Who owns New York: Tebow or Lin?

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think a sports editor at one of the New York newspapers was in control of the 2012 sports year. Consider this:

The Giants and Jets played in a “winner goes to the playoffs; loser goes home” game on Christmas Eve. The Giants won, dominated headlines through January, and took home their second Lombardi Trophy in five years on Feb. 5.

Before the parade confetti was even picked up from the Canyon of Heroes, “Linsanity” took hold of the Big Apple. For three weeks, the Knicks’ Jeremy Lin was the most famous guy in all of Manhattan, if not the entire country. But just as interest in the undrafted point guard out of Harvard started to fade from public consciousness, the Jets traded for Tim Tebow.

I’d say the Internet broke with the news of that one last week, but it’d already broken 10 times so far this year.

Though Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez are sure to find their ways on to the New York Post’s back page in the coming months, it’s all about Tebow and Lin for now. Tebow’s expected to serve as Mark Sanchez’s backup and run six or more plays out of the Wildcat package each game. And yet the Jets hosted a press conference at their facilities Monday afternoon to announce his arrival.

Tebow or Lin? Lin or Tebow?

How do New York’s two newest sports media obsessions match up against each other? Let’s break it down.
 

LIN VS. TEBOW

THE FINAL TALLY: JEREMY LIN 14, TIM TEBOW 12

Though Tebow will dominate New York Post and Daily News headlines for the next few weeks, Jeremy Lin still has a slight edge in the battle for the “Somewhat Kinda Maybe King of New York” crown.

In other news, the Super Bowl champion Giants re-signed David Carr, their backup quarterback, on Thursday.

For whatever reason, there was no press conference.