BASEBALL: When Cardinal O'Connor complained about the Yankees playing a game
on Good Friday, we pointed out that Jews have always had to deal with the
problem of games on religious holidays:
As the Yankees began the 1998 playoffs (my headline: CITY GETS DOWN
TO SERIES BUSINESS), we had a sidebar about minors easily buying beer
at the two New York stadiums and never being asked for ID. Or, in baseball talk:
As the New York Mets face a sexual-harassment lawsuit, our columnist claims that
the team's players have long taken the opportunity to go sexually wild during
spring training in Florida, out of the view of wives and girlfriends. That is:
The impending sale of the Yankees, it was rumored in our pages, might pull in
not just the predicted $700 million but as much as $1 billion:
FOOTBALL: When star linebacker Reggie White made some nasty comments
about gays, we recalled that other athletes and sportscasters had lost their jobs
over similar statements:
BASKETBALL: When basketball notable Anthony Mason was charged with statutory rape in Queens,
his lawyer admitted that the former Knick had partied with the girls in question
but not had sex. As they say in the box scores:
HOCKEY: Okay, admittedly this requires some explanation. Fans at Madison Square Garden
got all weepy-eyed over the retirement of hockey great Wayne Gretzky. You have to know
that the upper seats at the Garden used to be blue, and the most rowdy and devoted
fans sat there, becoming known as the "blue-seaters":
