By MARC TOPKIN
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 26, 2000
Say what?
Meredith Vieira, co-host of the ABC-TV talk show The View, was clowning around on the field before the game with some of the Mets players, taping segments. But Vieira raised some eyebrows, and the anger of some nearby female journalists, when she asked Mike Piazza, "Who has the biggest wood on the Mets?" The writers told Vieira that they work hard to establish their credibility, and such questions were unprofessional and detrimental to their effort. Vieira, according to the Daily News, told them: "It was all in good fun. I'm not here as a journalist." So what, we ask, was she doing on the field with a media credential?
The shift to Shea Stadium actually brought out more celebrities. Among the big names in the crowd (who weren't there to promote their Fox network TV shows) were Chevy Chase, Billy Crystal, Harrison Ford, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Goldie Hawn, Dan Rather, Ben Stiller and Bruce Willis.
HEY ROCKER ... HOW'S THE HUNTING?
A Manhattan law firm and a clothing label manufacturer share Mets season tickets. But the clothing company wouldn't make any Series tickets available to the law firm, leaving the lawyers no choice but to sue. A Manhattan Supreme Court Judge scheduled an emergency hearing. ... People connected to the teams are finding out they have a lot of old friends. Howard Rubenstein, a spokesman for Yankees boss George Steinbrenner, said he got a call from someone who lived on his block -- whom he hadn't seen since he was 5 years old. "The request for tickets has been like a tidal wave, like in one of those Japanese films when the wave engulfs the entire city," Rubenstein said.
The Daily News is winning the coverage war, at least in terms of volume. The News had a 32-page section about Tuesday's game, including such hard-hitting stories as a feature on the Baha Men, the Bahamian band responsible for the new sports anthem Who Let the Dogs Out?