April 15, 2005

P. DIDDY TAKES BAD BOY TO WARNER

Sean "P. Diddy" Combs has found a new home for his Bad Boy Records. The hip-hip artist and Grammy Award-winning producer yesterday announced he would be taking his stable of...

CABLE RIVALS SQUEEZE PLAY

Mets fans blacked out from watching their favorite team on their Time Warner Cable-wired televisions were offered a bit of relief yesterday. No, Cablevision and the cable company didn't settle...

BABY & BRITNEY BRAND HAS SOCCER MOM SIZZLE

As any former teen queen knows, it's hard to remain a bankable star as a grownup. But pop idol Britney Spears - who has seen her album sales fall as...

WEAKENED JOURNAL - DOW JONES EARNINGS PLUNGE 54% ON AD FALLOFF

The head of The Wall Street Journal's empire, Peter Kann, could be sweating over his job, again. Earnings plunged by 54 percent at the newspaper's parent Dow Jones & Co.,...

BOSTON'S LOSS COLUMN - ATLANTIC MONTHLY SHIFTS TO D.C. IN BLOW TO BEANTOWN

THE Atlantic Monthly is pulling the last of its editorial operations from Boston and heading to Washington, D.C. Cullen Murphy, managing editor, has decided to step down rather than move...

STARR REPORT

Ayem mayhem Imagine Matt Lauer's surprise during yesterday's "Today" show when a teenager claiming to be the daughter of Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre . . . was, in...

YOU'LL SAY HELLO, DALAI!

MEET Reiko Aikawa, a woman who travels from Japan to India for the pleasure of being buried in a pit for three days, during which she will be in "a...

VILLAGE IDIOTS

DAVID Duchovny's feature-directing debut, "House of D," has it all - the dis turbed mother, the mentally challenged adult friend, the hooker with a heart of gold and just about...

DOUBLE THE PLEASURE

FROM its double-plus-good name to its 10-minute-plus finale of "Rio," Duran Duran has always excelled at excess. At the group's over-the-top Madison Square Garden gig Wednesday - where lighting rigs...

DRIPPY, TRIPPY DEAF DJ

BY now, we're all desen sitized to movie blood and guts, but some big-screen images can still make this viewer squirm in his seat. In "It's All Gone Pete Tong,"...

PORN LUCKY - COUPLE STRUT THEIR SMUT

BALDING Alfredo Lopez and his attractive but hardly glamorous wife, Carmen, make for the unlikeliest - and most reluctant - of porn superstars in Pablo Berger's slyly funny Spanish-Danish comedy...

'LOST' DOG - HAWAIIAN PUP ONLY LOCAL IN MAIN CAST

FORGET human actors - the most popular cast member on "Lost" is Madison, the frisky yellow Labrador retriever who plays Vincent. It's a cross-gender role for the 5-year-old bitch, who...

DULLSVILLE: HAUNTED-HOUSE REMAKE SHOULD BE CONDEMNED

THE AMITYVILLE HORROR Zero stars Below the bottom of the barrel. Running time: 90 minutes. Rated R (violence, disturbing images, language, brief sexuality and drug use). At the E-Walk, the...

'REVELATIONS' PUTS A DENT IN 'IDOL'

NBC's "Revelations" booked solid premiere numbers Wednesday against Fox's "American Idol" juggernaut. The spiritual drama, starring Bill Pullman, snared 15.6 million viewers vs. "Idol" from 9 to 10 p.m. -...

SON OF SON VOLT

WITH Uncle Tupelo, high school pals Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy established themselves as alt-country pioneers - the band's debut, 1990's "No Depression," is shorthand for the roots-rock movement. After...

BREAK DOWN - ANGRY 'APPRENTICE' CHRIS ENDS UP CRYING

TEMPERAMENTAL "Apprentice" contestant Chris Shel ton says he's not angry, just "passionate." Shelton broke his silence last night after becoming the 13th contestant to be fired on the current edition...

LADY PLUCK - APPLEGATE TO RESUME ROLE IN 'CHARITY'

THE moment of truth arrives Monday night for Christina Applegate. That's when this plucky, iron-willed little actress with the famous broken foot finally reclaims her starring role in "Sweet Charity."...

CHEATERS WIN IN THIS 'AFFAIR'

The e-mail site for the show, "Diary of an Affair," recruits half-wit exhibitionists with teasers like: "Here's your chance to share your story!" and "Had an affair that reads like...

