The 2001 World Series will haunt me forever

I remember it all too well, unfortunately. My remote control was almost in pieces - it rested gently on the floor after I threw it at my wall. I was standing up in the middle of the living room, staring at my tv in disbelief, speechless, watching guys in purple uniforms jump up and down in the middle of the field. Mariano Rivera walked off the mound slowly. Tino Martinez tried to console him. The Yankees looked on from their dugout and no one wanted to leave. Joe Torre still had his poker face on. Derek Jeter sat at the end of the bench, having lost his first World Series after winning his first four. My favorite player of all-time, Paul O'Neill, stood against the railing. He had a glazed over look in his eye. The reality that his career was over was finally setting in. It was supposed to be a four-peat. It was supposed to put the exclamation point on one of the greatest dynasties in modern sports. It was supposed to bring a title back to a wounded city. Alfonso Soriano was supposed to be the hero. His eighth inning home run off Curt Schilling should've been one of the greatest home runs in baseball history. Instead, it's largely forgotten. Rivera had struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth. It was actually going to happen. And then, like a freight train barreling through, the game slipped away in the blink of an eye. I was left with heartbreak. The dynasty was over. A handful of key guys would either go on to other teams, or retire. The team I had grown up watching was beginning to change. I was 12-years-old at the time, and I learned a valuable lesson after game seven. I learned that life wasn't fair. If the Yankees couldn't win that game under the circumstances facing our city, then it just wasn't meant to be, and that sucked. I remember going through in my head all of the "what-if's" from that ninth inning. I hated that strip of dirt from home plate to the mound. I tried to convince myself that it caused Rivera's throw to sail wide-right on Jeter in the ninth. What if Rivera makes that play? The infield wouldn't have come in, and Jeter maybe catches Luis Gonzalez's blooper! I wanted that ninth to be replayed. 99 out of 100 times Rivera shuts the door there. I remember being so pumped up for 2002 because the Diamondbacks were coming to Yankee Stadium for interleague play. I wanted Rivera on the mound in a save situation again against that team but it never happened - Rivera was injured. Even in 2010 when the Yankees returned to Arizona, I got some weird satisfaction from seeing Rivera pitch at Chase Field. I just wanted a do-over so bad. I always think about how different Yankees history would be if they had won in 2001. Who would've caught the final out? What would the ticker-tape parade be like? Every now and then, I see highlights from that game. Although I know how it ends, I always watch and hope that the outcome is different. I think it's safe to say that November 4, 2001 will stay with me forever.