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The year was 1995.  I was 12-years old.  And I fell in love for the first time.

Hard. 

And anybody who was living in Seattle in the time can tell you who I fell for, because 1995 is perhaps the fondest year remembered in the modern Seattle era. 

The Seattle Mariners were going to the playoffs for the first time and it wasn't easy.  They came back from a 13-game, mid-August deficit (many of those wins coming through late-inning heroics) to force a 1-game playoff with the California Angels.

They were facing Mark Langston, the ace that they traded away to acquire Randy Johnson.

They won.

Then in the ALDS they faced the winningest franchise in the history of popular American sports, the New York Yankees, a team that had not made the playoffs since 1981. 

They were down two games to none before forcing a game five and finding themselves down 5-4 in the bottom of the eleventh.

They won.

Though it seemed to be a season of destiny, the Mariners would lose in the ALCS to the Cleveland Indians.  Realistically, the closest they've ever come to making the World Series. 

But Mariner fans don't look back on that season with disgust.  Just mention "Edgar double down the left field line" and a true Mariners fan will get tingles down his or her spine.

Say "Joey Cora" and an M's fan might shed a tear.  The city of Seattle embodied the motto of '95, "Refuse to Lose."  It's what we lived for.  These were our boys, these were our players, and we'd jump into the fire for them because that's what they did for us.

Some cities seem to fight against their players, we fought with ours.  And even in defeat, we cheered for how far we had come.

This is why I LOVE the Seattle Mariners.  And it's also why I HATE the New York Yankees.

As a 12-year-old, I didn't know how great of a victory it was to beat the Yankees and how sweet it was to take it in such dramatic fashion.  When I think back on it now, I'm so happy that they could taste the ALCS after two games and again after the top of the 11th inning of game 5, only to have it all come crashing down.

It's how I want the Yankees to lose every year. 

I knew I disliked them after '95.  And I just plain grew tired of them after their fourth championship in five years in 2000 (some people call it the Subway Series.  I call it the Who Gives a S#@% Series").

But I didn't hate them.  What could I do?  They built their team up and had scrappy players in a perfect evolution of teamwork. 

They were also littered with some former Mariners that I couldn't help but love.  Tino Martinez, Jeff Nelson, and Luis Sojo.  These guys weren't legends, they were just good, old-fashioned baseball players.

They didn't have $100 million contracts, they just loved to play the game.

By the turn of the century, that had started to change.  The Yankees were ready and willing to start throwing their money around again.

After their final world championship, the Yankees signed Derek Jeter to a 10-year, $189 million contract and also signed free agent ace Mike Mussina to a six-year, $88.5 million deal. 

Nothing outrageous.  They wanted to hang onto their captain and the icon of the team and were willing to pay him a lot of money.  They also decided to add a very good top of the rotation starter.  I can't blame them for that. 

While the 2001 season was very painful for Mariners fans, having watched our team be one of the most dominant regular season team of all-time before falling in the ALCS to the hated Yankees, I still take solace in the fact that it most likely was the hardest series loss in the history of that franchise.

The Yankees led the series three games to two before a rare Mariano Rivera blown save in game seven sealed the series for the Arizona Diamondbacks

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