NEW YORK, NY October 24, 2000 — It was 49 degrees at Yankee Stadium Sunday night. And weather forecasters were predicting dropping temperatures as the night, and the game, wore on?as it certainly would. Baseball games, on average, are a half-hour longer than they used to be about 20 years ago. Televised prime time ball games, with eight o'clock start times, often eat into the eleven o'clock news. But Bernie and Crystal McNulty, and their two 10 year old boys, Anthony and Nicholas, dressed warmly and turned a blind eye toward Monday morning.

Bernie McNulty: "Oh, it was going to be a great night, and we couldn't make it last night, and the kids are going to be a little tired tomorrow."Crystal McNulty: "They're young."Amy: "They'll bounce back. How about you guys?"Crystal: "No, we won't bounce back."Amy: "Are you going to work tomorrow?"Bernie: "I gotta be at work at three in the morning."Amy: "How are you working it out in school and doing homework and stuff?"Anthony: "Um, don't know. Trying to fall asleep in math class."

Some kids don't even make it that far, as Matt Turk and his two daughters, ages 9 and 6, can attest.

Matt Turk: "Well, they fell asleep last night, so we fully expect them to fall asleep tonight as well. So they didn't make the end, but it was two o'clock in the morning."

That was during Game One, the longest World Series game ever. Even so, Mr. Turk and his girls are back again tonight.

Matt Turk: "This is a once in a lifetime chance for them, to experience the spirit of Yankee Stadium and the Subway Series, so we?wanna come out and see it."Amy: "You gonna be a little tired at school?"Jaqueline Turk: "Yeah, but?I'm used to it."

Being "used to it" may mean, for nine-year-old Jaqueline, having experienced one sleepy, post-game morning after. For many older students, late nights are a given, not a novelty. At Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights, an art class of eighth graders say they routinely stayed up past eleven o'clock?even without the lure of a subway series game.

Seth: "Well, I usually finish my homework very late, around eleven, because I start late. And basically I spend from eleven to twelve lying in bed watching TV."Hilary: "I usually go to bed very late at around 2:30 or three. I'm a coffee addict, and, usually what happens is, if I don't get my homework done before the TV shows that I wanna watch?.it's very late, and I have to finish all the homework that I haven't done and take a shower and prepare for tomorrow."William: "My mom told me to go to sleep at eleven, so I did go to bed, but I have a walkman with me, so?.I was actually listening in my sleep, so?."

Mark Rosenblum, a seventh and eighth grade French teacher at Packer, says he's noticed a change over the years in young people's sleeping habits.

Mark Rosenblum: "I absolutely do think they're staying up later. And I don't think, as an eductor, that that's a good thing. I think they need to go to bed. You know. Yeah, so, it's a problem?and the games don't help."

In this New York versus New York World Series, sleepless nights and team loyalty aren't the only elements that are putting stress on family ties this October.

Peter Lanaro, Jr.: "My mom said I didn't have to go to school."

That's 10 year old Peter Lanaro, from upstate New York.

Amy: Is this true, mom?"Jean Turko: "No, he's going to school. This is my son. This is?my boyfriend's son."

That's Jean Turko, who's son, James, will be trudging off to school in the morning?hopefully, along with Peter. That's if Peter's dad doesn't intervene.

Peter Lanaro Sr: "Thankfully, I have tomorrow off. But that doesn't mean they have tomorrow off. (a squeal from Peter Jr.) We'll see how the game goes, and if you guys have to go to school tomorrow, that's just the way it is."Jean: "Oh, they're going to school!"James: "Aw, Mom!"Jean: "If I have to go to school, they're going."Peter: "I'm not going!Jean: "We'll see."

Most kids around New York appeared to have shown up for class. There were no dramatic drop in school attendance at the Board of Education, or at several private schools around the city on Monday. Several teachers did notice students dozing off in class, or looking bleary-eyed, or handing in substandard homework, though. And one boy at Packer got reprimanded for disrupting class with nonstop talk about the Mets. For WNYC, I'm Amy Eddings.