King of the hill

Sporting News, The, July 26, 1999 by Bob Hille

In one amazing year, the city captured the sports world and made it its own. Fans there will tell you they've had it all along. Just ask them.

On a late October night right for champagne celebrations under Yankee-blue San Diego skies, Chili Davis is leaning on the trainer's kit at the far end of the visitors' dugout at Qualcomm Stadium. It's the eighth inning of Game 4 of the 1998 World Series, and his team leads the the Padres, 3-0. At this moment-an inning from a series sweep--a record-breaking season of New York victory layered upon victory hits Davis with full impact-what has been, and in three outs, what will be.

He leans over, taps teammate David Cone and says: "Hey, Coney, I'm kind of reflecting now." Cone, feeling an unmistakable vibe, smiles and says, "I know, I can feel you."

Later, Davis, who had battled back from injury to be a key postseason contributor, would take a moment in the clubhouse to amplify his feelings, a single word in a fog of bewilderment spoken for and about a city a continent away. The word: "Wow,"

If we had been as tuned in as Cone on that late fall evening, we might have been able to see what was to come. Alas, we had to wait and watch a remarkable 12 months of athletic excellence unfold, just like you. The Yankees' 1998 season--114 regular-season victories, 125 through the sweep of the Padres--is merely the best of the Best Sports City for 1999, the sapphire in New York's multi-jeweled crown. But certainly there are other noteworthy gems in an extraordinary run that lifts New York to No. 1 in our sixth ranking of North American sports cities:

* The Knicks, whose front-office machinations are prime back-page fodder, make a late charge to clinch a playoff berth and then, with center Patrick Ewing out with an injury, become the first No. 8 seed to reach the NBA Finals.

* The Jets go 12-4 and reach the AFC title game, begging one question for Vinny Testaverde this offseason. Not "Can you do it again?" but "Did you really do that?"

* St. John's finishes 28-9 and reaches the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament in coach Mike Jarvis' first season. Felipe who?

* The Mets, lacking neither the might to knock off the Braves nor the appeal to displace the Yankees, finish 14 games over .500 in '98 but narrowly miss a wild-card playoff spot. A question at the midpoint of the '99 season: Are we watching a repeat?

* The Devils, before a first-round pratfall, ring up 47 regular-season victories and 105 points, second only to eventual champion Dallas. And before Rangers and Islanders fans gag, just remember that 105 points are only 30 fewer than your teams' point totals combined

Left to reflect on not only on-field excellence of the first order but also the thrill of world-class tributes (Joe DiMaggio) and trades (Mike Piazza) and returns (Yogi Berra) and retirements (Wayne Gretzky), we are in awe and, like the out-of-towners, a bit overwhelmed.

Pressed to describe in one word New York's June-to-June year in sports, well ... Chili said it best: Wow.

This? This is what New York sports is all about. For 364 days, New Yorkers think they're the center of the universe, that the world begins and ends on this side of the Hudson. On this Saturday, if they are sports fans, they are right. Even by New York standards, June 5, 1999, is, as NBC's Hannah Storm breathlessly calls it, "a monumental sports day." In reality, though, it is merely a snapshot of the depth and breadth of major professional sports available to a fan in the New York area:

* Mets vs. Yankees, 1:30 p.m. at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

* The Belmont Stakes, 5:27 p.m. at Belmont Park on Long Island.

* Pacers vs. Knicks, 6:30 p.m. at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan.

If sports were food, metropolitan New York would be the all-you-can-eat buffet, not always easy to digest but, boy, are the portions big. There are nine teams in the four major professional sports leagues alone; toss in D-I college hoops at St. John's, St. Francis, Iona, Fordham, Manhattan, Long Island, Wagner and Columbia--and that doesn't even get into the schools just west across the Hudson--and you have a plate that would make a cash-strapped college freshman proud.

Can't make it there (a distinct possibility if the traffic's bad on the Major Deegan Parkway)? Sinatra jokes aside, you can listen to it on WNEW and WABC, read about it in the Times, Post, Daily News and Newsday, even The Village Voice, watch it on WPIX or WNYW (but not WOR anymore), squawk about it with Mike and the Mad Dog on The Fan (if they don't cut you off before you can make your point), go to the videotape with Warner Wolf over the air or rune in to Mary Albert on Sports-desk after the game(s) on cable's Madison Square Garden Network.

The nation's biggest city--with roughly 7.4 million in the five boroughs alone--throbs 24 hours a day, and, with apologies to Reggie, the straw that stirs the melting pot is sports, all day and every day. And because the Mets and Jets, Giants and Yankees, Knicks, Rangers and Islanders, not to mention the Nets and Devils (and, yes, we count them in our accounting) share this relatively cozy area, even Mayor Rudy Giuliani gets involved in-and like all New Yorkers relishes-an internecine rivalry that spills over into New Jersey and Connecticut.