Yanks Win! (Ho Hum)

  • Share
  • Read Later
New Yorkers managed to get giddy again Wednesday night after the brutal Yankees won their second World Series in three years, but this 1998 edition was just a tiny bit hollow. Sure, there were lots of free drinks, and complete strangers bonded after watching George Steinbrenner cry on TV. But did these Yankees even need fans?

Baseball, even after its much-proclaimed 1998 renaissance, still does. The final four games of the Yanks' 125-win march into history got, according to early estimates, the worst Nielsens of any Series, breaking last year's nadir. And that Series was exciting (or so I hear). All the shiny new ballparks are full -- at least when McGwire or Sosa is playing. But these days, it's the ratings that matter, and baseball is getting dangerously near (gasp!) hockey territory. Maybe if Fox could put a camera in Don Zimmer's belly button...

Full coverage at CNN/SI