Shea What? Series Tradition Is One-Sided

Dave Kindred in the Sporting News: “Does every sports page in America this morning carry the shouting headline, “NEW YORK, NEW YORK”?

“Give me the Yankees, yes. The Mets, no.

“Joe Torre, yes. Knows everything, shows you he knows it.

“Bobby Valentine, a thousand times no. Knows everything, tells you he knows it.

“Take me to Yankee Stadium every night of every year and it wouldn’t be enough. Babe Ruth walked there.

“Shea Stadium, good heavens. Ron Swoboda fell there.”

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Add Series: From Shaun Powell in Newsday:

“NEW YORK--We’ll be the only people watching the games. The rest of the country will watch us.

“You know what they’re saying today from San Francisco to Savannah, Chicago to Cheyenne, Bismarck to Buffalo. They’re sizing up our city and bracing themselves for a bunch of buffoonery. They’re expecting riots, beer fights, kicking, punching, pushing, shoving and scratching.

“But enough about getting a seat on the D and No. 7 trains . . . “

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Trivia time: Who holds the NCAA Division I-A record for field goals made in a season?

Ugh! Bob Kravitz in the Indianapolis Star: “Please excuse me for choosing to miss the Mike Tyson-Andrew Golota fight in Detroit. I’ve chosen to cover something more savory: cockfighting.”

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Another view: Jerry Greene in the Orlando Sentinel: “Golota says he is looking for a clean fight with Tyson. To Golota, a clean fight is no punching below the knees, while a clean fight to Tyson is washing his hands after the meal.”

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More Greene: “Great news for the Boston Celtics. After losing $10 million two seasons ago, they lost just $3.3 million last season.”

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Is the Worm worth it? Steve Davis in the Dallas Morning News: “Let’s say you want to hire Dennis Rodman to entertain at your husband’s 40th birthday party, or you want him to spin salty yarns at a company function.

“Your price: about $75,000, according to his new representation group.”

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Light on the mustard: Stephanie Netolicky, 48, awaiting the arrival of Vice President Al Gore at a campaign stop in Des Moines, when an Associated Press reporter asked her about the Subway Series: “Baseball? I thought you were talking about a sandwich shop.”

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Easy money: Mike Ashley of Sportsnote.com: “Loneliest guy in town: Being punter for the St. Louis Rams is the new millennium equivalent of being the Maytag repairman.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1965, Sugar Ray Robinson, 45, recorded his 174th victory and 109th knockout, stopping little-known Rudolph Bent in three rounds in Steubenville, Ohio.

Robinson would fight once more, losing a 10-round decision to Joey Archer on Nov. 10 in Pittsburgh.

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Looking back again: On this day in 1990, the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Oakland Athletics, 2-1, for a startling four-game sweep of the World Series.

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Trivia answer: John Lee of UCLA, 29 in 33 attempts in 1984.

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And finally: Steve Hummer in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Some choose to call the coming Yankees-Mets affair a Subway Series. How quaint. By the time New York is through congratulating itself the next two weeks, however, the rest of us may know it as the Insufferable Series.

“Mass transportation has far less to do with what is about to happen than mass hysteria.”