March 29, 2015

The real stars of the NCAAs are worth all their stinking millions

HOUSTON — Coaches always tell you the same thing: This isn’t about them. It’s about the players. It’s about the kids. It’s about the — please bow your head solemnly...

Girardi admits it: For Yankees, it's World Series or bust

His club has missed the postseason two straight seasons, the roster is loaded with age and there are health questions in every corner of the clubhouse. Yet, manager Joe Girardi...

Devils eliminated from playoff contention with loss to Ducks

The Devils lost their fifth straight, tying their season high with a 2-1 defeat against the Ducks on Sunday night at Prudential Center. They were eliminated from playoff contention for...

Hot-hitting A-Rod quietly proving to be big Yankees strength

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — When Alex Rodriguez arrived at spring training, it was easy to believe he already had played his last big league game. Now with eight days until Opening...

The Mets' huge homer hopes of deal-eager Lucas Duda

JUPITER, Fla. — Lucas Duda is “hopeful” a contract extension with the Mets will be worked out. As The Post’s Joel Sherman reported on Saturday, the Mets and Duda’s representatives...

Teixeira knee scare reminds how quickly Yanks can nosedive

TAMPA — “Oh, [expletive]!” Mark Teixeira exclaimed Sunday morning, and a tranquil intra-camp game, while the official Yankees team took on the Astros in Kissimmee, turned suddenly serious at the...

Breaking down the Murphy-less Mets' 2nd base auditions

JUPITER, Fla. — Terry Collins has plenty of “second” opinions, but still no answer about Daniel Murphy’s potential replacement heading into the season. As it stands, the Mets manager is...

Lou Carnesecca's loving, lauding reaction to Mullin offer

Lou Carnesecca first saw the boy at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Flatbush, and couldn’t take his eyes off the way he made the right play, the way he made...

Knicks re-up Ledo, want longer look at speed freak

“Rick the Quick’’ is coming back. Ricky Ledo was signed to a second 10-day contract as Phil Jackson wants to take more of a look. Ledo, the 6-foot-7 shooting guard...

Markel Brown finds his groove, performs his best in key spot

As the Nets went through practice Saturday, Lionel Hollins was impressed with what he saw from rookie Markel Brown. “He was really shooting the ball well,” Hollins said, “and I...

The heartwarming journey of sobbing Michigan St. star

SYRACUSE — After the final buzzer sounded and Michigan State outlasted Louisville 76-70 in overtime, Travis Trice finally let it all go. Tears flowed out of his eyes and down...

Phil Jackson pal: Knicks need 'bigger butt' than Kentucky's Towns

As Charley Rosen observes his buddy Phil Jackson’s first full year as Knicks team president, he can’t stop wondering what a wide-bodied low-post center could have done for the Knicks'...

How one Gonzaga blunder explains frustrations of NCAAs

HOUSTON — The difference is so ridiculously slim sometimes. Look, if you make it to the second-to-last weekend of the college basketball season, it means you’re good enough to make...

Isles finally break out, end skid with win over Red Wings

Jack Capuano insisted the Islanders weren’t panicking. Not after a three-game losing streak heading into Sunday’s game against the Red Wings or a seven-game winless streak at the Coliseum. But...

St. John's right to bet on Mullin, the ultimate basketball lifer

HOUSTON — Yes, there are reasons to be skeptical. Of course there are. It has been 30 years since Chris Mullin spent any significant time at all around the college...

'Whose side are we on?'

If Henry Kissinger had planned this, experts would be calling it Machiavellian. But President Obama and his foreign-policy team are behind it, so it’s more likely just strategic ineptitude. The...

Coach K makes more history, marches Duke into Final Four

HOUSTON — A special group of freshmen is taking Duke and Coach K back to the NCAA Final Four. The Blue Devils and their trio of freshmen starters are going...

Second City snub

The Obamas just may be moving to town come 2017. We always thought they had great taste. Buzzfeed reports that the First Family is seriously considering New York for their...

Battle of Tikrit's lessons for Obama

After weeks of hesitation, the Obama administration last week responded to an Iraqi demand for airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Tikrit, a largely Sunni city north of Baghdad. Initially,...

