opponent like Jason Giambi his props. But they'll also assume they can sign him in the offseason. And they'll panic the first time the team loses three in a row.

Monday night, after the 5-3 victory over the A's, they were as full of themselves as ever. Like they knew it all along.

But I was also there last Thursday night, after the A's took a 2-0 lead. I'm not saying all Yankee fans were like this, but most of 'em looked frozen and confused, i.e., like Posada on that 3-2 pitch in the ninth. Murmurers' Row.

Up at the Bronx County Courthouse, I saw the beseeching eyes of all the fat cats, desperately searching for ... yes, their car service rides, but also for answers to questions they're not often faced with. Like, "What am I going to do with the rest of October?" And "What do I say to my neighbor, the Piazza lackey?" And "Should I keep my YNX RUL vanity plates?"

I felt like shaking each and every one of them and saying, "These are the F-in' Yankees! I know they're not going to die this easily, and I don't own one stitch of Yankee apparel. O ye of little faith!"

The next day, back at the office, I had an email exchange with the biggest Yankee fan on the floor, someone whose allegiance to the club is rivaled only by Robert Merrill's and Rudolph Giuliani's. Let's call him Number One, Jonny Pinstripes. Number One.

PINSTRIPES: It was a great run. They will reload and be back again next season.

ME: You're capitulating already? I knew you guys were weenies.

PINSTRIPES: No, just being realistic. Can we sit down on Tuesday and work on headlines for the NBA preview package?

ME: Sure. We can also talk about the Yankees' chances against the Mariners.

PINSTRIPES: From your lips ...

Last night, while walking to the Stadium, I overheard two fans, strangers who use the same parking lot and arrive and leave at the same time.

"Remember when I said after Game 2, 'See you Monday?' "

"Yeah, I thought you were being funny."

"I thought I was, too."

So please, Yankee fans, don't give up again, not even if the Mariners take the first three games, Mo gets bitten by Challenger, and Derek injures himself while climbing the foul pole to snag a Bret Boone homer.

Don't you hate it when the character you thought was dead in the movies suddenly comes to life? And don't you love it?

*Send us your own reasons to both love and hate the Bronx Bombers.

Steve Wulf is executive editor of ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at steve.wulf@espnmag.com.