Madison Square Garden

Rock fans in New York are a tough, dedicated bunch. They have figured out how to snap up tickets for concerts that sell out the day they're announced. They adapt to great variations between announced and actual show times; they brave frisking, metal detectors, overcrowded halls, belligerent bouncers and exorbitant drink prices.Just about every band in the known universe looks forward to a showcase in New York, where audiences are both discerning and diverse. But where will they play? Often, at places that would be outshone by the dives back home.

NEW YORK -- You want a people's champ? Here he comes.Riddick Bowe makes his first title defense Saturday night in a homecoming bout at Madison Square Garden, and that's just the start.Bowe's manager, Rock Newman, said yesterday that he wants the heavyweight champion to fight Larry Holmes at RFK Stadium in August -- with tickets distributed free of charge.Of course, Bowe must defeat Michael Dokes on Saturday and then Ray Mercer on May 21 for the Holmes fight to happen. And, this being boxing, about 400 other things could get in the way.Still, Newman is serious about staging the first heavyweight championship bout in Washington since Joe Louis beat Buddy Baer in 1941 -- a fight in which Louis got knocked through the ropes.

NEW YORK -- It was a night that had failure written all over it. Not only did the Washington Wizards need a win to stay in the playoff hunt, but they had to do it at Madison Square Garden against a New York Knicks team that had won every season series against the visitors since the 1986-87 season.So all the Wizards do is play their most complete offensive game since Rod Strickland's injury, taking a 104-102 win over New York last night that extends Washington's playoff hopes at least until tonight's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at the MCI Center.

NEW YORK - Celebrity director Michael Moore, who was hired as a guest columnist by USA Today to write about the Republican National Convention, inspired headlines Monday night even before he had written a word. In so doing, the liberal documentarian made the kind of news the paper would have liked to avoid. During a prime-time speech televised Monday night on all the major networks, Arizona Sen. John S. McCain singled out Moore, referring to him as "a disingenuous filmmaker." Moore is the creator and director of Fahrenheit 9/11, a documentary in which he offers a blistering critique of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq.

When the Democrats convene in Madison Square Garden today,they will return to the site of the last convention in which they nominated a winner -- and to the namesake of the hall in which they experienced their most horrendous conclave.In 1976, the Democrats gathered in the Garden to nominate former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, culminating his phenomenal rise from obscurity to the pinnacle of American politics. In 1980, they returned to the Garden to renominate him, which given the rise in Mr. Carter's reputation due to his exemplary endeavors as an ex-president, is looking like a wiser decision than it appeared at the time.

NEW YORK -- As the final minutes ticked away, both Chris Webber and Juwan Howard sat at the end of the bench wearing blank expressions. Rod Strickland, seated nearby, also had a blank stare, gazing down at the Madison Square Garden floor.For the 13th time since 1991, the Washington Bullets played at Madison Square Garden, seeking a win against the New York Knicks. And for the 13th time the Bullets came away losers, this time suffering an 85-73 loss before a sellout crowd of 19,763.But this time had to be more disappointing, as the Bullets lost for the fifth straight time overall.

NEW YORK -- In the end, the ugly brand of basketball displayed by the New York Knicks last night proved difficult for the usually die-hard Madison Square Garden fans to watch.Given the opportunity to assume control of their first-round Eastern Conference series against a Miami Heat team they had dominated on their home court, the Knicks literally handed last night's game away in a 91-85 loss.They handed it away by committing 22 turnovers that led to 23 points for Miami, a sloppy performance that was booed by the few in the crowd that remained for an ugly affair that lasted 2 hours, 37 minutes.

Don't you just hate show-biz goodbyes? This week in New York, Barbra Streisand will say goodbye to live performance with two shows at Madison Square Garden. Even though tickets were priced as high as $2,500 a seat, all 25,000 were sold within two hours. Besides the New York shows (which take place Wednesday and Thursday), there were two shows at the Staples Center in Los Angeles last week. And that's it. As her manager, Martin Erlichman, said in July, "Ms. Streisand has chosen to conclude her public performance career in the two cities most associated with her work."

NEW YORK - As a stylist daubs lipstick on Dovile Virsilaite's bee-stung lips, you notice they're the only plump thing on her. The 17-year-old model from Lithuania is a leggy beauty, but volatile. Left unattended, she barks into her cell phone. Maestro is a 3-year-old champion bichon frise from Pennsylvania. Her pink tongue hangs coquettishly over her lower teeth as her handler blow dries her luxuriant white fur. She's beautiful, but not too choosy. Left unattended, she licks the hand of any stranger who comes near her. In recent days, both these pedigreed types were put through their paces in their respective milieu: New York's Fashion Week, held in Bryant Park, and the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden.

It was a sparkling, glittering crowd befitting the occasion that assembled the night of March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden.Many of the men came dressed in tuxedos and full-length mink coats. Many of the women wore slinky evening gowns, adorned with bangles and beads.Frank Sinatra was an accredited photographer for Life magazine, sharing a ringside view with Apollo astronaut Alan Shepard, David Frost, Joe DiMaggio and the Kennedy clan."It was probably the most glittering night ever held in Madison Square Garden," said Harry Markson, former director of boxing at the Garden.