PHILADELPHIA – Doc Rivers noted that you don’t get a trophy for 50 wins in the regular season. Ray Allen said he’d look in his mailbox at home today to see if there was a prize for getting 50 wins. And Kevin Garnett basically couldn’t care less.

With their focus on the big picture of an NBA title, the Celtics were ho-hum about becoming the league’s first 50-win team after a 100-86 victory over the Sixers last night at the sold-out Wachovia Center.

“I didn’t even know we had 50 wins, to tell you the truth,” said Garnett, who had his 23d double-double of the season with 26 points and 12 rebounds. “I haven’t even looked at our record. I’ve looked at who we’ve played and the person I’m going to guard.

“Other than that, I [don't care] about the record. My focus is on who we play one game at a time. That’s it.”

At 50-12, these Celtics tied the second-fastest route to 50 wins in franchise history. The 1964-65 and 1985-86 teams both reached 50 wins with just 11 losses.

“It doesn’t really mean anything,” Allen said. “I haven’t thought about it. I don’t think any one of us has looked at the schedule or the record at 50 wins. I know 50 is 50.

“Any time you win 50 games in a season – and we have quite a few games left – it’s a pretty remarkable accomplishment. But I’m going to check my mailbox first to see if I’ve got any prizes in it for winning 50 games before I speak too soon. Other than that, you don’t win anything for 50.”

Said Rivers, “Numbers are numbers. We just want to keep getting better and keep playing. You don’t get a trophy for getting 50 wins.”

The Celtics extended their winning streak to nine games, tying a season high already accomplished twice. They have won four straight on the road and improved to 7-0 on the road against the Atlantic Division.

Allen had 21 points and nailed four 3-pointers while Paul Pierce added 17 points. New Celtic Sam Cassell, in his debut, was scoreless with four fouls in 5:24. The Sixers, who played an afternoon game at Milwaukee a day earlier, shot a season-low 31.6 percent from the field.

“We’ve got to continue to do the things we’ve been doing and we’ve got to do them a little bit better,” Sixers coach Mo Cheeks said, “especially when you’re playing against a team like Boston.”

Since a Dec. 5 loss to Boston left them at 5-13, the Sixers had gone 25-20. They entered last night’s game having won four straight and were facing a potential first-round playoff opponent.

The Celtics came out focused from the tip-off, sending a message to the Sixers about what they could be looking forward to come playoff time. Boston is 3-0 against Philadelphia this season.

“It’s one of those things where we might see them again,” Pierce said. “So we wanted to make a statement tonight. You always want to go out there and win and make a statement because you want to try to take a team’s confidence away.

“You want to make teams think they can’t beat you. Mentally, that’s half the battle, anyway.”

The Celtics ran out to a 15-0 lead before finishing the first quarter ahead, 26-20. The Sixers got back into the game – and had it tied at 44 – before going into halftime down, 53-47.

“It was great,” said Rivers about the early lead. “But then we let our guard down.”

The Celtics put the Sixers away in the third quarter by opening with a 10-3 run finalized with a Garnett alley-oop dunk to take a 63-50 lead. They outscored the Sixers, 23-15, in the quarter, holding the home team to 5-of-22 shooting, as they built a 76-62 lead. Garnett had 12 points and 5 rebounds in the period.

Boston’s defense kept the Sixers from getting back in the game by holding them to 7-of-23 shooting from the field (0 for 5 on 3-pointers) in the fourth quarter.

“We all know that Boston’s a very good basketball team,” Cheeks said. “No. 1 defensive team in the league and they showed why tonight.”

But having 50 wins, right now, isn’t a big deal to the Celtics.

Said Pierce, “It’s great. It shows that we’ve been playing well through the course of the season. But we have bigger goals than that.”

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Johan Santana received a pleasant round of applause when he was introduced as the Mets’ starting pitcher before Monday’s game. The fans, though, were just warming up their vocal cords. They were really waiting for the next player to be announced: “Leading off the game for the Boston Red Sox, the center fielder, No. 46, Jacoby Ellsbury.”

His name could barely be heard over the din. The Mets might have batted last and worn their white uniforms, but they were not the home team in Monday’s 10-inning 1-1 tie. Red Sox fans swooped into Fenway Park, er, Tradition Field, comprising a vocal majority of the largest paid crowd (7,353) in the stadium’s history.

A quick scan of the lower seating level could find Ortiz and Matsuzaka jerseys with every swivel of the head, although green Red Sox caps were popular, too. One man wore a T-shirt exhorting the Yankees to do, um, something not nice, but it was unclear where his allegiances stood Monday.