DANCE PICK

The Mark Morris Dance Group returns Tuesday with the New York premiere of Morris ' latest work, "Rock of Ages," for four dancers set to a Schubert Piano Trio..There will...

MARY'S HOT PICK

On its latest release, "00-237 XP-1," the Magic Malik Orchestra taps into classic jazz but mixes in modern elements with a fluidity somewhat reminiscent of Philip Glass.The album features Paris-resident...

STANDING UP FOR HIS BELIEFS

WHEN IT CAME TO hot-button social issues like abortion,the pope never let popular opinion or powerful world leaders alter his bedrock principles and Church doctrine LIKE ANY POWERFUL LEADER,POPE John...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

A delivery of chicken wings to an upstate restaurant turned into a disaster when the truck dropping them off snared a power line. The wire above Jonathan's Restaurant in Endwell...

WOMAN STABS GAL PAL: COPS

A Long Island woman stabbed her live-in girlfriend repeatedly with a switchblade during a domestic dispute about missing money and then choked her and tried to suffocate her with a...

NEW YORK'S MELTDOWN - FORGETTING THE LESSONS OF '77

WHEN the word "meltdown" first came into common usage, it was meant to describe the nightmare possibility of an explosion inside a nuclear-power plant. The term proved wonderfully and sadly...

SANTERIA SENTENCE OUTRAGE - PROBATION FOR KILLER

Over objections from the victim's family, a Bronx woman got only five years' probation yesterday in the death of a woman who burst into flames when a Santeria-like cleansing ritual...

HIGH-TECH ALERTS FOR S.I. FERRY

The city is looking to install digitized navigational charts on Staten Island ferryboats that will automatically set off alarms if a vessel veers off course and is in danger of...

PARK ROW TO REOPEN ON MAY 15

Park Row, the downtown traffic artery that links Chinatown to rest of lower Manhattan, will be reopened to pedestrians and buses next month, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday. The thoroughfare has...

BUILDING TAPPED OUT OF WATER AGAIN

For the second time in two days, residents of a Brooklyn apartment building yesterday lost water service after a water main pipe broke yet again, officials said. "It's unacceptable. I...

ISRAELIS SLAY AQSA BOMB BIG

JERUSALEM - The West Bank cease-fire was rattled yesterday after Israeli troops shot and killed a senior Palestinian militant in a raid on a refugee camp. Israeli officials said they...

PROMOTIONS NEXT STOP FOR 27 PA COPS

The Port Authority is planning to promote 27 police officers next month in an effort to deal more effectively with post-9/11 security, PA officials said yesterday. It's the second-highest number...

MTA: WE'LL GET TRAINS ON TRACK

NYC Transit apologized to straphangers yesterday for the recent spate of subway delays, vowing to boost confidence in the system by cleaning track beds and combining construction projects to reduce...

'VID SEX' DAD: IT'S NOT RAPE

It wasn't a crime, it was just a good time, said the father of a Queens high-school senior accused of having sex with a drunk, unconscious 16-year-old girl while his...

GIANTS SCORE NEW N.J. STADIUM DEAL

After threatening briefly to return to the Big Apple, the New York Giants yesterday signed a deal to build a $750 million football stadium in New Jersey's Meadowlands - and...

SUPER CREDIT FRAUD - 100,000+ POLO THEFTS

The U.S. Secret Service is probing a criminal gang that may have gained access to hundreds of thousands of credit-card numbers on file at preppy retailer Polo Ralph Lauren, sources...

S.I. TEACH 'EXPOSED'

A Staten Island teacher has been busted for exposing himself to two adults - and four girls the same ages as his students, cops said yesterday. The arrest of Joseph...

ACTION - AT LAST - GOV MUST STILL GET GROUND ZERO MOVING

GOV. Pataki's decision to drop plans for a near-$1 billion West Street tunnel is good news for Lower Manhattan - but it is catastrophically late good news. Goldman Sachs finally...

SCORING A 'RUN' - HI-TECHSTADIUMFOR TRACK

Lace up your sneakers, kids, because a futuristic new track and field stadium in the Big Apple is set to produce star sprinters, high hurdlers and victorious vaulters. Sports enthusiasts...

LIFESAVING GRAB - A-ROD STOPS KID BEFORE CAR HITS HIM

What a catch! Alex Rodriguez saved an 8-year-old Yankee fan from being hit by a car in Boston, the boy's grateful father told The Post yesterday. Joe McCarthy said his...

