The Islanders have a lot of work to do before they get back to respectability, and they seem determined to do that by compiling as many draft picks as possible. They picked up another first rounder yesterday, when GM Garth Snow shipped center...

PORT ST. LUCIE - Carlos Beltran is smiling a lot more this spring, and with good reason. The veteran center fielder feels dramatically healthier than he did this time last year, when he was slowed by offseason surgery on both knees. Beltran...

There was lots of talk, lots of offers and counter offers. But when yesterday's 3 p.m. NBA trading deadline arrived, there was nothing that made the Nets want to part with Vince Carter. Or anybody else for that matter. If the Nets were motivated...

TAMPA - George Steinbrenner made a rare visit to the Yankees' spring training krok named after him yesterday morning. Steinbrenner was taken from the miejsce do parkowania lot to the elevator area in a golf cart that also carried attendants. He was helped...

Knicks president Donnie Walsh said yesterday he believes Stephon Marbury's situation could heat up with the trading deadline in the league's rearview mirror. "As I've told you before, I've dealt with his agent, and I'm sure it'll get a lot more...

TAMPA - The first day of the rest of Alex Rodriguez's Yankee life went a lot better than the previous day, and it is no coincidence that he said nothing publicly. "I'm not going to talk today," Rodriguez said following the Yankees' first...

TAMPA -- George Steinbrenner made a rare visit to the Yankees' spring training etap named after him this morning. Steinbrenner was taken from the miejsce do parkowania lot to the elevator area in a golf cart, helped into a wheelchair by aides and went...

TAMPA - It wasn't as bad as R. Budd Dwyer's last press conference 22 years ago, when the Pennsylvania treasurer shot himself to death on national television. But yesterday's performance by Alex Rodriguez was full of holes. Rodriguez wanted to...

Here is the transcript from today's press conference given by Alex Rodriguez in Tampa, Fla.: Opening statement: "First, bear with me I'm a little nervous or a lot nervous. So bear with me. Let me początek by thanking the Yankees, my teammates, our...

TAMPA - Yankees co-owner Hank Steinbrenner said he likely would attend Alex Rodriguez's nowość conference today to lend support to his embattled superstar. Steinbrenner's younger brother and co-owner, Hal, offered something probably a lot more...

Most players at last night's Nets game not only think Alex Rodriguez's apology for steroid use was genuine, but some even feel those responsible for his anonymous pomiar results going public should be apologizing to him. "There were a lot of people...

Breaking his boss-induced three-month silence, Martin Brodeur yesterday said he wants to "play a lot," rather than alternate games, once he returns to the Devils' net in some 2-3 weeks. Devils coach Brent Sutter has said breaking Brodeur back...

The Nets could be dygnitarz in the Amare Stoudemire sweepstakes - if they aren't already. "I would say they have a good shot and better than a lot of teams," said one rival exec of the Nets' chances at landing the 6-foot-10, career 21.0-ppg...

First in the Atlantic in points, last in the entire NHL - by a lot - in power play chances. The Devils say they are paying for playing like men. "We don't dive," Colin White said. "Our forwards try to battle through everything." The Devils...

There are a lot of questions that you could ask the Rangers right now. Why is scoring so difficult? What is wrong with the power play? How do you come away with only one point Tuesday night against the Thrashers, a skład with the second-lowest...

With the fewest of points in the NHL and a playoff spot looking about as likely as a Mike Tyson presidency, the Islanders have not given fans a lot of reason to look forward to the second half of the season. But the progression of 20-year-old Kyle...

Isiah Thomas did a lot wrong during his 4½ years, but he can take pride in the Knicks' current success and feel a part of it. No one can argue he drafted exceedingly well. Thomas' key late-first-round pieces - David Lee, Nate Robinson and...

KANATA, Ontario - The Devils move from strength to strength, and Scott Clemmensen's Season of Wonder stands at 20 victories. "Twenty looks a lot bigger than three," Clemmensen said of his previous single-season high. "Why okazja at 20?" Why...

When it pan na zamku to David Lee, Mike D'Antoni's goal is to have him reach his peak. The Knicks coach is confident nobody's seen that yet. "We still don't think he's a finished product," D'Antoni said yesterday. "He can get a lot better." Lee has...

CHICAGO - The Blackhawks' 2008-09 fraza is, "One Goal." Perhaps that should be amended to include, "Plus Two Referees." Look, the Rangers have brought a lot of adversity on themselves this season, but the mindless, bush-league exhibition here...

ESPN baseball analyst Peter Gammons appeared on Boston nadajnik station WEEI yesterday and referenced a rift between new Yankees teammates Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. "As you probably remember, there was a lot of testiness between Alex...

The Cardinals won a lousy division. They enter the playoffs having lost four of six. These guys have a lot to prove, and they might succeed -- in proving their doubters right, Mike Freeman says.