The Mets and the Red Sox, despite their memorable tussle in the 1986 World Series, are unofficial allies. They share a common enemy in the Yankees, whose senior vice president, Hank Steinbrenner, engaged in some kind-of, sort-of, not-really-unfriendly verbal jousting a week ago with Boston’s principal owner, John Henry, when Steinbrenner questioned the popularity of Red Sox Nation.

There was no denying that Monday. The outnumbered Mets fans tried compensating for their size by exaggerating their emotions. Like in the top of the first inning, when Brady Clark lost a fly ball in the sun and they jeered him. Huh? Those weren’t boos? That sound was “Yooooooooooouk,” the nickname of the on-deck hitter, Kevin Youkilis. Oh, well. “I’ve played on a different team enough to know the Mets get the same thing on the road,” Brian Schneider said. “Big-market teams — the Mets, Boston, the Yankees, the Cubs — whenever you’re playing against them as an opposing team on the road, there’s going to be a lot of fans.”

Presumably, many of those fans had something in common with their sporting idols Monday: Both groups flew here. To minimize travel before the team leaves March 19 for Japan, Red Sox ownership paid for 50-seat commuter jets to shuttle players back and forth from their spring training base in Fort Myers, Fla., 140 miles away, to the east coast of Florida.

The Red Sox brought along stars like Manny Ramírez, David Ortiz and Mike Lowell, who would otherwise be granted immunity from three-hour bus rides, for Sunday’s game against the Dodgers in Vero Beach. They flew back Sunday night, picked up a new contingent of players and made the 23-minute flight Monday morning, busing here from Vero Beach.

“I brought my little pillow along,” Ellsbury said. “I can sleep anywhere.”

The Mets play the Red Sox on Tuesday in Fort Myers. No plane for them. The team bus is scheduled to leave here at 7:15 a.m.

“I’ll take my private jet,” Ryan Church said. “No, no, I won’t. I’ll be on the Greyhound Express.”

Manager Willie Randolph said, “You win world championships, you can do that kind of stuff.”

For the first time since 1919, the Red Sox will enter the season as the prohibitive favorites to win another World Series title, although the Mets acquired Santana this off-season to improve their chances of opposing them. They had to fend off the Red Sox, who did not want to part with three players prominently mentioned in trade discussions for him — Ellsbury, Jon Lester and Jed Lowrie — who were part of the traveling party.

“Not at all,” Santana said, when asked if he had thought about playing for Boston instead. “I was just thinking about doing my job. I’m a Met.”

So it seems pretty unlikely, then, that Santana, then a Twin, was itching to avenge his loss last spring to the Red Sox, which gave them the Mayor’s Cup, the trophy awarded to whichever of the Fort Myers-based teams wins the spring series.

Either way, he continues to impress. Since giving up a three-run homer to the Cardinals’ Juan González in the first inning of his first start Feb. 29, he has allowed one run in eight innings. Santana plowed through Boston’s lineup in his four innings, allowing two hits — both singles — while striking out four. His fastball reached 92 miles an hour, a slight increase from his last start.

“It’s what I’ve expected from him since Day 1,” Randolph said.

Randolph was also expecting Carlos Beltrán (sore knees) and Carlos Delgado (impingement of right hip) to return to the lineup, which they did. Delgado, who said his hip felt fine, struck out twice, and Beltrán served as the designated hitter because his left knee was bothering him enough that he was not comfortable playing the outfield.

“Every time I’ve got to run for the ball, and I’ve got to stop and turn, I don’t feel confident right now,” said Beltrán, who went 0 for 3. “I can do it in practice, but in a game, you just react, and I don’t feel confident.”

Even if the Mets’ supporters could puff out their chests a little when a between-innings trivia question asked, “Which player scored the winning run in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series?” neither team’s supporters left unhappy.

When the Mets made the final out in the 10th, Boston Manager Terry Francona looked toward the Mets’ dugout to see if the game would continue. Randolph waved his hand, indicating no, and the Red Sox filed into their clubhouse.

The early day was just as well. The Red Sox had a plane to catch.

March 11 (Bloomberg) — Comedian Billy Crystal will sign a one-day contract with the New York Yankees and play in a spring- training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on March 13, one day before his 60th birthday.

Crystal is a New York native and lifelong Yankees’ fan who frequently attends games at Yankee Stadium. In 2001, he directed and produced the film “*61,” which chronicled Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle as they sought to break Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record in 1961.

Crystal’s minor-league contract was approved by Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and he’ll join the Yankees tomorrow for workouts at the team’s training facility in Tampa, Florida, according to a statement from the team.

