Joseph Reina Jr.

The Thrill and the Agony

His teams gave him unending joy and unending heartbreak. He rooted for the Yankees and the Jets.

With the Yankees, of course, Joseph Reina Jr. had an abundance of warm memories, a few of them interlaced with his marriage. He was married on the day of Game 1 of the 1999 World Series, and so a friend took a small TV to the reception so Mr. Reina could check the progress. His wife, Lisa, did not mind, though if he had tried to go to the game, that would have been it.

The Jets were a different story. Mr. Reina watched their games, too, but more often than not found himself cursing at the team. Mr. Reina, 32, a manager of operations for Cantor Fitzgerald, lived with his wife in Staten Island, along with his collection of eagle statues and pictures. Their first child, Joseph Robert, was born in October.

One of the bonds between the Reinas was their dual worship of the sun. Mr. Reina adored vacations, and they had to be somewhere hot. "He was the first guy I'd met who liked to take the sun as much as I did," Mrs. Reina said.

Mrs. Reina believes that the Yankees could not quite win that final World Series game this year because her husband, and his Cantor friends who worshiped the team, were not there. But she has some little Yankees outfits for her son, whom she intends to raise as a loyal fan.