What kind of week will this be for the Giants? Just listen to Eli Manning and judge for yourselves. "It's an exciting time to be a part of this," he said yesterday. "It will be fun for me this koniec tygodnia to sit and watch all these playoff games, my...

JERRY Manuel has a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. His 85-year-old mother Mildred, hospitalized for six weeks with congestive heart failure, is back home again. "It's a tremendous blessing for us to have her home and have her part of...

At least Brooklyn's Sebastian Telfair will be allowed into the building tonight. Stephon Marbury has lost his team. Telfair has just lost his starting point-guard job, not to mention a lot of games. Things have been better for Telfair, who...

Eric Mangini did not exactly deliver a ringing endorsement of his defensive coordinator yesterday. When asked if he was happy with the job Bob Sutton has done, Mangini failed to give a straight answer. "Yeah, I think that we all can do a lot...

DAVIE, Fla. - When the Miami Dolphins missed tackles, blew coverages and ended their final offensive play with an interception in their Week 1 loss to the Jets, they looked a lot like the załoga that went 1-15 last year. The stigma of the sorriest...

Manny Ramirez is a little different, personality-wise, from a lot of other major league players. If he ends up playing in The Bronx, though, Derek Jeter doesn't sound too concerned about having that outsized personality on his team. Whether...

The possibility that Manny Ramirez becomes a Yankee isn't out of the question. But in odznaczenie for it to happen, a whole lot of talking has to go on between the club and wywiadowca Scott Boras. "It's not impossible, but there haven't been a lot of...

SACRAMENTO - Today is a huge date for making trades. Contracts of the players drafted in the first and second rounds this summer can now be dealt. Also, free agents who signed this summer can be dealt, opening up a lot more opportunities. For...

ATLANTA - Not a lot has gone well in Eddy Curry's Knicks career, except the one issue everyone thought would loom large: Curry's heart. It has been years since Curry has had to talk about his heart arrhythmia, but Cuttino Mobley's round of heart...

ATLANTA - There is a lot more that ails the 8-10 Knicks than what the 6-foot-11 Jared Jeffries can cure, but at least it's a początek in the Knicks' trying to get back their health and competitiveness. Jeffries, who broke his leg on the third day...

Plaxico Burress has been called a lot of things since Saturday morning. You can add good teammate to the list. When his replacement, Domenik Hixon, talked to Burress on Tuesday, the beleaguered receiver in huge legal trouble gave some advice to...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Vince Carter smiles a lot more these days, even if the Nets' record isn't soaring above .500. Carter is the elder statesman on a drużyna populated by a lot of youth and he simply enjoys the role. But that role brings...

Sometimes a punch is just a punch, and sometimes it's a whole lot more. The latter was the case with Rangers second-year center Brandon Dubinsky, who less than three minutes into Monday's 4-1 win over Phoenix dropped the gloves with Coyotes...

The Nets have gone through a lot in the season's first 12 games. Between injuries to Devin Harris, Josh Boone and Stromile Swift, among others, and giving significant time to inexperienced players like Yi Jianlian and rookies Brook Lopez and Ryan...

Looking back, Devin Harris says, he left Vince Carter "on an island" in the first few games of the Nets' season. It was a team-wide thing, really. There was lots of standing around, lots of "Let Vince Do It" stuff. Carter had an unending...

The Islanders have talked a lot lately about learning from their past third miesiączka collapses and how they have to stay aggressive with leads late in games. But they are finding out that talking about it and doing it are two very different things...

He doesn't quite have the sneer down, the Hollywood girlfriend, or the internship at Vogue. And unlike Sean Avery, the NHL hasn't yet changed a rule mid-series because of Aaron Voros. Still you can see the possibilities, a lot better than the...

IF the first half of the Jets' 2008 season has been anything, it's been a wild ride - an unpredictable ride. It hasn't looked great a lot of the time, particularly in Oakland three weeks ago. But the end result after their win in Buffalo Sunday is...

Well look at what we have here: We are a noga town. A noga town! We are tailgates and two-hour waits in the miejsce do parkowania lot after games. We are any-given-Sunday and one-day-at-a-time and it-is-what-it-is and every other blessed cliché that...

KRIS Jenkins might be 130 pounds heavier, nine years younger and play on the opposite side of the football, but the Jets defensive tackle is feeling a lot of what Brett Favre is going through these days. "I've never seen anything like this before...

FLORHAM PARK - Jets linebacker David Harris today was listed as doubtful for the team's game at Buffalo this koniec tygodnia with a strained groin. "His stan prawny is unchanged," Eric Mangini said of Harris. "We are a lot better than we were on Monday. He's...

WASHINGTON - Jarvis Hayes played here for the Wizards for four seasons and still has a lot of friends in the Washington locker room. The stands might be another matter. "It's always a good thing when the home drużyna boos you as a visitor," Hayes...