PELOSI'S PLEA DEAL REVIVED

Danny Pelosi will get one more shot at keeping his big mouth shut. Ted Ammon's convicted killer will be allowed to cop a plea on conspiracy charges that would save...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

BROOKLYN * A 34-year-old man was shot in the head and robbed on a Crown Heights street, police said yesterday. The victim, whose name was not released, was apartment hunting...

LAWMEN LASSO SLICK TEXAN IN SLIPPERY SADDAM SCHEME

A prominent Texas oilman, who has a long history of arms and oil deals with Saddam Hussein, was indicted yesterday for allegedly scheming to pay millions of dollars in kickbacks...

DEATH CRASH AGONY

Cold, empty anguish was etched all over Yuri Pilay's face yesterday as he tried in vain to identify the body of his wife, who was decapitated Wednesday morning when a...

RNC 'DRAGON FIRE' RAP UP IN SMOKE

Manhattan prosecutors are dropping their case against a Tucson, Ariz., man who'd had the proverbial book thrown at him after he allegedly set a 60-foot dragon float ablaze - burning...

THE COOKIE CRUMBLES - MOM IN FOOD FIGHT OVER BID TO BAN JUNK

A New Jersey mom has declared war on junk food - and is trying to get cakes, cookies and candy banned from school parties. But other parents in the well-to-do...

'TYRANT' KING OF POP - GOONS BULLIED US INTO COVER-UPS: ACCUSER'S MOTHER

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The mother of Michael Jackson's young accuser testified yesterday that the pop king and his henchmen tried to hide her son's boozing, take him out of...

PATIENT'S SUICIDE FRENZY - YEAR AFTER GETTING LIVER

A year after a liver transplant gave Bronx security guard José Machado a new lease on life, he blew it all away, fatally shooting himself in the chest after he'd...

BURNED BY JURY - FAMILY RAGES OVER ACQUITTAL OF B'KLYN MAN WHO SAID HE SET 5-SLAY BLAZE

A Brooklyn jury acquitted a man of setting a raging blaze that killed five people, including a toddler and a crippled elderly man - despite his own admission that he...

CAPO RIPS MASSINO TALE OF TAPE

New details emerged from secret tapes recorded by Mafia don-turned-canary Joseph Massino yesterday as a lawyer for a reputed Bonanno leader accused of murder fought to convince a judge his...

RECHARGE THE BATTERY, CHUCK URGES GOLDMAN

Sen. Charles Schumer yesterday called on financial giant Goldman, Sachs & Co. to resume plans to build a $1.8 billion headquarters in Battery Park City now that Gov. Pataki has...

MANY UNHAPPY RETURNS: TAXES DUE BY MIDNIGHT

Procrastinators alert: Today is the deadline you've been putting off for filing your 2004 tax returns. Last-minute filing will be possible at eight U.S. Postal Service locations around the city...

'TICKLE-ME TEACHER' SPURRED AFFAIR - SCHOOLS PROBE BARES CASE OF THE 'CUDDLING' COUNSELOR

Tickling and whispering between guidance counselor Samantha Solomon and a 17-year-old student in her Manhattan high-school office blossomed into a lurid love affair cut short by a student snitch, investigators...

'QUIET DOM' TO DO SOME QUIET TIME

A reputed mob leader whose nickname is the "Quiet Dom" - for his ability to evade law- enforcement surveillance - is too dangerous to remain free on bail, a judge...

BANK PRANK PANIC

A group of 15-year-olds joking with their friend inside a Brooklyn bank touched off a robbery alert that sent cops racing to the Flatbush branch yesterday, authorities said. The incident...

'SARAH' SUSPECT BUSTED - 'ATTACKS' DOG WALKER

The prime suspect in the chilling slaying of a Juilliard drama student was busted yesterday for kicking a dog and then going berserk on its owner - kicking him and...

HUSBAND'S HORROR OVER CRASH WIFE

Cold, empty anguish was etched all over Yuri Pilay's face yesterday as he tried in vain to identify the body of his wife, who was decapitated Wednesday morning when a...

KIDNAPPED WOMAN TO SUE COPS

A New Jersey woman held hostage by her ex-boyfriend earlier this week said yesterday she will sue the local police for failing to protect her from the man. Erica Turner...

YANK SHEFF HITS THE FAN - SLUGGER GOES AT BOSTON BUFFOON

Yankee outfielder Gary Sheffield last night lashed out at a Red Sox fan who took a cheap shot at him during another explosive battle between the Bombers and Boston at...

KID SURVIVES TWO-STORY FALL

A 4-year-old boy was seriously injured after he shook loose the security bars on his second-floor window in Washington Heights and tumbled to the sidewalk last night. The child had...

