When someone knows they have been beaten, they usually issue a concession speech to the opposition, admitting defeat and congratulating them on their win. And as one of the most outspoken Yankee fans on this campus, I feel like I need to not be a sore loser and do that duty after the American League Championship Series. But this is only directed towards real Red Sox fans, not "Red Sox Nation." Mets fans, Orioles fans and other Yankee haters have begun rooting for the Red Sox but they are not true Red Sox fans. They have not had to suffer their entire baseball lives through zero World Series appearances, and they were not the ones, when the Sox were down 0-3, with away messages that said "I still believe."But to those real Red Sox fans and the 2004 Red Sox, congratulations. Those congratulations need to be extended specifically to David Ortiz who was the first hitter in the Joe Torre era to win a series against the Yankees with his bat.

To those who are not big baseball fans, the order of the universe has been reversed at this point in time. And although it pains me to say, it was because the Red Sox team wanted it more. There was more hunger and more desire, especially in the seventh game when the Yankees really didn't even show up to play. The Red Sox beat the Yankees in a game which started on Mickey Mantle's birthday and ended on Whitey Ford, with Bucky Dent throwing out the first pitch to Yogi Berra, with Joe Torre in the dugout, with Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams in the field, and with all those ghosts in the ballpark. They celebrated on our home field and that sting will never go away.

Oh, sure, there's second guessing. What if there was no rainout, or Mariano Rivera had come in instead of Tom Gordon in Game five, or if Tony Clark's double hadn't gone into the stands, or if Alex Rodriguez hadn't struck out with Miguel Cairo on third and one out, or if the Yankees would have run on Tim Wakefield, or not pitched Kevin Brown or Javier Vazquez in Game seven...but then I start to sound like a whiny loser (reminiscent of Red Sox fans in the past).

Instead, I will concede that my team could not seal the deal; that they were built essentially to win a five game series (you only have to win three games to advance) and got swept in the actual seven game series; that Gordon, Quantrill, and especially Rivera were overworked by a very questionable starting rotation both in the regular season and the playoffs.

So instead of going for the "what ifs" I will adopt the motto of Red Sox and Cubs fans: "Wait 'til next year." I guarantee you this team will look a little bit different and they'll be something bigger to play for: pride.

And one last thing for you giddy members of Red Sox Nation. The curse has to do with the Babe, but has zero to do with the Yankees...save for the fact they have won 26 out of the last 86-for a hefty since the trade. But the drought is not a "can't beat the Yankees" one; it is a World Series one (they've been in the World Series since a bunch of times and lost).

The Yankees won last year's series on a dramatic Aaron Boone home run, but the World Series was lost in part because that euphoric overload which followed meant that the emotions could not be reached as high the next series against Florida.

But nothing will be able to take away from you that amazing comeback in the ALCS. I went to Yankee Stadium to watch Game seven, and the drive back alone the next day was on the level of my drive back alone to Brandeis after I had been dumped freshman year-the "punched in the stomach feeling" would not go away. Much to my chagrin, that series will keep on coming back time and time again in highlights and sports discussions much like Boone's homerun last year. But there's one thing I hold on to-four numbers that you haven't lived down yet: 1-9-1-8. 1918 is still very much alive, good luck in your pursuit to end it.