Paul Katcher

No team in American sports is paid attention to like the New York Yankees, and it's not even close.

I read and hear stuff like, "It can't be any fun to be a Yankees fan, because they always win." That's usually followed up with a rag about how they haven't been winning, at least in terms of World Series titles since 2000, when they polished off a run of four in five years.

Yeah, sucks to be us! But you know why it's fun? Because everyone cares.

The AL-record 4,090,440 fans who showed up at Yankee Stadium this year, at an average of 50,499 per game, cared. The ML-leading 81.9%-full road stadiums when the Yanks came to town cared. There's nothing in sports like it.

Notre Dame has a similar caché in college football, but that sport doesn't grip the nation like Major League Baseball, which set another attendance record this season. Most people who admit to hating the Irish probably can't name more than three current players. Hell, no more than the coach, probably. However, most people who hate the Yankees can probably name at least five of the 10 players making at least $10 million this season.

The Los Angeles Lakers? The Dallas Cowboys? You can combine the nationwide press those high-profile franchises get, and it would total a fraction of the columns written about the Yankees.

If you're a Yankees fan, you're part of sports royalty. The pinnacle of American sports. There's no one within even a whisker of challenging that perch atop America's sports consciousness. That's why it's fun.

Now, let's get to some quick-hits:

THE YANKEES-RED SUX FINAL THREE-GAME SERIES

• I almost previewed this series with the headline Armageddon Part III (Probably of IV), because you had to figure a third straight seven-game ALCS was in the cards to torment those who dinn't already love five years off their lives from the previous two.

• Cleveland's run of losses, all at home against a team with nothing to play for, including that Friday night game in which I think Chicago's starting outfield consisted of S.D. Jones, Frankie Williams and the Brooklyn Brawler? Biggest choke ever, right?

• With the exception of booze-hound Chris House, admirably admonished by Sux fans, the 19 games these teams played really focused on baseball. Of course, winning was paramount with neither exactly coasting. And how 'bout playing a final series in which both were pretty happy with the outcome?

• If the Yanks and Sux fans could ever agree on anything, it's this: What in god's name was FOX doing splitting the screen Saturday to show our game and the Cleveland-Chicago game and, worse, giving us the audio to that suck-fest?

• Walk David Ortiz like the NL does Barry Bonds? Are you nuts? Let me know the next time Bonds has a guy like Manny Ramirez hitting behind him, and we'll see how many times he walks.

• The shirts say AL EAST CHAMPS. We're AL East champs. Period. What, you wanna play a tie-breaker, fuck up both teams' rotations and not give anyone a day's rest? Yeah, that makes sense. We're both going on the road anyway, and we deserve to finish is first place, because we're the Yankees (see above).

THE AL MVP RACE

• Alex Rodriguez is the most talented Yankee since Mickey Mantle. His batting prowess is well-documented, but his awareness and smarts in the field and on the bases is something to behold, and I have no idea whether David Ortiz can match those skills. But I have a hunch.

• When scoring a TD in the fourth quarter or a goal in the third period counts more than the same early in the game, then I'll give Ortiz a huge advantage over A-Rod at the plate, which included these finishes in the American League: First in home runs (48) runs (124), slugging (.610), OPS (1.031), second in batting (.318), on-base percentage (.421) third in walks (91), fourth in RBIs (130) and ninth in stolen bases (21).

• Your American League MVP: Alex Rodriguez of the 2005 AL East champion New York Yankees.

THE 2005 NEW YORK YANKEES SEASON

• Everyone who said they knew A-Rod couldn't succeed in New York can now admit they were wrong.

• Gary Sheffield is a P.I.M.P.

• Mariano Rivera should be headed for his fourth career top-three finish in the Cy Young voting. He gave up 12 earned runs all year, and the league hit .177 against him. However, I'm not sure that anyone who pitches 78.1 innings should win the award. Some stat-head will have to do a study involving his effect over average replacement player or something.

• You'd have to look far and wide to find a Yankees fan disappointed in Hideki Matsui through three seasons, but you might be surprised to learn he's hit only 70 home runs (16, 31, 23 — 23.3 per) in those three years.

• Imagine hearing this question back in April and not wanting to throw up at the potential answer: "Who do you think the Yankees should start in Game 3, Chacon, Wang or Small?"

THE 2005 MLB SEASON

• Mark McGwire says he won't talk about steroids ever again. Guess we won't be talking about his Hall of Fame candidacy ever again, either. Wait until that vote comes up. It'll be a huge day in baseball history.

• I was surprised to hear the Mets played a game on Sunday, because I thought the minor-league baseball season ended a month ago.

• Back in April, Jim Caple was the only one of 19 ESPN "experts" to predict that the Yankees would miss the playoffs. Stick with the jokes, Jimbo.

• Back on Aug. 18, Dan Shanoff on ESPN.com had two words for us: "YANKEES. DONE." The man is a prophet!

THE OTHER SEVEN PLAYOFF TEAMS

• Who gives a shit?

Paul Katcher owns and operates the Upper West Side ’s most popular blog and periodically contributes its content to realhoboken.com. To see Paul’s photo gallery from the Giants-Saints game or to read his past work, visit www.paulkatcher.com.