NEW LIFE WASTED

A year after a liver transplant gave Bronx security guard José Machado a new lease on life, he blew it all away, fatally shooting himself in the chest after he'd...

BANK PRANK SPARKS PANIC

A group of 15-year-olds joking with their friend inside a Brooklyn bank touched off a robbery alert that sent cops racing to the Flatbush branch yesterday, authorities said. The incident...

NYPD GETS FRISKY - SUBWAY SEARCH SURGE

Transit cops have frisked more than three times as many suspicious-looking straphangers this year, as the city struggles to beat back a disturbing upsurge in subway crime, The Post has...

OILY BLAST FROM PAST - S. KOREAN '70S BRIBER INDICTED IN IRAQ $LEAZE

South Korean con man Tongsun Park, a central figure in the "Koreagate" political influence-peddling scandal that rocked Capitol Hill in the 1970s, was accused in an indictment yesterday of helping...

GIANTS INK NEW DEAL IN JERSEY

After threatening briefly to return to the Big Apple, the New York Giants yesterday signed a deal to build a $750 million stadium in New Jersey's Meadowlands - and left...

PLAZA SWEET VICTORY - JOBS, ROOMS SPARED

The new owners of The Plaza hotel and its union struck a surprise deal yesterday that will save many workers' jobs and preserve hundreds of hotel rooms when the landmark...

DAD'S DISS IN CUSTODY WAR - MOM SITS AND STEWS IN COURT

Bridget Marks got a not-so-nice birthday surprise from the father of her twin daughters yesterday - a long wait in Manhattan Family Court. The dad, casino king John Aylsworth, showed...

'SORRY' STATE OVER SUBWAYS

NYC Transit apologized to straphangers yesterday for the recent spate of subway delays, vowing to boost confidence in the system by cleaning track beds and combining construction projects to reduce...

INN-SENSITIVITY RUINED OUR DAUGHTER'S WEDDING: SUIT

A New Jersey couple says the planned conversion of The Plaza hotel has turned their dream wedding for their daughter into a costly nightmare. In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme...

COPS GETTING FRISKY IN WAR ON SUBWAY CRIME

Transit cops have frisked more than three times as many suspicious-looking straphangers this year, as the city struggles to beat back a disturbing upsurge in subway crime, The Post has...

APPLE WEATHER IN 60S FLASHBACK

Pack your bags Old Man Winter - yer outta here! Sunny weather and temperatures in the 60s and 70s is here through the weekend and into next week. Roy and...

NO HANKY-PANKY FOR ROLY-POLIES

Do heavyset men like to cheat? Fat chance. Overweight men are less likely to fool around than their thinner counterparts, a new study reveals. But it's not because of the...

NO. 9 ON HIT PARADE - GEM DEALER MAY BE LATEST VICTIM OF MOB COPS: FEDS

Two rogue NYPD detectives charged in eight mob-related killings also allegedly whacked an international gem dealer who vanished without a trace while driving to his Diamond District office, The Post...

GIFF: WEALTHY CAN AFFORD SURCHARGE TAX

City Council Speaker Gifford Miller said yesterday he wants to extend a temporary personal income tax surcharge on New Yorkers making over $500,000 and dedicate the accrued revenue to reducing...

ARCHDIOCESE HELPING POOR GO TO SCHOOL

Two thousand youngsters from poor families will get a crack at going to Catholic elementary schools under a new $24 million scholarship program announced by the Archdiocese of New York...

APPLE NIBBLED AWAY - CITY SHRINKS AS FOLKS LEAVE B'KLYN. & QNS.

ALBANY - It may not feel like it on Atlantic Avenue or Queens Boulevard, but Brooklyn and Queens actually shed population last year while the rest of the city saw...

BOMBERS FORCED TO KEEP 12 PITCHERS

YANKEE NOTES BOSTON - Ideally, the Yankees would prefer not to carry a dozen pitchers. Yet, when Kevin Brown comes off the disabled list Sunday in Baltimore, the Yankees will...

GETTING SPRUNG FROM EJECTION SEAT

BOSTON - "Papa Jack" is the nickname of Boston hitting coach Ron Jackson because of the jovial, paternal personality he almost always displays. But last night, Jackson acted like a...

SOX SIDE WITH SHEFF

BOSTON - Red Sox players defended Gary Sheffield's response to an overzealous fan last night, and the umpires decided against ejecting Sheffield despite a couple of aggressive moves into the...

