The war for hearts and minds of New Yorkers

Page one of the metro edition of Thursday’s New York Post put things into perspective: Sure, there was a notice in the upper right hand corner that a Pope Francis poster was inside. What occupied most of the page, though, was “It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over, Yogi Berra, 1925 to 2015.”

Meanwhile, although no one was arguing with the Empire State Building’s Wednesday night lighting scheme — Yankee pinstripes in honor of Yogi Berra — Bill Donohue of the Catholic League fired off a press release Thursday about the building’s disrespect to Pope Francis. “The Empire State Building will not light its towers tonight in honor of Pope Francis. Instead it will acknowledge the opening night gala of the New York Philharmonic.” (Red and white, to be exact.) The release charges principal building owner Anthony

Malkin: “His disdain for Catholics is palpable. Malkin is, of course, most known for stiffing

Mother Teresa on the anniversary of her centenary. Now he’s stiffing Pope Francis and, by extension, all Catholics.”

P.S.: Berra was Catholic; don’t those pinstripes count as proper respect?

Dan Fost, author of “Giants Past & Present” and “The Giants Baseball Experience,” says he met Yogi Berra twice, once when Fost was accompanied by his then-7-year-old baseball fan son, Harry. Berra seemed particularly delighted by Harry’s long curly blond hair. And he urged him to play more sports than baseball. Berra had some great tales:

In 1951, when the Giants played the Dodgers, and Bobby Thomson hit the “Shot Heard Round the World,” Berra was there with Yankee pals. They were curious about which team the Yanks would play in the World Series. They were rooting for the Giants because the Polo Grounds, where the Giants played, held more people than Ebbets Field, and the players made more money when the gate was bigger. Berra left the game early and missed the Thomson homer. “We wanted to beat the traffic.” (His friend teased him about the old “it ain’t over ’til it’s over.”)

Berra also told him that he used to use falsies inside the padding in his mitt to protect his hands. And also that Casey Stengel liked Berra to play, and kept him in doubleheaders long after his energy was exhausted. On at least one occasion, he argued with the umpire in hopes that he would get thrown out. The ump wasn’t biting. “If I’m gonna suffer,” he told Berra, “you’re gonna suffer with me.”

As to how to solve most every problem plaguing the city right now, Jonathan Swift admirer Bill Katovsky proposes merging Uber and Airbnb. With this plan, he suggests, “all those empty under-utilized Uberized cars not ferrying passengers can be put to temporary use” as homes for the homeless. Each person in need of a roof over his or her head “can reserve a place to sleep for a set amount of hours, even overnight inside an Uber car.” AirUber?

The NextDoor subject was a coyote sighting, reports Dianne Flynn. What the neighborhood needs is a cougar, said one respondent. The cougars left, said another, when one of the neighborhood bars closed. “My wife offers to fill the role of cougar,” volunteered a man. All of which proves that it’s not just irate people who take to the e-waves to express themselves.

While Julian Grant and some friends were at the Petaluma butcher shop Thistle a few weekends ago, five people stormed into the store with “Stop Killing Animals” and “Meat = Violence” signs, and a middle-aged man shouted at the butcher, “Do you slaughter cats? Do you slaughter dogs? How is that different than killing cows or pigs? You’re a murderer!” Grant’s husband, Billy Cook of Taste Catering, was holding their French bulldog in his arms. “Would you kill your dog?” the man asked him. “Well, would you?” Cook responded: “Not unless he started asking me for foie gras at meal time. That stuff costs a fortune!”

Today’s drought tip from Gregory Davidson: “For as long as I can remember, I have used the condensation from my lunchtime beverage bottle to give my fingers a little de-glazing after the meal. And the little bit of moisture dries so fast no towel or napkin needed, further reducing waste.”