"ALL THEY DO IS GIVE OUT AWARDS..."

Boss George was in town yesterday accepting an award from The Sporting News as "The Most Powerful Man in Sports."

"It may seem like I'm Simon Legree," Steinbrenner said referring to the fictional slave driver in "Uncle Tom's Cabin", "but I'm not."

You've got to be not afraid to win. There are too many owners in sports today who are businessmen that don't drive to win. This money is what my fans pay to see their team. You reward your fans. You don't take it and put it your pocket like 90% of the rest of the owners do.

I feel we're very heavily loaded with revenue sharing, but I'm not going to argue against it.... We're going to live by it, but we're also going to keep putting money back in the team to do the important things for our fans. We'll find ways.

Of course, George couldn't resist taking another shot at Larry Lucchino's "evil empire" quip.

It was a poor comment, just a very poor comment," Steinbrenner said. "I like Boston. I love Boston . . . Great fans, great people. You have to remember that Lucchino just came there, so I'll be patient. I'll give him time. I just got a little upset when they called New York an evil empire. Would you like it? It was just a bad choice of words on his part." Then Steinbrenner, twisting the knife, added, "I know he was after that pitcher (Jose Contreras)," Steinbrenner said. "I'll just attribute it to a bad choice of words. They've been using those words ever since Babe Ruth.

Steinbrenner also intimated that future Hall of Famer, Rocket Clemens was being wooed by the Sox, but "Roger wanted to stay with the Yankees," Steinbrenner said. "Here's a guy that sacrificed an awful lot of money and a lot of things he could have had somewhere else like north of here - he didn't like the snow - but he's coming back."

KID CARTER PUMPED

Gary Carter doesn't have to whine any longer. Like Sally Field he can finally say, "You like me, you really like me!" According to the Daily News:

[Carter] played golf in Florida yesterday to try and kep his mind off the wait, and considered his birdie on the 8th hole an omen--since he wore No. 8 during his career.

Finally, when he got word via a phone call as he was coming off the 18th green, Carter celebrated in the exuberant manner Mets' fans came to love.

"I got overly excited," he said. "I pumped my fist in the air, I screamed. There were no parties planned this year, but now we can do a little celebrating tonight as a family."

Carter also told Bill Madden:

"Even though it was six years in waiting, it seemed they really shortened it with the phone call today," Carter said. "All those other years have now kind of blended together into one. I was never impatient, but I will say last year (when he missed election by 11 votes), I was disappointed because my wife Sandy had arranged for a big party. And I guess my second year, when there were all those big names on the ballot for the first time, George Brett, Nolan Ryan, Robin Yount and Carlton Fisk, and I lost votes, that was when I was most discouraged."

Carter couldn't resist bitching just a little. It has always been part of his game, so why change now?

Bob Klapisch has a good column today regarding his Hall of Fame ballot, "Impossible to figure who's in, who's out."

Klap makes a case for the Goose, as does Kevin Kernan in the Post.