Somehow I was included in my son Gregg's group of online pals' discussion of sports. They razz each other (good-naturedly - I think) about their school teams and the city teams they root for and against.

Naturally, I had to stick my elderly two cents in. One gentleman, Steve, resides in California and his hometown is Philadelphia. Another fan, Dudley, lives in North Carolina and he roots for the Atlanta Braves. My son is a Mets fan and he likes the St. John Redmen and the New Jersey Nets (he was formerly a Knick protagonist).

This is my opening e-mail foray sent to these guys and typed with one finger.

"I feel sorry for all you Johnny-Come-Lately's. The Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1940s and 1950s through 1957 (when they were highjacked) had 'Charisma.' They had 'Schmaltz.' They tore your heart out year after year and you still loved the Bums.

"In my long sports memory there has never been a team-fan relationship like that one. Ask yourself why Roger Kahn can still write best-sellers about a team that left town 51 years ago. None of you Moderns will ever experience the same feelings, Sorry!

"Signed, Stan, Gil, Jackie, Pee Wee, Roy, Duke, Preacher, Ralph. Carl, Greenberg."

Steve sent back this wonderful reply:

"I must admit, if there was a time and place in sports history I would have liked to experience, it would be the Willie-Mickey-Duke -era in New York City. I get misty-eyed just thinking about it.

"I would have most probably been a Bums fan, suffering every autumn (except 1955), but coming back with added passion every spring. Gregg would have been a Bombers fan (front runner).

"We all could have met at the Gramercy Tavern to drink nickel (5 cents) pints of Guinness."

This was a heartfelt observation from a young man.

My son Gregg chipped in with this thought:

"If you want to know why the Greenbergs are the way they are you must understand that my father Stanley grew up in the Bronx, but was a Brooklyn Dodger fan. Joe DiMaggio and Phil Rizzuto drove him into insanity. I would never root for the Yankees. I would have been a soccer player like my grandfather Abraham. Sanity skipped a generation."

My last lines on the subject to my son:

"No Gregg, my father and grandfather were also sports lunatics. You can be quite sure that sports insanity runs in your family.

"Signed, Stan Marquis de Sade Greenberg"

Conversing with young people is always a pleasure.