I love how the Yankees always keep their cool under pressure. I hate how Steinbrenner doesn't.

I love the braintrust of Torre, Zimmer and Stottlemyre. I hate how it takes three hours to get on the Deegan expressway after a game.

I love how the Yankees come through each and every year. I hate how some fans lose faith when the going gets tough. They have to remember these aren't the Knicks.
-- Mike Jones, Lake George, N.Y.

I love the way Andy Pettitte stares down a batter with the brim of his hat shrouding his hawk-like eyes, and then uses the best pick-off move in baseball to the sheer embarrassment of the runner on first.

I hate how Roger Clemens drilled Mike Piazza in the head and then did not apologize afterwards.
-- J.D. Knudson, Council Bluffs, Iowa

Hate 'em: They sleep during the season, and wake up only for the playoffs; they make the easiest plays look hard, and the hardest plays look easy; they've kicked my boys (the A's) out of the playoffs two years in a row; they're just too freakin' good.

Love 'em: They epitomize what baseball is all about.
-- Anna K., Stockton, Calif.

I love the Yankees because of their amazing history. Being a baseball history fan, I both love and respect the franchise, and its continual striving to continue what has been a rich tradition.

I hate the Yankees because of the amount of Yankee gear that is worn in our society, quite a bit of which is worn by people that could not identify Ramiro Mendoza or even Tino Martinez.
-- Jason Lance, Tempe, Ariz.

I hate that my wife thinks Derek Jeter is the coolest guy in the world.

I loved his bottom-of-the-9th homer to win the game I was at recently.
-- David Fee

I hate the Yankees because they have so much money that they can go out and buy a key player every year, and can maintain more talent than other teams.

I love them because (with the exception of Clemens) the players have class, and play the game the way it's supposed to be played: waiting deep into counts, intelligent base running, moving runners along, and as Jeter shows, being in the right place at the right time. They beat everyone because they play better as a team.
-- Phil Tannenbaum, San Diego

Why I love them: Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Don Mattingly, Derek Jeter, Phil Rizzuto, Bob Shepard, Yankee Stadium.

Why I hate them: George Steinbrenner, Ed Whitson, the Jay Buhner-for-Ken Phelps trade, firing Billy Martin all those times.
-- Chris Boyle, Toronto

I love the Yankees because they play every October.

I hate the Yankees because they play every October and their games take so long that I walk around in a sleep-deprived stupor all month.
-- Martin Morrell, Newark, Del.

I love the way they play. Small ball is the reason they win over and over again. Home-run hitters (the A's) don't win championships. I also love watching their ridiculously miraculous comebacks.

I hate them because watching the playoffs and World Series is like watching reruns of a show I don't like.
-- Rick, Las Vegas

I love the Yankees because they are the team my father raised me on.

I hate the Yankees because they attract so many fickle fans, I feel I have to recite my family history to everyone I meet to prove that I'm not a fair-weather, bandwagon fan.
-- Matthew Grieco, Bradenton, Fla.

I love the Yankees because they're from New York.

I hate the Yankees because they're from New York.
-- Dozzia S. Mantock, New York City