Work, Beltran, the week ahead

For those of you wondering my take on the NFL, the playoffs, and my lovely Jets, my football report will come by Wednesday morning. For now, I will say what a great win by the Giants. Congrats to both Eli Manning on his first win and Tiki Barber on breaking all the Giant offensive rushing records. A win over the Cowboys on national TV at home is one very nice way to close what has really been a long season for the New York Football G-Men.

Let's talk baseball. Omar "Mr Full Autonomy" Minaya is meeting with Scott Boras and Carlos Beltran on Monday and Tuesday respectively in an attempt to land the jewel of this year's free agent class to Flushing Meadow Park. Well, this approach worked with Pedro. Then again, Beltran is asking for just a little bit more money. Specifically, 75 million dollars more than the Mets are paying Pedro for 4 years. Beltran is expecting between $16 and $19 mmmmmillion dollars per year and he's certainly getting at least 6 guaranteed years. Now Beltran supposedly really liked playing in Houston. If he doesn't sign with them by Saturday, then he cannot sign with them until May 1, so count on a decision coming down around Friday. The Yankees, Cubs, Astros are all still in the running. But with the Yankees adding Randy Johnson, luxury taxes have to become a factor when your team payroll hits a certain point. I'm still not expecting the Mets to get him though I do believe they'll come close. I still think in the end they'll get one big bat and it won't, for the record, be Samuel "Prima Donna" Sosa.

Let's see. 2 days off from CPK this week. Fair enough. I worked 6 days a week every week for 4 months. Now that the holiday rush is officially over, the restaurant rushes will probably slow down. After 4 nights off from the Herald, it's back to work at late night on Tuesday. And we'll be tracking local high school basketball stats. And considering out of 18 boys and girls teams, about 6 are OK, 9 stink, and only 3 of them are good or better. Each Tuesday night, I'm sure I'll get a few laughs from the "area-leading" numbers I record off of the faxed pages.