Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:44:43 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Wallace Matthews :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Wallace+Matthews istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/chaney-is-alone-only-in-admission/9983/ Wed, 2 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST You get the feeling that if John Chaney hadn't decided to discipline himself, no one in the hierarchy of the NCAA, the Atlantic-10 Conference, or Temple University would have done it for him. You see, people have gotten quite used to the idea of college basketball coaches behaving like thugs. The kind of behavior displayed by Chaney last Tuesday in a game between his Temple Owls and the Hawks of St. Joseph's not only is rarely subjected to rebuke, it goes on the resume. What Chaney did is... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/last-pure-olympic-moment/9626/ Wed, 23 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST There are times in our lives, admittedly rare, when a sports arena can take on the feel of a battlefield, when our opponents can come to symbolize our enemies, and when our games can assume - in our minds, anyway - the seriousness of war. So it was 25 years ago this week, when the U.S. Olympic hockey team beat the mighty USSR in Lake Placid in a game that for many came to represent a microcosm of the Cold War. It was nothing of the sort, of course - the night before the game, a semifinal match... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/wheres-the-leadership/9323/ Wed, 16 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST You look at what is going on with major league baseball and steroids and you think: This never could happen if Bud Selig were alive. Then you remember that technically, Bud Selig is alive. It's the office of the commissioner that is dead. I used to believe that most of baseball's problems could be eliminated if only the sport had a better commissioner than Bud Lite, someone strong and decisive and innovative like the NFL's Paul Tagliabue or the NBA's David Stern. I realize now that I was wrong... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/typical-patriots-victory/8857/ Mon, 7 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST In many ways, Super Bowl XXXIX was a typical New England Patriots Super Bowl. Despite blowing out opponents on their way to the big game, when they're playing for the Lombardi Trophy, the Patriots seem to play every team and every game the same way. First they underwhelm you. Then, they figure out how to keep up with you. Gradually, nearly imperceptibly, they stick a nose in front, all the while teasing you with the illusion that victory is just one stop and one big play away. Then, before you... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/misperceptions-of-super-bowl-greatness/8718/ Thu, 3 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST On the day in which he officially became a Great Quarterback, John Elway completed 12 of 22 passes for a measly 123 yards. He threw no touchdown passes and had one pass intercepted. But, carried along by 157 rushing yards from Terrell Davis, Elway's Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers, 31-24, in Super Bowl XXXII, snapping a III-Bowl streak of futility that had been laid at the feet of the Broncos' quarterback. Never mind that to that point in his career, Elway had passed for more than... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/patriots-build-dynasty-on-belichicks-brilliance/8153/ Mon, 24 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST Bill Belichick is no Phil Jackson, relying on the brilliance of individuals such as Michael Jordan or Shaq or Kobe to fill his jewelry case with championship rings. Belichick is no Joe Torre, treated to a seemingly never-ending supply of All-Stars courtesy of the bottomless pockets of his employer. No, Belichick, the best and most influential coach in any sport, is the single most important member of his team. Working in a league committed to institutionalized mediocrity, where successful teams... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/johnson-vs-jeffries-95-years-later/7809/ Mon, 17 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST On July 4, 1910, a black heavyweight champion battered and knocked out a white challenger in 15 one-sided rounds. For the past 95 years, White America has been trying to win that fight back. No sporting event in American history has had the impact that fight between Jack Johnson, the first black man to wear the heavyweight crown, and Jim Jeffries, his predecessor, had and continues to have on not only a sport, but the country. Tonight at 9 p.m., on the occasion of what would have been the... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/mets-finally-learn-how-to-play-the-money-game/7601/ Wed, 12 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST Over the past month or so, the Mets have found more than an ace for their rotation and a stud centerfielder for their formerly nonproductive outfield. They have also found their identity, although you may not like the identity they have found. With yesterday's official announcement that they had signed Carlos Beltran, the prize of this winter's free agent crop, the Mets have now established just who they are. Yesterday, the Mets officially became the Yankees, or at least, a version of what they... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/tale-of-two-quarterbacks/7318/ Thu, 6 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST LaDainian Tomlinson, the San Diego Chargers' running back, was asked on Tuesday what he expected to see in the postseason from Drew Brees, the young quarterback who will lead the Chargers' offense against the Jets in Saturday night's AFC wild-card playoff game. "I think Drew will be fine," Tomlinson said. "I don't think there will be anything he has to worry about. It's the ultimate game, and he has been looking forward to it. That's his mindset. That's Drew Brees. He is just a winner, that's... