Back-Page Barometer (9/24-10/3)

In which we gauge the popularity of New York’s major league franchises by using the ultimate indicator: appearances on the back page of The Post and The Daily News.

Visit here to see the headlines each day:
www.nydailynews.com/front/covers
www.nypost.com/frontback.html

The regular season is over!!! Let's skip right to the season totals. Take a look at the year that was in the back page:

Season Totals:

(there were 4.2 Yankee covers for every Met cover).

Baseball Covers: 329 (183 positive, 142 negative, 4 neutral)*
News: 160 (86 positive, 72 negative, 2 neutral)
Post: 169 (97 positive, 70 negative, 2 neutral)

Yankee Covers: 262 (147 positive, 115 negative)
News: 128 (69 positive, 59 negative)
Post: 134 (78 positive, 56 negative)

Met Covers: 62 (36 positive, 23 negative, 3 neutral)
News: 31 (17 positive, 12 negative, 2 neutral)
Post: 31 (19 positive, 11 negative, 1 neutral)

*(there have been four baseball covers unrelated to the 2005 Mets or Yankees, and one featuring both equally).

Now, we realize that folks generally gloss over the totals. But, really, take a look. Because ain't no more gonna be added to these totals. We've reached the end of our (regular season) journey together.

YANKS CLINCH: Was there ever any doubt? After their 8-4 win over Boston on October 1, the Yanks clinched the A.L. East.

Obviously, both papers went with purely celebratory covers the next day (front and back). In fact, take a look at the News' front cover the next day, with it's nod to Alfred E. Neuman: "Worried? Us? Never!" Keep in mind that this is the paper that declared "The Sky is Falling" on August 10. The News didn't even let it's Yankee optimism spill into the next day. As Derek Jeter and his bruised knee limp into Anaheim for the playoffs, the News went with the headline "Westward Woe". For crying out loud, guys! No matter what the Yanks detractors might say about them (and we here at GPC generally consider ourselves Yankee detractors), they fought like hell to get to the playoffs. Celebrate them! They are your team!

THE POST UNDERSTANDS: The Yin to the News' Yang, the Post did celebrate the Yanks as they head into the playoffs. Instead of worrying about Jeter's knee, they put a picture of him running hard, with the headline "Away We Go". That's the attitude. Not "Away We Woe", News, "Away We Go!". With both teams' logos worked into the headline, no less. Damn, we went into this season with a News bias, which has slowly been eroded by the Post's relentless dedication to baseball on the back page. Hey, we're lucky the News even went with baseball at all. Reportedly, Larry Brown had a bowel movement yesterday...that's the sort of story those guys can't seem to resist.

METS=M.I.A The Mets ended the season with a formidable streak intact: 27 days without a back cover. As it became clear in early September that they were pretenders and not contenders, they vanished. Ka-poof! Just like that. And we, for one, can't blame the tabs. While it may seem unfair in May and June when the Yanks monopolize the back covers, in September it's justified. The last month of the season is put-up-or-shut-up time, and the Mets had nothing to do but play spoiler (though they did that remarkably well, as any Phillies fan will attest).

We wish we could get into more detail about the last 10 days, and the season as a whole. But Major League Baseball does not rest, so neither shall we.

Back-Page Barometer playoff edition begins October 5, with daily updates on every single postseason back cover. Please check back.