There is a lesson to be learned from the recent Red Sox-Yankees series, and from the remaining games these two will play this season. Baseball is still a game of team rivalries for the fans, rather than a game of individual stars.

The excitement generated by this great matchup is felt not only in the cities involved, but also across the sports spectrum. That is the beauty of the unbalanced schedule being employed by Major League Baseball this season. No, it’s not perfect.

The Sox will get Tampa Bay and Baltimore too often to please most fans, but that is a small tradeoff for the chance to have all those games against the Yankees and Toronto. Besides, outside the longstanding rivalries, the other matchups in any given year are equal in excitement to the talent of the clubs playing.

For years MLB and other sports have sought to generate interest in the games through five or six players a year who are given the royal treatment in publicity buildup. The media, always looking for a hook to get the fans’ attention, joined in this endeavor, believing it was a lot easier to promote a few names than to promote team matchups.

There is a balance to be struck here. Sports fans are fans of their teams first. You get up and check the BDN for the box on the Sox (yeah, I know some of you actually check the box on the Yankees, as unfathomable as that is) and then most look to see what else is going on.

It’s in this “what else” category that we check out McGwire and Sosa’s home run count, whether Alex Rodriguez is getting booed in Seattle, and how Barry Bonds is doing in his quest for 500 homers.

That’s what most fans do in every sport: concentrate on the home team and follow the rest of the pack with a sideward glance. The big names that don’t play for the home team help hold that glance longer and something like the McGwire-Sosa home run chase two years ago is sweet entertainment.

The pro sports leagues need to go back and retool their publicity efforts to hone in on the rivalries. Games that are carried as national broadcasts should feature as many of these rivalries as possible. Fans across the country love to see and feel the electricity of a Red Sox-Yankees game just as much as they want to see Sosa swing.

Additionally, rivalries are a far less fickle point of publicity than singling out stars. This year McGwire is hurting and how much he’ll play remains in doubt. The media has focused on Rodriguez and his salary with Texas. Texas is a mediocre team and everyone agrees the money paid to A-Rod is ludicrous – now shut up about it.

Finally, far too many of the names focused on in sports have been found to be unworthy of the attention, both as players and as people. For every McGwire, there are three Ken Griffey Jrs. who handle their fame with something less than moderate grace. The NBA and NFL are filled with the wrecks of players the media and the leagues tried to build into gods, only to find out they were really gold-fatted calves no one was buying.

MLB actually got this one right and for the right reasons. The unbalanced schedule is a gem, a return to what fans want to see. Mets-Atlanta, Cubs-St. Louis, Giants-Dodgers, and Red Sox-Yankees games, and lots of ’em.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and NBC sportscaster.