This is the time of the year when most of us can sit in our recliners and snore through a lazy Sunday afternoon.

That will of course change in four weeks when the NFL reclaims possession of our mind, soul and remote control.

From Sept. 11 through Feb. 5, football becomes the mistress of many a good man.

But one recent Sunday was a pretty decent sports day.

There was certainly enough good stuff on the tube to keep this old guy from dozing off for too long.

Adam Scott won a golf tournament with Tiger’s old caddie.

Brad Keselowski won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race with a broken ankle.

And the Texas Rangers rallied to beat the Cleveland Indians 5-3 with a five-run eighth inning.

So after all this, what do you think was the lead story on ESPN SportsCenter the next morning?
Not Scott and Stevie. Not NASCAR. Not the defending American League champs.

No, it was Yankees-Red Sox.

Pardon me while I puke!

I understand that Boston and New York have had a fierce baseball rivalry for 100 years.

I know about “No, No, Nanette.”

I know about the Curse of the Bambino.

I saw Bucky Dent’s home run.

I saw Don Zimmer swing and miss at Pedro Martinez’s chin.

But I really don’t give a rat’s you-know-what about this fierce rivalry. And I think a whole lot of people outside the borders of New York and Massachusetts feel likewise.

It’s not our fight.

War is fierce, too, but I don’t care if Ethiopia invades Somalia.

My biggest baseball concern right now has nothing to do with either the Yankees or the Red Sox.
I’m just hoping the Rangers can hold off the Angels and win another AL West title.

Once that happens, then I will turn my attention to the Yankees and Red Sox because then they will become teams the Rangers must beat to get back to the World Series.

Last season was so sweet. The Red Sox had to sit home and twiddle their thumbs while watching Texas beat two AL East teams to win its first pennant.

Still, ESPN thinks Red Sox-Yankees is always a national story.

But it’s not.

One writer once described this rivalry “like one between a hammer and a nail.”

That’s because since it began some 91 years ago, the New Yorkers have won 39 pennants and 26 World Series, while the Red Sox have just six pennants and two World Series.

That kind of success gives the Yankees the right to be looked at as America’s Team and be loved or hated by people all over this country.

The Red Sox, however, aren’t there yet.

ESPN just wants us to believe that they are.

With Bristol, Conn. — the home of ESPN — just two hours down the road from Fenway Park, this network has an obvious bias toward Boston.

I can live with that.

Just don’t try to convert me to Soxism.

The Yankees and Sox deserve respect because they both are consistently two of the best teams in baseball.

To win an AL pennant, you have to beat at least one, and sometimes both, of them.

No team is that high and mighty yet in the National League, although the Philadelphia Phillies are pretty close.

They play great hardball up in Beantown and the Big Apple.

But down here in Texas, I will be watching the American League champions.