And yet, you would be hard-pressed to find even one Knicks fan who would criticize that trade now. Are you kidding? Do you remember what the Garden sounded like, what it felt like, during those first two years Sprewell wore No. 8 in home white, especially May and June of 1999, those unforgettable playoff games against the Heat and Pacers? How often do you yearn for even one night to recall those nights of Garden glory, even if it means having to tolerate Sprewell's act?

Well, if you are a Mets fan, you know where this is going. Manny Ramirez is still available, still there for the taking, less than two weeks before pitchers and catchers report to Port St. Lucie. Ramirez and his bat - and all the baggage that goes along with that bat - are still there for the taking, to anyone willing to swallow hard and pay a little extra for the privilege of inserting a Hall of Fame bat in the middle of the order.

One that, on the Mets, would look quite nice, thank you, sandwiched between Carlos Beltran and David Wright - or between Wright and Carlos Delgado. Or, really, anywhere you would like to put him.

Of course, the Mets have been steadfast in saying they are not interested. They grow testy when you ask if it might have something to do with money, if the reason they don't wish to reinvest some of the anticipated profits from Citi Field into Manny has something to do with the millions Bernie Madoff drained from other aspects of the family business. Besides, if you want to scream about the Mets' penny pinching, the better targets of that rage are their unwillingness to spend for Orlando Hudson and/or Ben Sheets.

No, by using logic and deduction, if you wish to take the Wilpons at their word on that subject, you can reach only one conclusion:

Manny Being Manny scares the bejeezus out of the Mets. His act. His poutiness. His quirkiness. And, hey, let's be honest, Manny Being Manny can be a handful. He doesn't run out grounders. He doesn't always play nice. His final days in Boston were disgraceful, from the tanking at the end to the flattening of an older team executive over tickets in Houston. And the Mets, already having been burned by getting about 40 percent value out of the four-year deal they handed Pedro Martinez, can be forgiven for their reluctance at going once more to the Red Sox well.

All fair arguments.

And yet, are you finding it as hard as I am to shake Checketts' words?

"Winning is a priority here. But it's not about winning at all costs, which some people have said this move is about. It is about giving an extraordinary talent another chance."

Sometimes, in the name of winning, you have to walk into some pretty treacherous danger zones. Manny Ramirez is such a zone, same as Latrell Sprewell was once. The Knicks gambled, and won. Will the Mets even try to put the dice in their hands?

New York Yankees News News » Hey Mets, Latrell worked out in New York
Hey Mets, Latrell worked out in New York
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