It has been a pretty easy question the past 20 years or so. Mark Messier and Patrick Ewing shared the title for a while. Derek Jeter and Eli Manning have played ping-pong with it for most of the past 10 years. Mike Piazza elbowed his way into the conversation for a bit. So did Darrelle Revis.
Most of the time, it’s obvious who The Man is in New York, who the City’s Face of Sports is, there doesn’t have to be much of a campaign. The Man just Is. The Man simply Happens. The Man emerges, and by acclimation becomes, well, The Man.
But we are between titles now in New York, between dynasties, between dominant personalities. And so the question stands: Who’s The Man now? You surely have your votes, and I’d like to hear them: vac@nypost.com. What follows is my vote. And here’s how I got there.
First, we need to get nine candidates from nine teams. With apologies to WWOR-TV, here’s My Nine:
Yankees — Robinson Cano. And think about this: If he skips town then the Yankees — the Yankees, for crying out loud — have zero serious candidates for The Man.
Mets — David Wright. Matt Harvey actually might have usurped him this summer. But not now, alas.
Giants — It’s still Eli, but not, as has been the case, for the reasons — all of them good — that he’s been The Man in the past. His tenure isn’t necessarily over, just interrupted. Perhaps.
Jets — Mo Wilkerson certainly has replaced Revis as the candidate from the Jets’ defense, and for now, at least, it remains a little early to anoint Geno Smith.
Knicks — Carmelo Anthony had the best season of his career last year and still heard it plenty from Knicks fans, and he really could go either way this year depending on his performance and if he decides to stay or go come July.
Nets — Kevin Garnett hasn’t played a game that counts for Brooklyn yet, but it already is obvious the Nets listen to one voice in the gym, and it isn’t Jason Kidd’s yet.
Rangers — Henrik Lundqvist is already The King, but it would help if he could carry the Rangers to a Cup Finals for him to become The Man — or Mannen, in Swedish.
Islanders — For the fist time since Bryan Trottier’s prime, the Islanders may have the guy who’s better at his sport than anyone in the city: John Tavares.
Devils — Out of habit, it probably still is Marty Brodeur, which tells you a little something about where the Devils are at right now.
FIRST CUT: We slice it to four, and here are my four, alphabetically: Anthony, Tavares, Wilkerson, Wright. If Cano were signed, he’d replace Wright. If Garnett is what the Nets think he still is, he could nudge Melo out of the picture. If Eli regains his Eli-ness, Wilkerson will have to wait his turn. Tavares is the only one who gets to stay no matter what. He’s that good.
SECOND CUT: This starts off easy: Wright needs a winning team to carry him to the final round. Check back next year. Melo? He needs to buck the common belief that the Knicks are regressing this year, and he needs to stay healthy. He should be The Man, and should at least make the finals. Just not yet, not with the way Wilkerson has helped energize the Jets, and the way Tavares makes the Islanders relevant again.
THE MAN: Look, maybe it really is a sign of the malaise we find ourselves in right now that The Man is a hockey player based on Long Island. But here’s the thing: Even if you don’t know a puck from a pad, you watch Tavares and know: That guy is just different than everyone else on the ice. Maybe by November Wilkerson — or someone else — can take the title back. For now, good luck catching No. 91. Especially since he’s the one wearing ice skates.
Vac’s Whacks
Knicks fans soon will be filing adoption papers for Tim Hardaway Jr., which is about as stunning as the Corleone Family adopting Bruno Tattaglia.
If Joe Girardi ever used nine pitchers in nine innings the way Joe Maddon did the other night, there are factions of Yankees Nation that would spontaneously combust.
Let me put it as gently as I can: I am rooting for Don Mattingly, because there has never been a finer gentleman to play baseball in New York City. But the more you watch him manage baseball game, the less inclined you are to think you are watching the next Joe McCarthy.
The play “Bronx Bombers” is a bit too schlocky and clichéd for my tastes, but the actor Bill Dawes is a genuine highlight, giving a wonderful and believable dual performance as both Thurman Munson and Mickey Mantle.
Whack back at Vac
Rich Glanzer: One of the great moments of the Yankees’ season — in the last game, when fans chanted Andy Pettitte’s name — could never happen at Citi Field because as soon as the fans started chanting, “Everybody clap your hands!” would blare over the P.A. If I ever meet Fred Wilpon in person, I am just going to clap my hands every time he speaks. Maybe then he’ll understand how miserable an experience it is to see a game at his ballpark, no matter what the product on the field.
Vac: Here’s the way I look at it: If the Yankees could finally get rid of that ridiculous “Cotton-Eye Joe” exactly nobody liked, why can’t the clapping hands go away?
Mark Frentzel: This disaster of a Giants season has me thinking of comparisons between Peyton and Eli Manning and the Atlanta Braves and the Florida Marlins. Peyton and the Braves: always great in the regular season, only delivered once in the playoffs. Eli and the Marlins: many bad seasons, but the only two years they had any playoff success they went all the way. As tough as the bad years are, I think I’ll take the two championships over consistent excellence followed by playoff disappointment.
Vac: And therein lies the constant struggle of the Giants fan — a “struggle” Jets fans, I suspect, have trouble relating to.
@wrskingmobile: To get back at the Braves for snubbing him, maybe Chipper Jones will go into the Hall of Fame as a Met. Did his best hitting at Shea, after all.
@MikeVacc: You know what would’be been a smarter idea for the Braves to answer Chipper for picking them to lose to L.A. in 4? TO NOT ACTUALLY LOSE IN 4!
Tim Foster: Does Ben Roethlisberger look more and more like Will Ferrell as he gets older, or did Will Ferrell replace Ben Roethlisberger this year? That would explain the 0-4. Makes sense, no?
Vac: Especially if he’s heard shrieking, “Stay classy, East Rutherford!” today.