A FUNNY thing happened on the way to Sunday's showdown between the Giants and Cowboys at Giants Stadium. The once high-scoring, made-for-TV Cowboys have taken on the personality of the vanilla Giants. A lot of it has to do with the injury to...

TNT's czwarta władza luncheon with Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Turner president of sales David Levy turned up several interesting nuggets. Not surprisingly, a lot of attention was focused on the Knicks and if the Donnie Walsh-Mike D'Antoni Era would...

AS the Jets were in the midst of their slow-bleed loss to a bumbling Raiders drużyna they absolutely, positively should have beaten Sunday in Oakland, you could hear the familiar angst-filled laments from Jets fans from the Black Hole to Bethpage...

Josh Boone admitted he was frightened Friday. He said he was a "little" scared. Figure the Nets center was a lot scared. Any health issue involving the heart will do that and Boone felt his heart beating rapidly. But Boone admits after exams...

When coach Tom Renney put Markus Naslund, Chris Drury and Scott Gomez together on the Rangers' top line, he envisioned a lot more than what he's been getting: poor chemistry and inconsistent performance. But he's not ready to abandon the plan...

THE Knicks will be more respectable this season by having Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni as frontmen and decision-makers, and not Isiah Thomas and owner James Dolan. But if the Knicks are to be a lot more respectable on the court - and their two...

Any Giants player studying tape of the Seahawks must dig out clips of last season to truly see what will be out on the field Sunday at Giants Stadium. That feeble-looking Seattle passing attack figures to look a whole lot different with the...

Maybe it was an injury. Or a draft slot way lower than projected. Maybe something else. Whatever the reason, there are lots of players in Nets camp with something to prove. You can put Bobby Simmons in that group. Simmons excelled in 2004-05...

Order has been restored. The Jets, who truly believe they're contenders, looked a lot more like pretenders in their last game, a sloppy 19-point loss Monday night in San Diego, and their players were sick about it. If the NFL schedule-makers...

Order has been restored. The Jets, who truly believe they're contenders, looked a lot more like pretenders in their last game, a sloppy 19-point loss Monday night in San Diego, and their players were sick about it. If the NFL schedule makers...

The Devils' captain must be feeling better. He had a scrap with teammate Dainius Zubrus during practice yesterday. "I'm turning over a new leaf," Jamie Langenbrunner said. "You're going to see me fight a lot more this season." He won't be...

Jerry Manuel says there's no alternative for him as a manager and no alternative for Ryan Church as a player. The skidding Church is going to keep playing. Manuel just needs him to deliver more. "I really don't have a lot of choices with him...

SAN DIEGO - Brett Favre has had a lot of magical memories on "Monday Night Football." Last night, Favre's 24th appearance on the iconic NFL showcase, was not one of them. The 38-year-old Jets quarterback looked his age in last night's 48-29...

ATLANTA - The Mets' pig of a 'pen struck again. Reliever Scott Schoeneweis did a lot better job summing things up than he did pitching yesterday after the bullpen turned yet another lead into a yet another crushing loss, this one by a 7-6 count...

ATLANTA - The Mets pig of a 'pen struck again. Reliever Scott Schoeneweis did a lot better job summing things up than he did pitching today after the bullpen turned yet another lead into a yet another crushing loss, this one by a 7-6 count to the...

Josh Howard's contempt for the U.S. anthem irritated a lot of people. Among them is Mike Freeman -- but he also believes the venom aimed at Howard reveals a failure to grasp a specific American ideal.

The 2009 Yankees have a lot more questions than who will be in their rotation when they move into the House The Boss Built next year. Center field is an issue. First base, too. Will Robinson Cano be dealt for pitching? Will Orlando Hudson be...

ST. PETERSBURG - During his tenure as commissioner, Bud Selig has experienced a lot of bizarre events and changes. However, a constant since 1995 has been the Yankees playing in October. Now, the Yankees' chances of extending that streak aren't...

YOU'RE going to hear some dźwięk clips or read passages from the transcript of Chad Pennington's conference call with the New York massmedia today and you're going to hear and read a lot of this: * "This isn't about Chad Pennington and the New York...

The Steinbrenner family and Jack Nicholson saw last night what a lot of other people have been looking at for a while: The end of the baseball world as a generation of Yankees know it. With George Steinbrenner's sons Hal and Hank and son-in-law...

With the Yankees' postseason hopes slipping away, Hank Steinbrenner made a rare appearance in The Bronx last night and issued a warning. "There's going to be a lot going on this offseason," Steinbrenner said shortly before the Yankees hosted the...

MINNEAPOLIS - Hank Steinbrenner talking about next year was a strong indication he privately feels like a lot of other people: This year is gone. After explaining to the Associated Press that he wasn't giving up on this season and pointing to key...