“I’ve been waiting 50 years for this call,” said Crystal, who will wear uniform No. 60. “I’m overwhelmed by the generosity of the Yankees and Commissioner Selig. I know this (will) be tougher than the Broadway Softball League, but I’m looking forward to helping the younger players, which, by the way, is all of them.”

Crystal was the captain of his high school baseball team in New York and batted .348 during his senior season.

“The Yankees are excited to welcome the newest member of our team, known for his humor and wit as well as his undying love for the Yankees,” Yankees Chief Operating Officer Lonn Trost said in a statement. “The Yankees are very grateful to the commissioner’s office for allowing us to extend this special invitation to Mr. Crystal.”

Country music singer Garth Brooks played in spring training games for the San Diego Padres in 1999, the New York Mets in 2000 and the Kansas City Royals in 2004 to raise money for his children’s charity. He had 2 hits in 47 at-bats.

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Matuszewski in New York at matuszewski@bloomberg.net

The Federer-Sampras match at Madison Square Garden brought plenty of excitement to New York. Above: Roger Federer, left, shakes hands with Pete Sampras after his 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6)win at MSG. (Getty Images Photo / March 10, 2008)

BY JOHN JEANSONNE | john.jeansonne@newsday.com

March 11, 2008

Masters of the universe and tennis superheroes Pete Sampras and Roger Federer last night brought some comic-book wish fulfillment to sold-out Madison Square Garden, a mighty collision of generations for the benefit of sports archeologists.

Federer, rightful heir to the Sampras throne of the previous decade, needed all of his powers for a 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6) victory amid the true dynamics of a champions’ showdown. Sampras offered glimpses of the old chain-saw serve and slam-dunk volley to make Federer earn his keep, which he did with his elegant athleticism, stylish as the faux-tuxedo black attire he favors.

Sampras, as was always his custom, played the proven serve-and-volley fundamentals of an earlier era in the appropriate “classic whites.” And not raggedly, either.

George Mason — The nation’s ultimate Cinderella story from two years ago is back dancing after knocking off William & Mary to capture the CAA tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. It was only fitting that two holdovers from the memorable team, Folarin Campbell and Will Thomas, combined for 38 points in the championship game on Monday night.
fond

Le staminali arrivano in soccorso delle ossa e delle cartilagini, in particolare in presenza di malattie come l’artrite o in caso di fratture e altre lesioni. Lo affermano ricercatori britannici, per i quali il trapianto di cellule “bambine” accelera la riparazione di questi tessuti e potrebbe anche aiutare il recupero delle vittime di incidenti o dei malati di tumori ossei. Tra i soggetti che potrebbero beneficiare di questa tecnica, spiccano in particolare gli anziani che muoiono a seguito della frattura dell’anca: si tratta di 14.000 soggetti all’anno solo nel Regno Unito. La osteoartrite è causata dal deterioramento della cartilagine e nelle forme più gravi può essere curata solo chirurgicamente, con la sostituzione dell’anca o delle ginocchia con parti artificiali.

I ricercatori dell’università di Edimburgo stanno mettendo a punto una tecnica, chiamata “impalcatura bioattiva” , per proteggere le cellule staminali e incoraggiarne la crescita una volta impiantate nelle ossa o nella cartilagini. Gli esperti stanno utilizzando staminali “riprogrammate”, tratte dal sangue o dal midollo del paziente, che svolgono bene la funzione riparatrice in laboratorio, ma presentano qualche difficoltà una volta immesse nell’organismo umano. Per proteggerle e aiutarle a svilupparsi, gli esperti stanno mettendo a punto una rete rigida, appunto l’impalcatura bioattiva, che consenta alle cellule di crescere più rapidamente e accelerare la ripresa del paziente.

La tecnica potrebbe essere particolarmente utile quando si cura la cartilagine, un tessuto che non si rigenera mai del tutto da sé – una forte percentuale di coloro che subiscono danni alla cartilagine da giovani, sviluppa infatti l’artrite in tarda età – ma anche nel sanare i traumi troppo profondi per guarire da soli o riparare le ossa danneggiate da tumori. Nei prossimi due anni, l’”impalcatura” verrà testata su 30 pazienti, per passare poi a una sperimentazione più ampia se la prima fase avrà avuto successo.

Sostiene Brendon Noble, dell’Mrc Centre per Regenerative Medicine dell’Università di Edimburgo: “Le numerose ricerche condotte finora stanno chiarendo cosa porterà le cellule staminali a specializzarsi e divenire uno specifico tipo di cellula. Il passo successivo sarà pensare al modo innovativo in cui incoraggiarle a farlo all’interno dell’organismo: spesso riusciamo a realizzare facilmente gli obiettivi in laboratorio, ma tendiamo a dimenticare che il primo impatto delle cellule con il paziente non è facile”.

