More Max Dickstein columns

OPINION COLUMN: MAX DICKSTEIN

Smacking tennis balls with Lindsay Davenport, Tracy Austin

I began pondering my retirement from professional tennis Thursday.

OPINION COLUMN: MAX DICKSTEIN

Willie should find inspiration with Joe Torre

Willie Randolph has twice survived dismissal by the Mets -- once last fall, days after the team's September collapse, and again on Monday after a meeting with Mets brass.

OPINION COLUMN: MAX DICKSTEIN

IndyCar racing being left in the dust

Ah, the Indy Racing League. Let us count the ways of its potential appeal:

Blessings keep coming for D'Antoni family

After the official introduction of Mike D'Antoni Tuesday, Knicks president Donnie Walsh mentioned that his new coach would join him at the draft lottery in Secaucus next Tuesday, when the Knicks find out if their seventh straight losing season will earn them the No. 1 draft pick.

Finding humanity in horses

No human being can match a thoroughbred racehorse's package of speed, strength, determination and grace.

Postgame ritual melds Rangers with fans

It happens after every Rangers home win.

Column: Steph and Isiah should get over it

It's become easy to forget that Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury was once a rare basketball talent.

Might be just the beginning for Roger Federer

Roger Federer has been the world's No. 1 men's tennis player for four years, uninterrupted.

Modeling swimwear for Sports Illustrated swimsuit models

"This is very adorable," said Anne V, a $14 million diamond necklace draped below her exquisite Russian visage. "I'm very happy."

Giants win wouldn't haunt one Pats fan

The undefeated Patriots have lost countless games this season -- in my uncle's nightmares.

SPORTS COLUMN

Dallas fans: Cowboys dialed in for Giants

I reached out and touched Dallas.

SPORTS COLUMN

Don't believe the hype around Giants/Pats

There are obvious problems with the Patriots' effort to complete the NFL's first perfect 16-0 regular season against the Giants on Saturday

SPORTS COLUMN

Knicks fans should boo themselves

The contagious negativity surrounding the basketball team that plays at Madison Square Garden has infected the Knicks' loyal fans, to everyone's detriment.

SPORTS COLUMN

Grandpa's Eagle eye

On Sunday night, my grandfather watched his Philadelphia Eagles mount a surprising challenge to perhaps their toughest opponent ever -- the fearsome New England Patriots -- before the Eagles lost 31-28, following an interception late in the fourth quarter.

SPORTS COLUMN

Formal Bonds charges come too late

Charges come one home run record too late

SPORTS COLUMN

Knicks may actually be worth watching

There's this entertaining thing you can do now: buy a ticket to a Knicks game, go to Madison Square Garden and have fun.

SPORTS COLUMN

Just another Yanked employee

Firings, rumblings, ultimatums and general off-stage bluster are the Yankees' style under George Steinbrenner.

Rockies sweep away some pain

Like sunlight brought forth when a window shade ravels into its roller, the Colorado Rockies' flawless run to the World Series sheds new light on the Mets' abysmal September.

SPORTS COLUMNIST

Questionable behavior very typical for Isiah

Back in June, Isiah Thomas' former coach Chuck Daly told me that Thomas is a "barracuda-tough guy." This week, the Knicks' president and head coach was pretty much judged an impolitic pig, and from what we learned during his trial, we might add that he is Machiavelli-manipulative and Nixon-ambitious.

Double your fantasy sports fun

My friend Ravi Shankar is what you'd call an advanced fantasy mind.

City's football fans on verge of despair

The first, light chills of autumn are in the air and Jets and Giants fans enter this weekend with nary an NFL victory to which they might anchor any feelings of promise.

Sporting gifts from South Asia

Jaded after a long, disillusioning summer of news about the American sportscape, I turned my eyes to kabaddi and kho-kho, two indigenous sports that I believe South Asia has offered for international adherence.

Gambling suspicions cloud tennis world

Eh tu, tennis?

Celtics miss shot at basketball immortality

Way to go, Celtics.

SPORT COLUMN

Baseball could learn from cycling

While baseball trembles in near-motionless contemplation of its own performance-enhanced past, cycling has sprinted ahead with a doping reconciliation that might be a model for the foot-dragging MLB.

SPORTS COLUMN

Is Portland passing on Jordan (again)?

The talent frothing at the top of next week's NBA draft, particularly at the top two spots, takes me back to when I was 4 1/2 years old.