Rex Ryan loves to hype up his defense, but the unit hasn't played well so far in 2011. It had a rough opening-night game against Dallas, but was bailed out by Cowboys miscues and special-teams plays. It showed up in Week 2 against Jacksonville, but that was more due to Luke McCown than it was to anyone on the Jets' defense. The Raiders made no secret of their desire to run the ball in Week 3, and the Jets still gave up 234 yards and four rushing touchdowns. more ›

Fulton Mall shelves may be bare this summer since in Baltimore feds have seized 120,000 pairs of fake Nikes, along with counterfeit Coach and Gucci-brand stuff, Cartier watches and Viagra pills bound for Brooklyn. For smuggling and money laundering they've charged three U.S. citizens along with four partners from China and two from Malaysia, where the goods were manufactured. The AP says that, to avoid paying import duties, the smuggling ring had merchandise delivered to New York and New Jersey, transacting in cash and wiring money to Asia. Officials also seized fake Ugg, Adidas, Versace and Ralph Lauren items. Undercover officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who've been working on the case since 2008, infiltrated the operation and made their arrests last week. more ›

Yesterday, the police arrested a Brooklyn man who posed as a livery cab driver for two rapes in the past year, including one that occurred last Wednesday. Ryan Frison, described as 41 years old and 400 pounds, faces rape, robbery and unlawful imprisonment charges. more ›

Attention Gawker commenters: Nick Denton needs you to pick up his dry cleaning. Though it sounds too good to be true, it seems that eager young Gawker interns are working their way up the new media ladder on the strength of their smug observations, sarcastic bon mots and impassioned diatribes on all things trivial. Will the "first!" be the first to be hired? more ›

An executive at a subprime loan company that was financially circling the drain stated that the murder of his wife and consequent suicide was not related to money worries, but personal problems. Walter Buczynski was a 59-year-old vice president of Fieldstone Mortgage Corp., a mortgage lending company sinking into bankrupty. He'd told neighbors that he would soon be looking for a new job, but they didn't sense an irregular level of distress. more ›

Uh oh - there's definitely a little drama for five well-known performers as the Albany DA's office continues its probe into steroid trafficking. The Times Union reported yesterday that Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Timbaland, Wyclef Jean and Tyler Perry were "among the thousands of customers of the pharmacies" DA David Soares' office has investigated. more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., HBO) A look at America's favorite insult comic and last surviving member of the “Rat Pack”, the octogenarian Don Rickles from director John Landis. Everyone from Chris Rock to Bob Newhart to Clint Eastwood to Sidney Poitier talk about the comic. 1968 (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., History Channel) 1968 was a turbulent and tragic year and Tom Brokaw not... more ›

Matthew Houck is the man behind Phosphorescent -- and the Brooklyn-by-way-of-Athens, Georgia musician just put out his third release, Pride, to many eager ears and much fanfare. Playing every instrument on the atmospherock avant-pop album, he also recruited some friends to help along the way, such as the Dirty Projectors’ Dave Longstreth. On the periphery you can hear Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Will Oldham -- but the modern day folkie has a sound all... more ›

If they want to, the Jets can trace the morphing of their season from disappointing to disastrous from their Week 4 loss in Buffalo on Sept. 30. Before that, their only defeats came against the Patriots and the Ravens. Those are nothing to be ashamed of. But now the team hasn't won since a Week 3 squeaker against the Dolphins, and, let's face it, everybody's beating Miami these days. The Jets will try it all over again at home this Sunday, but the change everyone wanted made hasn't happened. Chad Pennington is still the quarterback. more ›

The NY Times delved into an amazing story of how a painting left for the trash was actually a long-missing painting by Rufino Tamayo, the Mexican artist. Someone, make this into a movie! more ›

Chad Pennington gets all the attention, but the Jets' problems run deeper than the quarterback position. Eric Mangini said as much during an unusually open news conference following the latest Jets debacle, a 38-31 loss at Cincinnati on Sunday. Pennington looked fine in the first half, throwing two touchdowns to Lavaranues Coles. In the second half, the rest of the team's wheels fell off at once. Kenny Watson tore up the Jets' rush defense. When the Bengals did go to the air, Darrelle Revis, the rookie cornerback and a No. 1 draft pick, got called for two pass interference penalties. Nick Manigold, the center, botched a snap. On the last meaningful series, Pennington had an interception returned for a touchdown. more ›

• Yankees 8 Baltimore 5: Nothing comes easy at the end of the year. The Yankees fell behind 2-0 before rallying for a 5-2 lead. But, Phil Hughes was shaky and had to be lifted in the sixth as the Orioles threatened. Edwar Ramirez managed to end that threat, but the Orioles rallied in the seventh and Luis Vizcaino had to come in and snuff out that rally. Kyle Farnsworth created problems in the ninth and an overused Mariano Rivera had to bail him out and end the game. more ›

Ready for a quarterback controversy? Kellen Clemens took a while to get his feet under him, but he almost led the Jets back in their 20-13 loss in Baltimore. A drop and a poor throw of his own cost Clemens down the stretch, and the Jets are 0-2. At least they didn't go weakly into the Baltimore night. If not for Justin McCareins' buttery fingers, this game would have gone to overtime. This performance won't make it any easier for Coach Eric Mangini to stand by Chad Pennington as his starting quarterback when the Week 1 starter recovers from an ankle injury. more ›

Sunday’s win was a flashback to the old days. Derek Jeter had the big hit, Roger Clemens had a great start and Mariano Rivera got the save. The win was huge for New York as it kept the Yankees 2-1/2 games ahead of Detroit with 13 left to play. more ›

