John D'Amato, a prominent Staten Island attorney, died of a heart attack yesterday; the 52-year-old had been jogging near his Dongan Hills home. D'Amato, a lawyer and lobbyist, had been appointed as the NYC campaign manager for Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign. (He had hosted a fund-raiser for Governor Spitzer's campaign last year, though.) The Staten Island Advance writes:John D'Amato was a titan on Staten Island -- one of the most ambitious, aggressive and influential of......

New York is one of the few areas of the country that doesn’t care about college football. Maybe it’s because we don’t really have a local team to root for (Rutgers isn’t quite there yet) but we don’t pay a lot of attention to it. Tonight would be a good time to change that attitude as Texas plays USC in one of the best matchups in recent history. USC is going for a third......

We finally have a Bush election that cannot be questioned. USC’s star running back, Reggie Bush, won the Heisman Trophy Saturday night in a landslide over his teammate Matt Leinert and Texas quarterback Vince Young. Leinert won the trophy last season which means two Heisman winners will be playing for the same team for the first time ever when USC faces Texas in the Rose Bowl on January 4th. For New Yorkers the real question......

With the bowl picture set, how did your team do? Do you think they got robbed by the BCS? Are lucky to be in anything at all, or are just right where they are. Better yet, are you making the trip to watch your team in points south or west? 1. Auburn – They may be #3 in the BCS but we think they would beat either USC or Oklahoma on a neutral field. 2.......

Because every election day need's a new football poll, here is this week's installment of the Gothamist Top 15 (last week's). Quite an interesting weekend, with the big three in Florida all losing. With six undefeated teams left, the BCS has some shaking out to do, especially if some of those teams pick up a loss. 1. Oklahoma – Well, so much for Ok. St. having trouble scoring on Oklahoma! OU got another great performance......

Dan Shanoff, Sports Columnist...