NO HR, BUT SOLID DOUBLE

COME on; let's be fair. While all of us were predisposed to ridicule the John Sterling-Suzyn Waldman team as George Steinbrenner's worst idea since, well, since Sterling and Charley Steiner,...

CAVS CENTER HAS POTENTIAL, PITFALLS

KNICK NOTES CLEVELAND - It would be the precise piece the Knicks need, which is why don't count on it. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the 7-3 Lithuanian center, has been an All-Star...

5 QUESTIONS FOR JOHN THOMPSON

This week, NYP TV Sports' Andrew Marchand spoke with TNT's John Thompson. Besides being an NBA analyst for TNT, Thompson, 63, hosts a talk show in Washington, D.C. Q: What...

MAYDAY MALONES - FATHER-SON COACHES FACE OFF

CLEVELAND - Knicks assistant Mike Malone squared off against his father, Cavs interim coach, Brendan Malone, last night at Gund Arena, both fighting for their jobs. The younger Malone, whom...

IT'S TIME TO GO AFTER THOSE STRIPERS

YOU can add striped bass to the mix since today is the opener for the much sought after gamefish. Flounder and stripers will be the targets for anglers this weekend....

JORDAN CLASSIC DRAWS NBA EXECS - FOR NOW

Executives from several NBA teams - among them Knicks president Isiah Thomas and Nets general manager Ed Stefanski - watched some of the best high school players in the country...

NO MELTDOWN FOR SNOWMAN

New York jockey colony has new member, Chantal Sutherland, 28, two-time Sovereign Award winner (2001-2002) as best apprentice rider in Canada, who's also part-time model. She's won over 250 races,...

VINCE CAN'T BEAT RAP OF RAPTOR FANS

TORONTO - Vince Carter is prepared for a reception only slightly nastier than the Allies got at Normandy when the Nets face his former team, the Raptors, here tonight. He...

POSTSEASON PUSH DOWN TO THE WIRE

NET NOTES TORONTO - There is another element to the game here tonight with the Raptors, aside from Vince Carter coming back to play his former team. Like maybe the...

ISHII GIVES AMAZIN' OUTING

Every time Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson would turn around, there was Kaz Ishii - practicing, perfecting. In the kitchen between starts. In the runway between innings. Honing his new...

ABRAHAM'S BLUFF DOESN'T FOOL JETS

Despite the fact that John Abraham has his agents talking tough, the fact that he's refused to sign the $6.7 million one-year "franchise" tender offer and the fact that he's...

D.C.: PLAY BALL! - NATIONAL PASTIME BACK IN WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON - Seven potential ownership groups are lined up to make Washington's third attempt to support major league baseball work. More than 22,000 people have bought season tickets for a...

NBA, PLAYERS WANT NEW DEAL

A CERTAIN someone recently revealed to me how he knows the NBA and the Players Association are serious about reaching an agreement on a new contract between the two platonic...

CLIFF WON'T JUMP IN - SITS OUT AGAIN WITH INJURED RIBCAGE

It has taken exactly one week into the new Mets season for Cliff Floyd to have an injury pop up, which is nothing to be overlooked when it comes to...

YOUNG METS MORE EXCITING THAN YANKEES

YANKEES FANS may not want to hear this, but right now, the Mets are the more exciting act in New York. For a lot of reasons. Yes, there is Yankees-Red...

SCRATCHED CORNEA SCRATCHES MATSUI

MET NOTES Kaz Matsui was plucked from the starting lineup for last night's game against the Astros because of a scratched cornea he suffered from sleeping with his contact lenses...

GIANTS' NEW HOME WON'T BURDEN STATE

Just before lunchtime, John Mara made a prediction at the conclusion of a press conference he'd long awaited. "I expect," the Giants executive vice president said yesterday, "by the time...

LEBRON MAKES GUARANTEE

CLEVELAND - LeBron James issued his first guarantee as a pro last night. With the slumping Cavaliers no longer a lock for the playoffs, James, the spectacular second-year swingman being...

FATHER-SON A DUO OF MAYDAY MALONES

KNICK NOTES CLEVELAND - Knicks assistant Mike Malone squared off against his father, Cavs interim coach, Brendan Malone, last night at Gund Arena, both fighting for their jobs. The younger...

PHILLIPS MAY GET TICKET OUT

YANKEE NOTES BOSTON - Ideally, the Yankees would prefer not to carry a dozen pitchers. Yet, when Kevin Brown comes off the disabled list Sunday in Baltimore, the Yankees will...

