The Final Count

Okay, boys and girls, here it is, the final count for 2018 on how many articles the NY Times ran on soccer, versus the Yankees:

Soccer 392, Yankees 262.

The month-by-month breakdown goes like this, in case someone wants to check my math:

January:     Soccer 15, Yankees 1
February:   Yankees 14, Soccer 12
March:       Yankees 23, Soccer 21
April:         Yankees 32, Soccer 22
May:          Yankees 28, Soccer 17
June:          Soccer 123, Yankees 31
July:           Soccer 62, Yankees 23
August:      Yankees 31, Soccer 18
September: Yankees 32, Soccer 15
October:      Soccer 29, Yankees 21
November:  Soccer 26, Yankees 8
December:  Soccer 32, Yankees 8

In fairness to the Times, you take out the soccer-mad, World Cup months of June and July, and the Yanks actually win this, 208-207.  I imagine the total is much more like that in most years (and no, don't worry, I will not be doing this next year—or ever again).

Also, the Yankees really got whacked in two months they used to dominate, November and December, losing by a combined 58-16.  I put this down to Food Stamps' botched off-season, and draw the same conclusion Duque did about tabloid covers:  the Yankees should not take their dominance of our current sports desert for granted.

Speaking of which, I don't know if anyone else saw the Times' crazy, double-paged spread on pretty much all NY teams, ever, or at least since 1900, and how many championships they've won, playoffs they've been in, etc.

It included some of the Times' usual, whacky decision making.  Neither the Cosmos nor the earlier NASL New York teams were included, for instance, though NYCFC and the Red Bulls were.  Team tennis and the New Jersey General were left out, but the current "Sky Blue F.C" women's soccer team was included—as were the Metropolitan Riveters, a women's hockey team.

Weird, but that's the Times.  What it did show was that, interestingly enough, baseball has always been far and away New York's top sport.  Let's hope that continues—and I don't mean in Flushing.

Happy New Year!