Rewarding failure: Democrats' eagerness to back Hillary

An abscess of anger seems to gnaw at Hillary Clinton, but the reasons for her resentments remain unclear. The world’s oldest party, which governed the nation during two world wars...

The smart way to curb traffic

The cost to use the seven New York City bridges and two tunnels operated by New York State’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) rose last week for the fifth time in...

Carlson brothers' ugly behavior won't help Right

Some people see sexism, misogyny and homophobia everywhere. They are not everywhere — but they do exist. The Carlson brothers — Tucker and Buckley — provided a particularly gruesome and...

St. John's offers job to Chris Mullin, who's expected to accept

St. John’s wants to party like it’s 1985. Just two days after ending Steve Lavin’s five-year tenure as coach, St. John’s offered its head coaching position to the greatest player...

Nets take care of business with win over tanking Lakers

After everything the Nets have been through this season, they find themselves in a remarkable position: with 10 games left in the regular season, the Nets control their playoff destiny....

Rangers dumped by Capitals to complete lost weekend

Hi, Rangers, this is Earth. Welcome back. For two months, if not longer, the Rangers had been playing hockey at such a high level that no win was surprising, and...

Izzo does it again! Michigan St. survives OT thriller, on to Final 4

SYRACUSE — All summer, the Spartans said it, texted it to each other, used it as their battle cry. “Get to Indy.’’ It actually started one year ago, after a...

Cuomo, de Blasio rush to aid of cop thrown off horse

They’re jockeying for position. Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio scrambled to the aid of a mounted NYPD officer after the cop’s horse flung him onto the pavement in the...

ISIS uses kids to lead prisoners to beheadings

ISIS terrorists used children as props in their latest sick execution video, having the youngsters lead eight Shiite men to their doom in a Syrian field. The blindfolded victims —...

David Wright has Mets adopting some Cardinal rules this spring

JUPITER, Fla. — Mets fans are quite aware their team’s last playoff moment culminated with Adam Wainwright freezing Carlos Beltran to end NLCS Game 7 in 2006. What might not...

Why Wisconsin can take down fallible Kentucky

The bottom line is Kentucky found a way to win Saturday night because it recognized when it was Winning Time against a fearless, throwback Notre Dame team that believed. That...

Germanwings kamikaze urged pilot to leave cockpit before crash

The murderous co-pilot who intentionally crashed an Airbus into the French Alps last week, killing all on board, repeatedly encouraged the captain to take a bathroom break minutes earlier —...

Off-duty bus driver drunkenly plows into police car: cops

An off-duty Long Island school-bus driver was charged with drunken driving after she smashed her vehicle into a police car that was responding to a separate accident, authorities said Sunday....

Dan Hurley to sign extension at Rhode Island, likely out as St. John's candidate

St. John's next basketball coach likely won't be Dan Hurley. A source told The Post Hurley and Rhode Island have agreed in principle to a contract extension through the 2020-21 season....

Russell Wilson reminds us he's also a solid baseball player

Before he was won Super Bowl XLVIII and threw an interception to lose Super Bowl XLIX, Russell Wilson was cashing checks as a minor-league baseball player. The Seahawks quarterback was...

Two bodies found in East Village building blast rubble

Searchers found a body Sunday afternoon in the rubble from ​Thursday's East Village building blast​ and fire​, sources told The Post.

Putrid Knicks bore Bulls so much, they join in wave during game

The Knicks' atrocious season officially became the worst in franchise history with Saturday night's 31-point loss to the Bulls in Chicago. The defeat marked the 60th of the season for the...

Coney Island roller-coaster stalls in season-opening run

Coney Island’s Cyclone took patrons on an emotional roller coaster ride Sunday, as the legendary attraction broke down on its season-opening public run, and riders were forced to make a...

Tom Brady gives Patriots fans quite a scare with cliff dive

Since when did Tom Brady become such a daredevil? While on vacation with his family in Costa Rica, the four-time Super Bowl winner terrified Patriots fans everywhere by jumping off a...