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/time-to-put-the-spotlight-on-edwards/6977/ Thu, 30 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST First, there was the Teflon frying pan. Next came the Teflon Don. Now, we've got the Teflon Coach. Will anything ever stick to Herman Edwards? For the third time in Edwards's four-year tenure, the Jets need a win in the final week of the season to avoid total disaster. However, unlike the 2001 and 2002 seasons, there is absolutely no excuse for Club Ed to be in this position in 2004. They started out 5-0, have gone 5-5 since, and on Sunday face the St. Louis Rams, a team that needs to win every... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/jets-need-quality-win/6810/ Fri, 24 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST On January 12, 2003, in the 14th start of his NFL life (but only his second truly important one), Chad Pennington threw two interceptions and the Jets lost,30-10,in an AFC wild card playoff game. His quarterback rating for the game, that esoteric numerical value the NFL assigns to assess a quarterback's performance, was a woeful 44.9. On October 24,2004,in the 30th start of his NFL life (but, arguably, only his third important one), Pennington had the football in his hands with eight minutes... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/jack-newfield-champion-of-the-underdog/6685/ Wed, 22 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST When Jack Newfield was preparing for what would turn out to be his last battle, his friend, the boxing trainer Teddy Atlas, offered to buy him a robe to wear in the hospital. Not a terrycloth, hospital-patient type robe, but the satin kind that fighters wear into the ring. "What name do you want on the back?" Atlas asked. Newfield thought for a moment. He could have picked Sugar Ray Robinson, who, in his opinion, was the greatest fighter who ever lived; or he could have picked Muhammad Ali, a... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/steelers-show-giants-how-its-done/6419/ Thu, 16 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST As the Giants and their fans continue to suffer the pains of watching Eli Manning grow up before their eyes, they will be asked again and again for patience and understanding. Great things take time to develop, they will be told. Progress in the NFL comes slowly and painfully, and often at great cost. Yes, the present looks bleak, but the future holds rewards the likes of which Giants fans have not experienced in, oh, 15 years or so. You just need to sit back and wait and it will come. Don't... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/asterisk-for-selig/5988/ Wed, 8 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST I't's not only very premature, it's very unfair," said the commissioner of baseball. "None of this should ever diminish from Mark McGwire's extraordinary season." This was back in 1998, when the world was falling in love again with baseball through the exploits of the All-American slugger. Bud Selig was not going to allow something as trivial as a legalized steroid called androstenedione to spoil the reconciliation. So important to baseball was McGwire's pursuit of one of the cherished... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/yankees-must-make-example-of-giambi/5780/ Fri, 3 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST The juice is out of the bottle now, but who is going to clean up the spill? Major League Baseball can't do anything about Jason Giambi's admission to a San Francisco grand jury that it was not a steady diet of In-N-Out Burgers that put all that muscle on him, but that he had, indeed, used anabolic steroids under the guidance of Greg Anderson, trainer of Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, and other suspects. MLB's toothless drug policy provides that a player receives no punishment, merely some... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/time-to-rethink-eli-experiment/5485/ Mon, 29 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST If Eli Manning is to draw any encouragement from his first rough day at the office, it is that it can't get much worse for him than it was yesterday at Giants Stadium. The bad news, of course, is that things could stay the same, at least for the foreseeable future. The Philadelphia Eagles gave Manning a rude welcome to the league, defeating the Giants, 27-6 in the Meadowlands and destroying any illusion that the $54 million baby quarterback could cure what ails Tom Coughlin's rapidly plummeting... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/giant-hype-as-eli-takes-center-stage/5135/ Fri, 19 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST Who would have thought Michael Vick would be the second-most-hyped quarterback in a football game? That will be the case this Sunday, when the death-spiraling Giants meet the high-flying Falcons at the Meadowlands, a game that will be overshadowed by a player who has yet to throw a touchdown pass, yet to lead a scoring drive, yet to do anything, in fact, other than be born into the right family of quarterbacks. The pro debut of Eli Manning as a starting quarterback, necessitated by head coach... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/holyfield-refuses-to-face-life-without-boxing/4810/ Mon, 15 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST Over the past 20 years, I have watched Evander Holyfield accomplish many things I never thought he could do. I saw him beat the fearsome Dwight Muhammad Qawi (ne Braxton), to win the light-heavyweight title, in only his 12th pro fight. I saw him move up to heavyweight, with that WWE torso perched on Tweety Bird legs, and beat men 15, 20, 30 pounds heavier than himself. I saw him spot 38 pounds to Buster Douglas, the conqueror of the previously unconquerable Mike Tyson, and knock him out with a... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/sosa-in-flushing-bad-business-as-usual/4765/ Fri, 12 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST The day he was hired to repair the wreckage that is the New York Mets, Omar Minaya had this to say about the kind of player he was hoping to attract: "I believe in pitching, athleticism, and defense." It sounded like a new era would be dawning in Flushing, where for the past four years, the team has stunk as bad as the river that runs alongside its ballpark. Now comes word out of Key Biscayne, Fla., where major league baseball's 30 general managers are holding their annual gossip- and... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/mets-finally-take-worthwhile-chance/4394/ Fri, 5 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST For the past 10 years, Willie Randolph has been stuck in a classic Catch-22. He had never been a major league manager because no one would hire him. And no one would hire him because, well, he had never been a major league manager. Until now. The Mets hired Willie Randolph on Wednesday night, introduced him yesterday to a town that had known him for 30 years already, and will put him to work as the eighteenth manager in their history starting this morning. Soon, we will know if Willie Randolph... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/no-more-moral-victories-for-jets/4106/ Mon, 1 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST Just so there's no confusion tomorrow, let's set this straight right now. There will be no moral victory for the Jets tonight. They will take no "little steps forward" if they lose a close one to the Miami Dolphins on national television. If the worst should happen, they will not search for positives in the sea of negativity that is defeat in the NFL. Now that we all understand one another, let's move on. Last week, in the wake of the Jets' 13-7 loss to New England, a lot of folks got stuck in... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/jets-learn-magic-of-the-pats-the-hard-way/3750/ Mon, 25 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST It is the nature of Paul Tagliabue's NFL of Parity that a team such as the Jets could jump out to the best start of its 45-year history, five wins in five tries, and still have everyone wondering just how good they were. After all, their five wins had come at the expense of the Bengals, the Chargers, the Dolphins, the Bills and the 49ers, who have a combined record of 8-23. And even at that, none of the Jets' wins were easy. Last week, for instance, the Jets conceivably stood just a Tim Rattay... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/will-the-blame-fall-on-torre/3593/ Thu, 21 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST Someday soon, George M. Steinbrenner III will summon his underlings to their annual post-season meeting at the Yankees' complex in Tampa. As always - win, lose, or collapse - blame will be laid, fingers will be pointed, and heads will roll. Only this year, things will be different. The heads that roll are likely to make a thud when they land that could send shock waves across the baseball landscape. The team that pompously bills itself as "The Greatest Franchise in the History of Sports" last... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/yankee-fans-embarrass-city/3522/ Wed, 20 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST In the space of four days, the Yankee have gone from the verge of a triumphant sweep of the ALCS to the edge of an unprecedented collapse. And yet, this $180 million assemblage of All-Stars at every position other than pitcher has nothing to be ashamed of if it winds up losing Game 7 tonight to the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, something no baseball team that took a 3-0 series lead has ever done. It's too bad the same can't be said of the Yankee fans, who do not deserve the team that has... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/yankees-red-sox-finally-give-us-what-we-wanted/3446/ Tue, 19 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST Now this is what we came to see. It only took five games, 53 innings, and nearly 22 hours of baseball, including just under six hours last night, but finally, we have a bonafide Yankees-Red Sox playoff series on our hands. It's about time. After all the heavy breathing, it was not until shortly after midnight Monday morning that the Red Sox even made their presence known in this thing, when they touched up Mariano Rivera for the ninth-inning run that staved off the humiliation of a Yankee sweep... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/lieber-olerud-join-pantheon-of-red-sox-killers/3241/ Thu, 14 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST Last year, the poisoned arrow was shot through the Red Sox' heart by Aaron Boone. Certainly, the long-suffering citizens of Red Sox Nation thought it couldn't get any worse than that. Last night, it got worse. After an off-season in which all their problems were isolated, all the solutions identified, all the replacements aggressively pursued and acquired, the Red Sox last night were shot down again. This time, the names were Jon Lieber, a pitcher who had not started a major league game for two... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/back-from-panama-rivera-saves-game-and-wins-hearts/3166/ Wed, 13 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST For Mariano Rivera, the long journey to stardom took him from poverty in Panama City fame and fortune in the South Bronx. Over the past eight years, as he has established himself as the best relief pitcher of his, and perhaps anyone's generation, he has made the trip home many times, usually in triumph. Yesterday, he made the trip from Panama to New York in sadness and in haste. There were somber duties to attend to back home in La Chorrera, and, as it turned out, urgent business awaiting him... