MUDVILLE-what a sad state it was in. Casey, the town's great baseball hero, had swung beautifully and mightily at the final pitch, only to have the ball disappear into the soft folds of the waiting catcher's mitt. Game over The agony of defeat cuts so deep.

In his immortal poem, "Casey at the Bat," Ernest Thayer pulled the proverbial rug out from beneath our feet. Just when it seemed certain Casey would win it all, all is lost. But Thayer once said, "hope springs eternal within the human breast." Perhaps there can be another day, perhaps there can be another game, and perhaps there may...