Thanks to the Patriots' spying, the Jets have enjoyed a week surprisingly free of the questions that normally follow teams that start the season with convincing losses at home. According to The Times, 14 of the 25 questions fielded by Coach Eric Mangini on Wednesday dealt with the alleged filming of the Jets' defensive signals. Rest assured, Eric Mangini's not thinking about the Patriots offense but instead the Ravens defense. more ›

There's one member of the Mets that is up for the Hall of Fame today. The Mascot Hall of Fame, that is. The round-headed ball of a mascot is trailing by about 5,500 votes in the race for popularity on the Mascot Hall of Fame website. He trails The Coyote, the mascot of the San Antonio Spurs. The Post pulls out all the stops to make sure Mr. Met is the top vote getter. Pulling out the stops like the Mets did in an attempt to get Paul Lo Duca into the All-Star Game. more ›

There's an excellent Vows column in this week's NY Times Weddings & Celebrations. It's the one for Fran Boyd and Donnie Andrews, two Baltimore residents whose difficult lives were the basis for the HBO dramas The Corner and The Wire. Boyd and Andrews were featured in a page one story in the Times last week, and the Vows column explains more of how they met and how they supported each other during prison sentences, while overcoming addiction, and as they tried to put their lives back together. more ›

The game remained that way until the ninth when the Mets broke things open by scoring five runs. But, Pittsburgh wasn’t finished yet and loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth. After scoring three times to cut the game to 10-7, Willie Randolph brought in Billy Wagner to close things down. Pittsburgh got the tying run to the plate with two outs, but Xavier Nady struck out to end the game and give the Mets an exciting victory. more ›

• Mets 5 Pittsburgh 4: El Duque struck out eight, but he was also wild, walking five and allowing three runs over six innings. Moises Alou gave the Mets the lead with a two-run single in the eighth and Lastings Milledge made a great catch in the bottom of the inning to preserve the win. Billy Wagner worked a flawless ninth for his 27th save.
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All too often, we read (and write) about horrible instances of traffic fatalities when motor vehicles fail to yield to pedestrians with the right of way. There used to be a simple solution to this problem, and it was known as the Barnes Dance. Although NYC traffic commissioner Henry Barnes didn't invent the concept, it became named after him in the 1960s by a City Hall reporter named John Buchanan. more ›

Mr. Met's hat may be cocked, but he's not cocky after being nominated for the online entity that is the Mascot Hall of Fame. Mets organization officials said the usually mute mascot remained speechless at the honor. Induction is not a sure thing. Other candidates, which will be voted for online, include the Coyote for the San Antonio Spurs, Hugo the Hornet for the New Orleans Hornets, the Oriole bird for the Baltimore Orioles, Youpii for the Montreal Expos, and the Mariner Moose for the Seattle Mariners. One almost has to feel sorry for other cities as they pit their feeble candidates against the hypercephalic Mr. Met, although we hope the Oriole joins him in the Hall of Fame someday so Mr. Met can talk to someone other than predecessor "Clutch the Bear" from Houston (please!). more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: more ›

• Yankees 8, Orioles 7: Way back on June 28th, the game between the Yankees and Orioles was suspended in the 8th inning with New York up 8-6. Last night, the two teams continued the June game with Mariano Rivera allowing one Baltimore run to make things exciting in the 9th before picking up what is officially his 10th save of the season.
• Orioles 4, Yankees 2: In the regularly scheduled game last night, the Yankees were unable to drive in the key runs to beat the Orioles. The Yankees had 5 runners at 3rd base over the course of the game, but were unable to plate any of them. Andy Pettitte had a solid game that consisted of one bad inning, which was all Baltimore needed. Pettitte allowed three runs in the 3rd inning when he allowed three hits and two walks. On the positive side, he did retire the last 12 batters he faced.
• Nationals 6, Mets 2: It's the games against the bad teams that the Mets need to win if they want to keep their minuscule lead in the NL East. Unfortunately, they couldn't muster up much offense last night against Washington. Moises Alou went 1-4 including a double and a run scored in his return to the team, but that wasn't nearly enough to bail out Jorge Sosa. Sosa allowed 5 runs over 6 innings and had the Mets in a hole from the 2nd inning. The Mets and Nationals play a day-night doubleheader Saturday with Mike Pelfrey pitching in one game and Orlando Hernandez in the other.

Add this to the list of instances when blocks of cheese can be considered suspicious: When they are found in your carry-on luggage by the Transportation Security Administration. NBC Nightly News found an advisory warning airport screeners to be on the lookout as terrorists may be conducting dry runs. more ›

The clock is ticking and the new Harry Potter book will be released at 12:01am, less than twelve hours from now! The scene will surely be crazy and something that this city hasn't seen since...well, Wednesday when people lined up for a canvas grocery sack. more ›

• Yankees 8 Baltimore 6 (suspended in the 8th): If this has been a hockey game, I guess we would call it a tie. Since it is a baseball game, we just have to say it will be resumed later. The Yankees did everything they could to lose this game, blowing a lead in the seventh with their ace on the mound before rallying for four runs in the eighth in the middle of a monsoon. more ›

• Baltimore 3 Yankees 2: From the multiple camera shots of a glum Joe Torre shown on YES, it was obvious he was in the ballpark tonight, but was he paying attention? After all, what other conclusion can you come to when Torre let Scott Proctor load the bases with one out in the ninth and still let him pitch with the game on the line and Mariano in the bullpen? more ›