If you are jealous, then keep it inside, because it only makes you look very unprofessional when people read or hear your material. And yes, a good percentage of your viewers and readers do come from New York and places others than Boston.

The Knicks, even if they fall to the Bulls for the umpteenth year in a row, made it to the second round despite not having too much talent and injuries to key players like John Starks.

Pat Riley should be praised for his coaching. A guy who had the likes of Magic and Kareem got stuck with the likes of Anthony Mason and Greg Anthony and still has led his team to two straight divisional titles.

How about the Rangers?

They haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1940 (22 years later than the Red Sox last won a World Series), but they have a great shot at winning it this year, even if they lost of the first game of the Stanley Cup semifinals to the Devils

And at the trading deadline--with a team holding the best record in the league--Rangers coach Mike Keenan and general manager Neil Smith pulled off several trades to make their team that much more solid.

Hey, they might not win the Cup and New Yorkers realize that. However, if you followed the words of Mr. Shaughnessy, who also happened to trash the city of St. Louis when he though they would steal the New England Patriots (zero Super Bowl wins), you would think all New Yorkers were talking about the Rangers as already having won the Cup.

So guys, lay off the New York jokes because it can become a very nasty situation. You wouldn't want other people coming in and saying that Boston is just another suburb of New York. With whiners like you, New Yorkers wouldn't want to be associated with Boston anyway.

(Editor's note--Dave: Get used to it. It's ALWAYS New York bashing season in Boston. Besides, Bucky Dent can break Boston's bones, but words never seem to hurt the Big Apple--DMK)