Ex-CFO who ripped Chick-Fil-A now on food stamps

A CFO who drew widespread condemnation after berating a Chick-fil-A employee in a video that went viral three years ago is out of work and on food stamps, according to...

Tunisian security forces kill ringleader of museum attack

TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisia's prime minister said Sunday a leading suspect in a deadly museum attack on foreign tourists has been killed in anti-terrorist operations, as tens of thousands of...

Killer co-pilot's ex-fiancee told him she's pregnant

Not only does she carry the stigma of being the woman who jilted Andreas Lubitz just before he rammed a Germanwings jetliner into a mountainside — she’s also pregnant with...

Don't tell Aaron Rodgers he can't celebrate Wisconsin's Final Four trip

When Wisconsin went through Los Angeles on their road to the Final Four, the Badgers seemed to pick up two new -- and pretty famous -- fans. Packers quarterback Aaron...

Amanda Knox returning to Italy

Amanda Knox will return to the scene of the crime she was cleared of committing — so she can cash in on an Italian payday, her lawyer says. Now that...

Surgical technician claims gender bias in delivery room: lawsuit

A Queens surgical technician claims he was rejected for a job helping deliver babies because he’s a man. Joel Consing, 49, applied for a surgical tech job in the Labor...

January Jones sad to see the end of ‘Mad Men’

Fans may be feeling blue about the end of “Mad Men,” but none more so than January Jones, who plays Betty Draper. “It was really hard for me that last...

School district forced teacher into mental hospital: lawsuit

A Long Island school district tried to oust a longtime teacher by throwing her in the loony bin, a lawsuit claims. First-grade teacher Susan McCarthy, 63, charges the Roosevelt Union...

NYU adjunct claims professors harassed her with pornography

Two NYU educators behaved more like sophomoric frat boys than professors, sending sex toys and porn to a fellow prof they dislike, a lawsuit claims. New York University professors Joseph...

Train operator sues MTA over ‘satanic terroristic criminality’

It’s the D train, as in devil. A train operator of 14 years has filed a lawsuit against the MTA alleging it engaged in “satanic terroristic criminality” by sending bosses...

School safety agent allegedly beats up woman who trashed her on Facebook

A school safety agent acted worse than a playground bully on Saturday, when she beat up a woman who talked trash about her on Facebook, police said. The agent, Alexis...

'Dog Day Afternoon' fanatic seeking chunk of movie’s profits

He’s doggedly determined to get his payday from “Dog Day Afternoon.” After decades of litigation and despite an injunction barring him from filing additional lawsuits, the former jailhouse lover of...

Jewish rescue group acquires military truck to help out in emergencies

It’s there to search — but not destr-oy. An Orthodox Jewish-founded search-and-rescue group is acquiring heavy-duty military equipment in the wake of Hurricane Sandy to help out in emergencies when...

Cuomo and lawmakers still at impasse over school deal

Gov. Cuomo and state lawmakers failed to reach a budget deal Saturday as they bickered over teacher evaluations, struggling schools and ethics. Cuomo insisted sides were “close” and said he’d...

NYU freshman petitions against school’s $70,974 per year cost

A teenager from Pakistan who has been newly accepted as a freshman at NYU has already made a name for herself there — by starting a petition protesting the school’s...

Diplomatic vehicles pile up more than $16M in parking tickets

Diplomats have 529 legal places to park in New York City — but still racked up more than $16 million in parking tickets, The Post has learned. The city has...

Heiress must settle her $16M tab for jewels or return them: suit

A jeweler wants an heiress and former Metropolitan Museum of Art trustee to settle her $16 million tab for three exotic gems, according to a lawsuit. Paula Cusi, the widow...

Putin pays army of Internet 'trolls' to spread fake good news

Russian President Vladimir Putin pays a secret army of social-media “trolls” to spread fake, glowing posts about him throughout the Internet, former workers have revealed. “You write, write, write from...

25 injured after Air Canada plane skids off runway

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — An Air Canada plane made an "abrupt" landing and skidded off the runway at the Halifax airport in bad weather, and officials said early Sunday that...