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/time-for-jeter-to-get-his-due/2959/ Fri, 8 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST When will the baseball world stop underestimating Derek Jeter? That may sound strange considering Jeter is the captain of the Yankees, one of the city's most eligible bachelors, and gets paid close to $20 million a year to play baseball. And yet, again and again, it seems as if people forget what this guy is capable of doing. They look at the numbers and say, he's not A-Rod. They watch him play a competent, if rarely spectacular, shortstop and think, he's no Ozzie Smith, or even Jose Reyes... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/familiar-territory-for-yanks/2812/ Wed, 6 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST The Yankees have been in this place before, in an early playoff hole against a team that seems younger, stronger, fresher, and hungrier than they are. In fact, they were in this spot a year ago, down a game to the Minnesota Twins and seemingly staring down the barrel of the worst possible Yankee fate, a first-round October KO. So much was the same last year - Johan Santana started for the Twins, Mike Mussina started for the Yankees. And yet so much was different. The Yankees still had Andy... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/bronx-key-the-flash-factor/2743/ Tue, 5 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST The Most Valuable Yankee this October will not be the one with the biggest biceps, nor the one with the most zeroes on his paycheck, nor the one whose fastball short-circuits the most radar guns. It will not be one of the obvious guys - a Jeter or a Sheffield or an A-Rod - and it most certainly won't be one of the starting pitchers, since after Mike Mussina and Jon Lieber, it's anyone's guess who they will even be. It won't even be Mariano Rivera, because without the Most Valuable Yankee's... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/what-horrors-await-minaya/2592/ Fri, 1 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST He is supposed to be the nice-guy owner around here, the one who is most definitely not The Boss, the one who doesn't fire secretaries for ordering him the wrong sandwich or general managers for making the wrong trade. But the image of Fred Wilpon, out of Lafayette High in Brooklyn, friend and teammate of Sandy Koufax, paternal owner of the New York Mets, doesn't square with the reality. Because although the bucks most certainly stop in Wilpon's office, the buck never seems to stop at Wilpon's... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/yanks-red-sox-play-family-feud/2311/ Mon, 27 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EST The Yankees were Pedro Martinez's "Daddy" Friday night. Then, daddy got spanked Saturday and yesterday by Pedro's Boston Red Sox brothers. Who is in charge here? Can anything or anyone be trusted on either team? This kind of thing is very tough on the children. Yesterday's 11-4 Red Sox victory over the Yankees just confirmed what has been pretty obvious all year long when these two teams get together. Believe nothing. Trust no one. Look no further ahead than the next day's game. As Yankee... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/damn-yankees/2256/ Fri, 24 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EST Damn Yankees. They had to go and beat the Devil Rays yesterday and let all the air out of this weekend's series against the Red Sox at Fenway, the first game of which could be a preview of the ALCS Game 1 matchup: Mike Mussina against Pedro Martinez. Damn Yankees. They had to go and get hot just as the Red Sox cooled off from a stretch in which they won 20 of 22 games and cut the Yankees commanding lead in the AL East from 10 1 /2 games to a puny 2 1 /2. Of course, that lasted about as long as... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/new-faces-end-giants-misery/1973/ Mon, 20 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EST For a while there yesterday, the Giants were looking an awful lot like a team that had simply forgotten how to win. This was perfectly understandable, considering they hadn't done it in nearly a year. Neither had their new head coach, who had not accepted the handshake of a losing counterpart in 644 days. Their quarterback hadn't won a game since the NFC championship of 2002. Yes, it had been a long time between victories for Tom Coughlin, Kurt Warner, and the rest of the Giants. Even so, their... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/best-reality-show-in-sports/1895/ Fri, 17 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EST The Last Rivalry returns to a ballpark near you for the next three days, and just when you think the hype is becoming forced and the emotions somehow simulated, you realize Yankees-Red Sox is still the most compelling reality series in sports. Although it always ends the same way - the two teams have played more than 1,900 times over the past 85 years, including 39 times in the past 11 months, and the tally since 1918 remains Yankees 26, Red Sox 0 - the games only seem to get bigger and more... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/martin-silences-critics-with-loud-season-opener/1643/ Mon, 13 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EST Curtis Martin is far too well-mannered to say things he probably would like to say to those who have doubted him over the past couple of years. Despite posting 1,000 or more rushing yards in each of his nine NFL seasons, including the past six as a Jet, Martin has had his ability and his future questioned by the fans, the press, his own coaching staff, and, this past off-season, by the man who hopes to replace him, Lamont Jordan. Martin is not the type to say, "I told you so." In fact, he is... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/who-quits-first-yankees-or-fans/1433/ Wed, 8 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EST If Game 7 of the 2001 World Series was truly "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," as proposed in a new book by former Yankee beat writer Buster Olney, then August 31, 2004 might well be remembered as the Last Night of the Yankee Bandwagon. On that night, 51,777 fans packed Yankee Stadium to watch their team beat up on the sputtering Cleveland Indians. Instead, it was the Yankees who were the recipients of a 22-0 spanking, the worst in franchise history. Since then, there have been no 50,000+... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/qb-controversy-is-a-giant-headache/1249/ Thu, 2 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EST Throughout their 79-year history, the New York Giants have been just as dedicated to the avoidance of controversy as to the pursuit of winning football games. Some might say even more so. Owner Wellington Mara's preference for decorum over dazzle caused the team to pass on the supposedly rebellious Joe Namath in the 1965 draft in favor of the white-bread assurance of Tucker Frederickson. It may also be why the Giants have rarely had a genuine star in their galaxy. For every Frank Gifford, Phil... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/where-did-you-go-joe-namath/964/ Fri, 27 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST It once was a game that could cost a coach his job, or make a name for a player on the basis of one jaw-dropping play. Seasons have been lost in this game, careers destroyed. And always, there was as much passion in both locker rooms before the game as there was in the stands. Now, it's a who-cares event in a nowhere stadium between two teams who use this town only as a mailing address. Whatever happened to the Jets-Giants game? Where there was once a rivalry, there are now only shrugs and... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/carter-is-jets-insurance-policy/823/ Wed, 25 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Acquiring a backup quarterback is a little bit like purchasing a life insurance policy. You feel better having it. You also know that if you need it, it's bad news. The Jets bought their life insurance policy yesterday in the person of Quincy Carter, who last season led the Dallas Cowboys to their first playoff appearance since last century only to find himself unceremoniously dumped a couple of weeks into this year's training camp. Now, they have to hope like hell they never need to cash it in... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/is-new-york-paying-attention/461/ Wed, 18 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST There is no greater evidence of the obsolescence of the Olympics than this: Not even the Greeks, who invented the Games back in 776 B.C., care about them anymore. Attendance at the Athens Olympics is so bad even the New Jersey Nets are laughing. The Montreal Expos would be embarrassed by some of the "crowds" who have turned up - or not turned up - to witness water polo matches, archery, or even that staple of the TV Olympics, women's gymnastics. With the Games nearly a week old, more than half... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/giambi-should-be-ready-for-questions/278/ Fri, 13 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST The Yankees held a news conference on Wednesday that was supposed to provide answers about Jason Giambi's medical condition. Instead, it just raised more questions. And the biggest question may not be the most obvious one. While the rest of the transom-peekers continue to speculate on what is "really wrong" with Giambi - is it the parasite, the benign but unspecified tumor, or something far more sinister? - the most puzzling issue right now is a comparatively simple one. Just what is the rush... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/boxing-world-prepares-for-mike-tyson-act-ii/149/ Fri, 30 Jul 2004 00:00:00 EST F. Scott Fitzgerald didn't live to see Darryl Strawberry or Steve Howe or Richard Nixon or even Madonna, for that matter. Imagine if he had lived to experience Mike Tyson. If he had, he never could have written his greatest line, the one about there being no second acts in American life. Welcome to Mike Tyson, Act II. In point of strict fact, this is more like Act IV of the Tyson saga. Stretching into its third decade, Iron Mike's career has survived two prison stints, a yearlong suspension for... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/commissioner-selig-bad-for-baseball/141/ Tue, 20 Jul 2004 00:00:00 EST Over the past 12 years, baseball's Reluctant Commissioner has grown to really like his job. This is bad news for the game. But not necessarily bad news for the Yankees. Of course, what is good for the game and good for the Yankees have often been two different things,so this should come as no surprise. Selig, who was drafted as an interim commissioner in 1992 and has stuck around ever since, now would like to stay on beyond the planned end of his reign in 2006. No surprise there, either. What... WALLACE MATTHEWS http://www.nysun.com/sports/desperate-tyson-prepares-for-his-real-last-stand/4/ Fri, 9 Jul 2004 18:25:50 EST For the past two years, I been a bum, truly a bum in the streets. I got nowhere to live. I been crashing with friends, sleeping in shelters. "Unsavory characters are giving me money, and I'm taking it. I need it. The drug dealers, they sympathize with me. They see me as some sort of pathetic character. They got more money than me. Imagine that! "I'm Mike Tyson, I made all this money and the drug dealers are doing better than me. I gotta laugh about it." This was yesterday afternoon, and the...