Freebies

Pity the poor, deprived supernova. The adulation, the millions, the minions to fetch kibble or kung po chicken, and all that sublime award swag: a $500 Apple iPod, a $500 Siemens SX56 Pocket PC mobile phone, an $8 Crest Spin toothbrush. Those are among the many, many goodies being dispersed to pampered pop icons at the Grammys tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden. The freebie haul, valued at $20,000 per person, is more gift Dumpster than basket. The Grammy gift basket shouldn't be confused with last month's Golden Globes gift basket ($1,700 Tempur-Pedic mattress, La-Z-Boy chair, $1,600 Ebel watch, tooth-whitening treatment)

I READ with great interest the op-ed by David McKenna concerning the damaging effect casinos have in the locations where they operate. You have only to visit Atlantic City to see firsthand what permanent damage they cause. This recession we are in was due, in great part, to the 24/7 gambling venues. Mr. McKenna's article should be required reading for local and state legislators who aren't concerned about their constituents, but only the comps and other freebies they'll get for abandoning their responsibilities.

LINDA HUNT Beckman's op-ed "Magic Moment for Health Care?" is an interesting piece of writing. She declares Michael Moore's "Sicko" to be "heartbreaking, funny" and very accurate in its assessment of this country's health-care problem, despite the fact that she also admits that she hadn't yet seen the film. