SECTION: SPECIAL; Pg. 12 BLEACHER CREATURE

LENGTH: 602 words

HEADLINE: CREATURES OF HABIT RETURN

BYLINE: BY FILIP BONDY

BODY:
Sooner or later, even in wartime, things get back to normal on the homefront. The Yankees win championships and the Bleacher Creatures are our old, obnoxious selves again.

There's just no way around it here in New York. To paraphrase the lame-duck mayor, you've got to go about living your life and beating the snot out of the opposition. So while it was real nice and touchy-feely being united with the rest of the city for a few, important weeks, it is now time for the Creatures to go about the business of intimidating the A's, laughing mercilessly at the misfortunes of the Mets, taunting the box seaters and just being our old, mischievous selves.

Consider it a public service.

"I'm ready to get loud, get drunk and get another championship," Bald Vinny says. Neither Osama Bin Laden nor Jason Giambi is going to get in his way.

Bald Vinny has dubbed the visiting team (the first of three, in the postseason), "Choke-land," which makes a good deal of sense considering the A's obliging performance in Game 5 last season.

We're supposed to be afraid of a franchise that has spilled green all over its uniforms yet refuses to throw money at its players?

Let this be a warning to the A's: If they pester us too much, we'll make a point of stealing their best players again, the way we did with Roger Maris, Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson.

All the alarmists out there who say the Yanks can't possibly get past both Oakland and Seattle sound a lot like the doomsayers last year.

"I remember we were all fearful going in that we were going to finally be beat," says Mike March, aka Knoblauch, because he looks like Chuck Knoblauch.

"What happened? Yanks win in five versus the A's, six versus the M's and five versus the Mets. Then again, you could say the Mets really weren't a team to be reckoned with. I'm still not happy we didn't sweep them."

Ahh, the Mets. It is hard not to stop in midstream to give them their due. They might have quit in midseason. Instead, they quit with two weeks to go, a delicious torture for misguided followers of the orange-and-blue.

Among the Bronx faithful, there is still some unease about marching into a crowded stadium. March's mom told him not to go. March told her, "Sorry, mom, this is October." That's the sort of people we are. Creatures don't even listen to our moms.

Water Girl Debbie had her misgivings, too. But then thought, "What do we have to look forward to? War? No Yankee baseball? The Yankees are where they are supposed to be, as are the Creatures."

Bald Vinny says there is an upside to the tight security, that the absence of bags in the bleachers means greater leg room, all around. The Creatures, minus their luggage, are back in Section 39, and have been since the Stadium was re-opened for business, post-terrorism.

"I noticed that we are more lighthearted out there," says Jessica Herold, who prefers the name, "Nymphie."

"The Creatures are not at each other's throats or bad mouthing each other behind our backs. There's a feeling of togetherness, hugs spreading like wildfire."

Nymphie is already looking forward to the annual celebratory party at Jeremy's Ale House. We all remember the last one, which took several unfortunate turns for Sheriff Tom Brown, our host.

Sheriff Tom has since cleared his name, and his urinary tract, several times over.

It's time to move on - to ride the right fielders, to heckle the high school bands, to harass anybody who walks into our bleachers wearing a tie or a Met cap.

Win, win and win. Same routine. Just a week later, and a few degrees colder.

E-mail: fjbondy@netscape.net

LOAD-DATE: October 10, 2001