Lena Dunham's dog vs. Jewish boyfriend jokes fall flat

The most offensive part of Lena Dunham’s “anti-Semitic” humor article is that her jokes got no laughs, critics blasted Saturday. The 28-year-old “Girls” star’s New Yorker magazine piece, “Dog or...

Killer co-pilot was an 'insecure control freak': ex-girlfriend

German murder-suicide pilot Andreas Lubitz was an insecure control freak to the schoolteacher fiancée who broke his heart, even trying to tell her what to wear and who to talk...

Senator wants State Department investigation of Huma Abedin

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee reportedly has asked the State Department’s inspector general to investigate why Huma Abedin, a top aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton, was allowed to...

Inside the reclusive Amish world - where beard cutting is a hate crime

It was 11 at night on Oct. 4, 2011, when five Amish men knocked on the door of Myron Miller, a 46-year old bishop in an Amish community in Carroll...

Fight anti-Semitism by inviting a non-Jew to Seder

Moment magazine, a Jewish culture publication co-founded by famed author and activist Elie Wiesel, has launched a campaign it says will combat anti-Semitism — and along the way, fill the...

De Blasio gets roasted at Inner Circle bash

It was his night to get skewered by the press — but he took the biggest “pot’’ shots at himself. The occasion was Saturday night’s Inner Circle bash at the...

The science behind brain farts and selfies

https://youtu.be/Fw3x4wJMHiY Does shaving make your hair grow in thicker? Does being cold make you sick? What’s the best length of time to power nap? These are the kind of off-beat...

Promiscuity is not the path to female enlightenment

Robin Rinaldi should sue her marriage counselor. When she was in her mid-30s and engaged to be married to a man several years older, Rinaldi, the author of a new...

Weather Underground bomber unmasked — as city schoolteacher

The “bomb guru” for the terrorist group the Weather Underground never served a day in jail — but he did spend decades teaching in New York City classrooms, a new...

Herald Square subway corridor turning into homeless camp

A Herald Square subway corridor has become a homeless encampment. More than a dozen sleeping homeless men and women nightly occupy the corridor linking the 34th Street station to the...

The controversial rise of the 'Food Babe'

It’s been a big month for menu changes at the nation’s largest food companies, including: Dunkin’ Donuts will remove the whitening agent titanium dioxide from its powdered donuts. McDonald’s and...

Sleepy de Blasio doesn't work most early mornings

It’s the City That Hits the Snooze Button, at least when it comes to Mayor de Blasio. Hizzoner has scheduled press conferences, speeches or public events before 11 a.m. on...

Did you see that, Knicks? Towns carries Kentucky into Final Four

CLEVELAND — Karl-Anthony Towns’ disappearance in the Sweet 16 was the worst thing any future opponent could see. Only Kentucky could have had its best offensive player put up one...

Back-to-back crushing Elite 8 losses for T.J. McConnell, Arizona

LOS ANGELES — Arizona spent the last year waiting for this moment, preparing for this moment, making sure another Elite Eight trip wouldn’t end in misery. It got Wisconsin again,...

Lampard gets first-hand view of an expansion team's struggles

New York City FC was not going to go its entire inaugural season undefeated. But it would have liked to have delivered a better showing for the special guest who...

Why Girardi was happier with Betances' latest outing

TAMPA — Yankees reliever Dellin Betances and manager Joe Girardi said they believe the right-handed reliever improved Saturday when he faced the Orioles. “I have been working with Larry [Rothschild,...

Yankees: Executive VP Felix Lopez not fired

TAMPA — The Yankees are refuting a published report that executive vice president Felix Lopez has been let go. “Felix Lopez has not been fired from the Yankees,’’ a senior...

Mets' Jacob deGrom peaking just in time for start of the season

PORT ST. LUCIE — Jacob deGrom only can hope for this kind of performance when he faces the Nationals again on April 8. The Mets right-hander breezed through the Washington...

These 2 usual suspects battling for another Final Four berth

SYRACUSE — It is a great story line, Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino having to get past each other in order to once again strut into the familiar terrain of...

Return of this hard-throwing righty could boost Mets bullpen

PORT ST. LUCIE — Vic Black is no longer feeling blue. The Mets reliever admitted he wasn’t sure how he would fare throwing from a bullpen mound Saturday, but after...

