Florida

What puzzles Harry Gaines is that we typically plan our vacations with more care than we plan the rest of our lives, especially when it comes to health and fitness. Too often we neglect to make the investment in exercise that will pay rich dividends in well-being in our 70s, 80s, and beyond. Gaines, 74, a retired textbook-publishing executive who lives half the year in Newtown, Bucks County, and the other half in Florida, keeps a "bucket list" — goals and experiences he hopes to accomplish before he kicks the proverbial bucket.

Pam Chandler decided to accompany her husband, Bob, to the extraordinary auction of an Ocean City, N.J., mansion Saturday to keep him from "going overboard. " But an hour after she toured the 7,000-square-foot Victorian-style house on the Great Bay, she was the one prodding him to stay in the frenzied bidding on the breezy bayside veranda. The Chandlers, who live in Rumson, Monmouth County, with their three children, won the auction, ultimately paying $3.9 million for a property that was listed at about $6.5 million two years ago. It is assessed at $5 million.

OMAHA, Neb. - No big upset this time. Kenny Boynton and Florida were just too good for Norfolk State Boynton scored 20 points and the balanced Gators routed the 15th-seeded Spartans 84-50 yesterday to reach the Round of 16. Norfolk State shook up the West Regional when it upset No. 2 seed Missouri 86-84 Friday, and was trying to become the first 15 seed to reach the fourth round. Florida (25-10) put a quick end to that idea, making five three-pointers during a 25-0 run that made it 29-6 midway through the first half.

MIAMI - Cheered by new polls, Mitt Romney yesterday was all but predicting victory in today's Republican presidential primary. Newt Gingrich is looking past Florida to regroup. "With a turnout like this, I'm beginning to feel we might win tomorrow," an upbeat Romney told a crowd of several hundred at a stop in Dunedin as he and Gingrich zipped across the state making their final appeals. Gingrich, in turn, acknowledged that his momentum had been checked but promised not to back down.

PHOENIX - Bradley Beal scored 21 points to lead Florida to a 68-58 win over Marquette in a West Regional semifinal last night. The win sets up an Elite Eight matchup of Florida coach Billy Donovan against Louisville's Rick Pitino tomorrow. The seventh-seeded Gators (26-10), who led 36-30, at the half, were also led by Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton, who had 11 points each. Erik Murphy pulled down 10 rebounds. Third-seeded Marquette (27-8) was led by Jae Crowder, (15 points)

YOU'VE HEARD the term "snow birds," used to describe us Northerners who hightail it to Florida when temperatures drop. But there's a growing class of "gun birds" who, when thwarted in their attempt to get a Pennsylvania license to carry a concealed weapon, can exploit a loophole that allows them to get a license from Florida. According to a Daily News report last week, the cops and the District Attorney's Office in Philadelphia are getting increasingly frustrated with this loophole.

As with any group of migratory beasts, there are certain patterns to the migration of humans to Florida every year. In the early fall, the retired folks who make Florida their home start back after a summer-long visit up North. The next wave consists of those who live in the North but winter in Florida - they head south in October and November. License plates from Pennsylvania, Illinois, Connecticut can be tracked all the way down the East Coast. And then there are the vacationers, who are apt to head south at the first sign of a cold wave up north.

Too much sunshine can addle the brain. And that seems to be happening in Florida. Instead of feeling shame and guilt for their unseemly effort to steal the White Sox from Chicago, the folks in the Sunshine State are angry at me for trying to prevent this theft. I've been bombarded with calls from Florida talk-show babblers, news reporters and businessmen who are outraged that I've urged Chicagoans to fight back by not vacationing in Florida. Almost 2 million Illinoisans visit Florida each year, spending over a billion dollars.

Each day, the shocking character defects of Florida keep mounting. I recently wrote about its venal efforts to steal the White Sox from Chicago. And I pointed out what ingrates Floridians are, considering how many billions of dollars people from Illinois spend in that state each year. And now I discover that besides piracy and ingratitude, Florida is guilty of insincerity. As far back as I can remember, I have seen TV commercials and other advertising that urges Northerners to visit Florida.