STRAINED RIB CAGE PUTS FLOYD ON SHELF

MET NOTES It has taken exactly one week into the new season for Cliff Floyd to have an injury pop up, which is nothing to be overlooked when it comes...

FRANC YOU VERY MUCH - METS RALLY TO BEAT FORMER CAPTAIN

Mets 4 - Astros 3 As quickly as the Mets dropped five straight games to open the season, they have won four straight and gotten themselves to within a game...

'LOCK' AND SLOWED - LEBRON GUARANTEES PLAYOFFS THEN CAN'T DELIVER VS. KNICKS

Knicks 95 - Heat 89 CLEVELAND - LeBron James issued his first guarantee as a pro last night. Then King James laid an egg. The slumping Cavaliers are no longer...

EJECTION FEAT - JACKSON, FRANCONA BOTH TOSSED

BOSTON - "Papa Jack" is the nickname of Boston hitting coach Ron Jackson because of the jovial, paternal personality he almost always displays. But last night, Jackson acted like a...

FRANCO FOILED AGAIN

This time there was no warm ovation for John Franco last night at Shea Stadium, no video tribute or polite applause. When he trotted out of the bullpen, this time...

UNIT LESS THAN BIG

BOSTON - Joe Torre handled five questions about Tanyon Sturtze in his pre-game media gathering late yesterday afternoon before one about Randy Johnson, Alex Rodriguez or Mariano Rivera. This is...

ATHLETIC METS MORE EXCITING THAN YANKEES

YANKEE FANS won't want to hear this, but right now, the Mets are the most interesting show in New York. For a lot of reasons. Yes, there is Yankees-Red Sox,...

NO CHOICE: YANKEES TO CARRY 12 PITCHERS

YANKEE NOTES BOSTON - Ideally, the Yankees would prefer not to carry a dozen pitchers. Yet, when Kevin Brown comes off the DL Sunday in Baltimore the Yankees will be...

CLOSER TO END - MO'S START MAY BE SIGN OF PERMANENT DECLINE

BOSTON - Anyone can throw a bad pitch. Even the best can try to get inside, leave a pitch too up and over the plate, and have Jason Varitek drive...

BIG SWING AND A MISS - ANOTHER DAY IN THE RIVALRY: GARY FIGHTS BACK; GORDON TAKES LOSS

Red Sox 8 - Yankees 5 BOSTON - Add another ferocious chapter to the Yankees-Red Sox feud. In the middle of Tom Gordon absorbing an 8-5 loss to the Red...

SO MUCH FOR THE RIVALRY'S SUDDEN FEEL-GOOD FEELING

BOSTON - The ball was bouncing along the corner in right field, and rolling toward the blue Mohegan Sun sign, and for the moment it looked like just another botched...

CAPTAIN VIDEO - FRANCONA REWINDS CURT'S START, ANALYZES HIS RETURN

BOSTON - He wanted to make sure, so Terry Francona watched video of the sixth inning of Wednesday night's game more than once. At first, Francona looked at the end...

RATTLED ROD - BOSOX, FENWAY FANS GETTING TO ALEX

BOSTON - Here's hoping you have enough of Yankees-Red Sox to hold you until May 27. After last night's Yankees-Red Sox tilt when Randy Johnson made his Fenway debut as...

SCHILLIN' VILLAIN - IN POST-PEDRO AGE, CURT WILL BE PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1

BOSTON - He reported for work with a smile and sunny disposition, a perfect complement for the sun-dappled afternoon at Fenway Park. Gone, at least on the surface, was any...

GREATEST SHOW IN NBA - AMAZIN' VINCE MAKES MUST-SEE TV

Sunday 76ers at Nets 6 p.m., YES How sweet is Vince Carter's game right now? ESPN's Tim Legler calls it "eye candy." Along with LeBron James, Carter is the most...

MARCHAND'S MEMO OF THE WEEK

To: Mark Shapiro, ESPN Exec. VP From: Andrew Marchand Re: Battle of the Gridiron Stars CC: Robert Edwards Dear Mark, Getting Eli Manning to risk his $45 million-plus contract is...

CAV OWNER SEEING STARS - MAY PLUCK GM, COACH FROM TV GALAXY

Following the trend of NBA TV analysts moving to the sidelines or to the front office, ESPN's Greg Anthony and Tim Legler, along with TNT's Kenny Smith, have been reported...

JETS WON'T CALL ABRAHAM'S BLUFF

Despite the fact that John Abraham has his agents talking tough, the fact that he's refused to sign the $6.7 million one-year "franchise" tender offer and the fact that he's...