Heartless visitors mug for selfies at East Village blast site

Self-absorbed jerks are treating the East Village gas explosion site like a tourist attraction, shooting grinning selfies even as rescuers search for life in the ruins where two bodies might...

The advantage Gonzaga will use will use to knock out Duke

CLEVELAND — The adventures of the human coin toss continue … Gonzaga (+2) over Duke: Appearing in their 17th straight NCAA Tournament, the Zags finally will break through to their...

Not even Notre Dame’s best Rudy impression could best Kentucky

CLEVELAND — It might as well have been Villanova on their chests, may as well have been Rupp Arena in 1985 with Patrick Ewing’s Hoyas on the other side. The...

Donald Trump's long-rumored NY super golf course near reality

If you are a golfer from the New York area, you probably have heard about the golf project at Ferry Point. For years. You probably heard about it and wondered...

Taxi loans driving lenders to high profits

As the war between Uber and medallion cab drivers escalates on New York City streets, the credit unions behind the scenes are still making a mint on taxi medallion loans....

Personal credit debt nears ‘unsustainable level’

For millions of Americans who lived through credit-card hell in 2008 and couldn’t pay bills, those days seem not to have taught a lasting lesson. American consumers kept adding credit-card...

Yellen can't move rates with anemic GDP growth

To rework a line from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” “If you don’t grow yer economy, you can’t have any rate rise. How can you have any rate rise if you...

Dear John: Building a case for new ideas

Dear John: Everything in the private sector that is free of government meddling has been getting better, cheaper and of higher quality. But roads? Bridges? Not so much. Even I,...

The deeper issue with Zdeno Chara's constant MVP snubbing

BOSTON — So I was thinking how Claude Julien’s acumen behind the Bruins’ bench (not to mention Peter Chiarelli’s wisdom in the front office) seems to have diminished in direct...

A new environment, a new fantasy baseball hope for these players

There comes a time in a baseball player’s career when getting a fresh start in a new town is exactly what is needed to spark something special, even if good...

NJ's own rising MLB star out to be next Matt Harvey

JUPITER, Fla. — This hard-throwing young pitcher on a National League club grew up in the Northeast as a huge Yankees fan, and he is not afraid to admit he...

NCAA's most hated team is suddenly the most unlikely underdog

HOUSTON — The world is generally divided into two simple sub-sets: Those who love Duke basketball. And those who love nothing more than for Duke basketball to lose (subdivided into...

Steve Jobs biographer talks the late Apple great

Steve Jobs biographer Brent Schlender was at Apple’s Soho store Friday speaking about the CEO’s life from his new book, “Becoming Steve Jobs.” The discussion turned to who is the...

Canyon Ranch just got a lot sexier thanks to Dita Von Teese

Canyon Ranch, a health resort and spa in Lenox, Mass., where New Yorkers go to eat really tiny meals, drink juices and learn how to boost their brain power as...

Will Mets unseat king Yankees? These matchups will decide

Hal Steinbrenner expressed concern about losing twice — rather decisively at that — to the Mets in spring training. You could understand Steinbrenner’s March Sadness. The Yankees have been the...

Rangers aiming to sign 2012 first-round pick ASAP: sources

BOSTON — The Rangers are hopeful they will be able to get 2012 first-round pick Brady Skjei under contract and into Hartford as soon as possible, sources have told The...

Swift 'schools' Princeton for attributing bad grammar to wrong lyric

Taylor Swift has some choice words for The Princeton Review. And those words are not ones found on the SAT college exam. Princeton cited the singer’s lyrics as an example...

Annie Lennox gets a few more 'I Love You's' on PBS this week

1. "The Dovekeepers" Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 p.m., CBS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW2CIuQzt9c Jewish oppression at the hands of the Romans is the subject of “The Dovekeepers,” a four-hour series based on Alice...

Daily Blotter

Brooklyn Investigators released this surveillance image of the gunman who fatally shot a man on an East New York street Thursday afternoon. Jonathan Thomas, 24, was walking near Shepherd and...