Chandler Parsons scored 19 points, Erving Walker broke out of a shooting slump and host Florida beat No. 19 Tennessee, 75-62, last night. Walker also finished with 19 points, 14 in the second half. Vernon Macklin added 13 points and 10 rebounds for Florida, which has won three in a row. The Gators used a 27-6 run - highlighted by four three-pointers and a bunch of points in the paint - to turn a close game into a lopsided affair. The victory snapped Tennessee's six-game winning streak in the series and gave Florida's NCAA Tournament resum? a much-needed boost.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Trayvon Martin was shot through the heart at close range. George Zimmerman had a broken nose, bruises, and bloody cuts on the back of his head. The lead investigator wanted to charge Zimmerman with manslaughter in the weeks after the shooting. These are among the details revealed in nearly 200 pages of documents, photos, and audio recordings that were released Thursday in a case that has riveted the nation. Yet it's still unclear what exactly happened. Another opportunity for answers isn't likely to come until a hearing later this year in which Zimmerman is expected to say the shooting was justified under Florida's "stand your ground" law. His attorney, Mark O'Mara, did not return a phone call seeking comment Thursday.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Thirteen people were charged Wednesday in one of the biggest college hazing cases ever prosecuted in this country, accused in the death of a Florida A&M University drum major who authorities say was mercilessly pummeled by fellow members of the marching band. The charges came more than five months after Robert Champion, 26, died aboard a chartered bus parked outside an Orlando hotel following a performance against a rival school. While the most sensational hazing cases have typically involved fraternities, sororities, or athletic teams, the FAMU tragedy in November exposed a brutal tradition among marching bands at some colleges.

Bill Hixon was a legend in the rarefied world of Florida surfing, where intrepid young people relish tropical storms and other coastal upheavals that send normal people fleeing, to test their skill and courage against the wild waves. He opened one of the East Coast's first surf shops in Neptune Beach in 1964. He went on to open two more surf shops, and organized surfing teams that competed on both coasts. And he created his own boards. He was, in short, a surfing legend at a time when the Beach Boys were singing about catching a wave and capturing the imaginations of young would-be beach bums, who would then join the "cool" guys at Hixon's Surf Shop and soak up the ambience.

LETTER WRITER Dan Gibbons laments that he is baffled to see Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson keep the story of Trayvon Martin on the front page but avoid stories like the recent killing of two British tourists by a black man in Florida. That Trayvon Martin is national news is a feat in and of itself. Like Dan, I, too, am baffled at the lengths the media will go to keep tragic stories of missing and/or murdered Caucasian women and children on the front pages of the newspapers, the Internet, the national news and our collective psyches, yet somehow conveniently avoid similar tragedies that take place all over this great nation every day involving missing and/or murdered women and children of color.

The six weeks since the senseless shooting of Florida teen Trayvon Martin by a town-watch volunteer have only served to intensify the scrutiny of reckless self-defense laws - like one on the books in Pennsylvania - that permit citizens to shoot first if they feel threatened. So it's good to hear that State Rep. Ronald G. Waters (D., Phila.) has issued a call for gun-safety reforms and to "not let Trayvon Martin's death go in vain. " The legal defense that, so far, has shielded George Zimmerman from being arrested for the Feb. 26 death of Martin, after an encounter in a gated central Florida community, is one that could be used in Pennsylvania and nearly two-dozen other states with what's known as "stand your ground" laws.

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Horse trainer Michael Matz woke up Sunday about 4 a.m. and, as he always does, looked at his phone. He's got an app on the phone attached to a camera outside the stall of his big horse, Union Rags. "He was just laying down in the stall, laying there with his head on the side, just really resting," Matz said later Sunday morning. "When he's like that, he really takes care of himself well. " On Saturday, Union Rags had finished third as the 2-5 favorite in the Florida Derby.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - The hard work is done. Roy Halladay spent his final week in Florida compiling all of the information he has on the Pittsburgh Pirates. The colored charts and impeccable details about every batter Halladay could face Thursday are ready for use. "I hate starting that too early," Halladay said. "It can almost consume you if you do too much of it. " Then there was actually excitement in Halladay's voice, about an hour after he threw his final 46 pitches of Grapefruit League play against Toronto.

The effects of Trayvon Martin's death continued to be felt in the Philadelphia area Saturday, as 40 Gloucester County residents marched in support of the Florida teenager's family and officials and academics gathered at St. Joseph's University to talk about race relations. The controversy surrounding the February killing of Martin, who was African American, by George Zimmerman, a white man, has been divisive nationwide, but Clayton resident Jesse Jackson wanted to show that small towns could make an impact.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A couple of smart guys, ready to make another move to the betting windows at Gulfstream Park, set their sights on the day's main event, the $1.1 million Florida Derby. "You think this track is speed favoring?" the one guy said. "I'm still not betting against Union Rags," the other answered. "I'm not either," the first said. All eyes Saturday were on Union Rags. NBC's cameras never moved as the rest of the field passed going to the track before the race.

By sunset on Saturday, the Union Rags story will include another important chapter. If this colt, trained by Michael Matz of Barbaro fame and owned by Chadds Ford's Phyllis Wyeth, wins the $1 million Florida Derby impressively, Union Rags won't just be the Kentucky Derby favorite - he already has that claim - but the buzz will grow that maybe this is the year for a Triple Crown horse. It might seem unfair, even crazy, to put that kind of label on a 3-year-old, given the difficulties of the Triple Crown path, but it's a common early-spring fever, and Union Rags picks up believers with every stride, including during workouts.