Mets fans, your wait is finally over. No, not because it's Spring Training, and not because of a World Championship, but because one member of the New York Mets will finally be enshrined in...Madame Tussauds. The 204-figure museum, which bills itself as "New York's most famous tourist attraction" (get it? famous), will unveil its first wax Mets figure on April 2. The house of wax already has five Yankees figures - Derek Jeter, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle (under repair), and George Steinbrenner.
HarperCollins president and CEO Jane Friedman fired editor Judith Regan late-yesterday. The dismissal, which was announced while most employees were at the company Christmas party, comes after last month's O.J. Simpson book and Fox TV interview fiasco. Regan was the driving force behind the project, in which Simpson described how he might have hypothetically killed his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. After the project came under intense criticism, Rupert Murdoch, HarperCollins is owned by his News Corporation, was forced to cancel it and apologize. 400,000 books had to be destroyed.
The NYPD and FBI shut down a $3.3 billion Internet gambling ring, arresting 27 people and seizing $7 million in cash and assets worth $500 million, including four Manhattan condos. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly called shutting down website Playwithal.com "the largest illegal gambling operation this department has ever encountered." Here's how it worked, according to the Daily News:
Traditional bookies would give bettors a secret code to use the Internet gambling site, authorities said. Bets were taken on all kinds of sports, including football, baseball, basketball, hockey, auto racing and golf - and at the end of each week, the bookies would pay off or collect from each client.more ›
along with sexy sidekick Dirty Martini and accompanied on piano by Lance Cruce. Here, he tells us where to find New York's best cheeseburger, why he loves stage banter, his dream venue, and why freaky New Yorkers should stick around and reclaim downtown.
Is it just Gothamist, or do you too, after looking at the practically sepia-toned artist's renderings of the new Yankee Stadium, imagine that if the architects, Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, and Yankees could have, they would put drawings of Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio as pedestrian and passerbys? Clearly, the drawings are meant to be nostalgic, a reclamation of their storied past, but they are also super nostalgic. Versus the sleek designs you see for most other new sports arenas; baseball seems to be the only sport where the past is as important as the future.
Kenny Kramer, Entrepreneur / Wacky Next-Door Neighbor
After the record setting in the 4th inning, the Yankee Stadium crowd showed its appreciation. Following the game, Williams said, "That was great. That meant a lot. Obviously I haven't been playing the way I'm capable of so far, and the fact that the fans are very supportive and remember is just great. It was a great feeling." Now Williams can add 2,000 hit club to his resume which includes a jazz album.