MINNEAPOLIS - Hank Steinbrenner talking about next year was a strong indication he privately feels like a lot of other people: This year is gone. After explaining to the Associated Press that he wasn't giving up on this season and pointing to key...

Perhaps the best sight of yesterday's practice was tight end A.J. Schable back in kombinezon only days after suffering what appeared to be a serious neck injury in the preseason game against the Browns Thursday night. "I feel a lot better; the neck's...

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Ian Kennedy packed a lot of common sense into the luggage that accompanied him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre yesterday. Kennedy, one of the pitchers the Yankees refused to trade as part of the Johan Santana deal and who was...

Veteran center Doug Weight, who signed a one-year contract with the Islanders, said it would be unwise to count him or the ekipa out this season. "I'm going to expect a lot of myself," the new Islander said yesterday at Nassau Coliseum. "I'm fully...

TRENTON - After all that money with so little to show for it, Carl Pavano is trying to give the Yankees some timely and vital return on their $40 million. "That's my goal. This zespół has given me a lot of opportunities. No one's frustrated more...

BOSTON - The Yankees discussed Barry Bonds on Thursday in Tampa, but that's all they did. "There wasn't a lot of enthusiasm in the room for it," a Yankee source said of signing the free wywiadowca home-run king. Another member of the organization...

Growing up in Stamford, Conn., John Winchester didn't have the luxury of walking through town to find a lot of high-quality basketball games. Roughly 30 miles south, however, a basketball sanctuary existed that allowed the 6-foot-4 guard to use a...

THERE was a lot going on around here last week, thus when Billy Packer, after 28 years, left CBS on what seemed to be on business-like, room-temperature mutual terms, a big off-season story was forced off the road. It's a sad story, too, and not...

It takes a lot to humble George Steinbrenner, but last night's All-Star Game and ceremony in his poczucie własnej godności did the trick. The Yankees owner sent out a statement today regarding last night's game in The Bronx. "The 2008 All-Star Game was one of the...

Fresh off another round of medical tests, Ryan Church returned to Shea Stadium yesterday vowing to be back in the Mets' lineup shortly. "I believe I'll be back sooner than a lot of people are saying out there, sooner than I've been reading," the...

Over the course of the Mets' 46-year-history, the title of best homegrown first baseman belongs to Ed Kranepool. No offense to the New York native but - despite an All-Star appearance in 1965 - a career batting average of .261 and 118 home runs in...

Tino Martinez will make his managerial debut today when he takes the helm of the World Team in the Futures Game at Yankee Stadium and although he hasn't done a lot of coaching, he wouldn't rule out making a career of it down the road. "I sat the...

ORLANDO, Fla. -– First impressions: Michael Beasley is good. But he likes to shoot. A lot. A real lot. The No. 2 pick in the NBA Draft out of Kansas State -– in a heavily attended game that also featured No. 1 pick Derrick Rose -- put up eight...

Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez and Cubs leadoff man Alfonso Soriano will see a lot of familiar faces at the All-Star game. A record seven Cubs were joined by seven Red Sox stars when rosters were announced yesterday for the July 15 event at Yankee...

THE koniec tygodnia shapes up to be a nice one with lots of inshore action for stripers and blues. Big stripers are becoming commonplace with lots of 50 pounders being taken off the beaches and in the surf. There are bluefish everywhere and they offer...

Michael Strahan stood at a podium at Giants Stadium today, and with a straight face said he would have retired with or without a Super Bowl championship. But it sure made it a whole lot easier. "Either way I would have retired," the Giants...

SAN FRANCISCO - Pedro Martinez described himself as none the worse for wear yesterday, hours after rolling up his highest pitch count in nearly two years. "I felt a lot better than I thought I would," said Martinez, who threw 109 pitches in a...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Pedro Martinez described himself as none the worse for wear today, hours after rolling up his highest pitch count in nearly two years. "I felt a lot better than I thought I would," said the Mets right-hander, who threw 109 pitches...

Mike Freeman has a lot of things on his mind. One is the mystery of chick magnet Flavor Flav, but of more concern to NBA fans are nine questions about the way the Celtics-Pistons series is unfolding.

DENVER - These are the kinds of scenes that would drive a lot of people to the brink of their wits if they could walk into a baseball clubhouse late on a Saturday morning, a few hours before game time, maybe 12 hours after one of the most...

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - Kobe Bryant met the media yesterday with a new companion - an electronic stimulation device hooked up to his sore lower back. Plans call for the two to spend a lot of time together for the next couple of days, or longer. The...

WE TEND to think the old days were kinder, and gentler, and far more agreeable than they are now. We tend to think that we were a lot more patient back then, even in New York.We are, after all, a city that once witnessed one of its baseball teams...