ESPN may be the so-called Worldwide Leader in Sports, but it actually finished behind Yahoo Sports in the number of hits to its Web site last month, according to comScore Media Metrix.

Yahoo Sports reported 20.2 million unique visitors last month, versus 19.7 million for ESPN.com. Much of that shift can be attributed to Yahoo's recent purchase of Rivals, a popular Web site devoted to high school and college sports.

That Yahoo Sports would surpass ESPN.com in Web hits might seem surprising, but it really isn't. Remember that Yahoo Sports is part of the Yahoo network, one of the biggest Web portals around. Think of all the people who log on to Yahoo.com just to check their e-mail or read some news headlines who might be directed to Yahoo's sports pages. ESPN doesn't have that built-in advantage.

And this is not the first time ESPN.com has been surpassed; FoxSports.com occasionally records more monthly hits than ESPN.com, in large part because of its relationship with another enormous Web portal, MSN.com.

ESPN said simply recording the number of visitors to its Web site does not reflect the true connection it has with sports fans. It does not record downloads of ESPN podcasts, for instance, or the number of people watching games online through ESPN360 or on mobile phones.

"No single metric completely reflects that reach and connection we make with sports fans, regardless of which month we're talking about,” the company said in a statement.

Don't worry: ESPN.com is not struggling. It still has far more original editorial content than other sports Web sites, and visitors to the site tend to stay much longer. My guess is that ESPN.com also pulls in far more advertising revenue than Yahoo Sports or Foxsports.com. But to be the top sports Web site in terms of unique visitors might require a partnership with another high-traffic Web portal.

-- Tim Lemke