For about 15 minutes, Doug Flutie was the toast of New York-not just the toast but the challah and the pita and the croissants, too.

In New York, I run into Packers fans who have never lived in Wisconsin, Canadiens fans who have never lived in La Belle Province, Celtics fans who admire Russell and Bird and Pierce but have no trace of a Boston accent.

When Casey Stengel was putting his mark on all four New York baseball teams, he came off as many things. I have to admit I never thought of him as anybody's uncle.

Sure, there were people from Missouri and Illinois who grew up Cardinals fans and migrated to New York for work or love. Cardinals fans congregate periodically at Foley's near Herald Square to root for the team of their childhood, up there on the TV screen.

We hear this a lot from customers, and I don't think it's a North-South thing. We're in New York now, and it's still boiling hot. ... Even though the fall clothes look beautiful, psychologically, you can't be bothered trying them on.

You want to talk about New York and 44? Until this morning Ontario was at two, now we're at 21, ... By my measure, that's a heck of a good leap forward while acknowledging that there will always be room to do more.