Secondo il professor Chris Moran, membro della Associazione degli Ortopedici britannici ed esperto in chirurgia ortopedica all’University of Nottingham, questo tipo di ricerche nel futuro consentirà ai chirurghi di sanare anche le fratture finora considerate irrecuperabili e addirittura rimpiazzare il tessuto osseo consumato da un tumore. “Ma prima di trasferire questa tecnologia dai laboratori alle camere operatorie, bisogna rendere l’impalcatura compatibile con l’organismo umano ed evitarne il rigetto”. Gli esperti prevedono che, per arrivare a mettere a punto questa nuova tecnica, occorreranno almeno due anni di studi.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush will visit Tennessee on Friday to comfort victims of the devastating string of tornadoes that ripped through that state, the White House said Wednesday.

At least 54 people were killed and hundreds injured Tuesday and Wednesday by dozens of tornadoes that plowed across Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama. It was the nation’s deadliest barrage of twisters in almost two dozen years.

White House deputy press secretary Scott Stanzel said Tennessee was hit particularly hard.

“So the president is going there to express his support for the people who have been impacted by these devastating storms,” he said.

To make room for the trip, Bush moved up his speech in Washington to the Conservative Political Action Conference to an earlier time on Friday. He has also postponed a meeting with the president of Mali.

Earlier Wednesday, Bush said he called the governors of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee and assured them the administration stood ready to help and to deal with any emergency requests. He also tried to assure those affected by the tornadoes that the rest of the country is praying for them.

“Loss of life, loss of property — prayers can help and so can the government,” Bush said. “I do want the people in those states to know the American people are standing with them.”

In recapping his conversations with the governors, Bush said: “I wanted them to know that this government would help them. But more importantly, I wanted them to be able to tell the people in their states that the American people hold those who suffer up in prayer.”

Bush made his comments at the start of the ceremonial swearing-in of his new agriculture secretary, Edward Schafer.

While the holidays might have been brutal on your pocketbook, tips from LendingTree.com can help you pay off your credit card bill before it becomes a long-term financial burden.

Charlotte, NC (PRWEB) January 6, 2008 — It’s easy to get caught up in the holiday spirit and spend more than you should. But with the gift giving season behind us and your credit card bill looming, the reality of overspending has likely started to set in. Don’t panic – here are a few helpful tips from LendingTree.com to help ease your holiday debt hangover:

Pay as much as you can each month
The best way to pay off credit card debt is to maximize monthly payments. Creating a simple budget can help determine where costs can be cut from everyday and monthly expenses, freeing up cash to put towards credit card bills.

Look for a lower interest rate
If you have multiple credit cards or an account with a high interest rate, you may want to consider consolidating or transferring your existing balance(s) to a new card with a lower interest rate. There are a variety of credit card deals out there, so shop around and see what offers are available. However, if you go this route, make sure you read the fine print so you know there are no strings attached or hidden fees.

Negotiate with your credit card provider
Believe it or not, a lower credit card interest rate could be only a phone call away. That’s right, your current credit card provider may be willing to work with you to lower your interest rate. This could not only help now, but in the future as well. It’s as simple as phoning your credit card company and asking what they can do.

Use your rainy day fund
We know – you had a holiday budget in tact but it got a little out of control. How about paying off the extra balance with your savings? That holiday bonus, tax return or rainy day fund was supposed to be a trip to the Bahamas or a new flat screen TV. However, with a large credit card balance that has quickly grown, you may want to rethink that vacation or big ticket item and use your extra savings to pay off your card, especially one with a high interest rate.

While the holidays might have been brutal on your pocketbook, these tips can help you pay off your credit card bill before it becomes a long-term financial burden. And, when the next holiday season rolls around, consider using cash or a debit card instead of your credit cards. Your wallet will thank you.

For more budget tips to help you get rid of unruly debt, check out the LendingTree Smart Borrower Center: www.lendingtree.com/smartborrower.

About LendingTree, LLC
LendingTree, LLC is the nation’s number one online lending exchange, providing a marketplace that connects consumers with multiple lenders that compete for their business. Since inception, LendingTree has facilitated more than 23 million loan requests and $185 billion in closed loan transactions. LendingTree provides access to mortgages and refinance loans, home equity loans/lines of credit, auto loans, personal loans, credit cards and high-yield savings accounts via www.lendingtree.com“>www.lendingtree.com and 800-555-TREE.

Launched in 1998 with headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, LendingTree, LLC also owns and operates LendingTree Loans sm, LendingTree Settlement Services, LLC, GetSmart®, and HomeLoanCenter.com. LendingTree, LLC is an operating company of IAC.

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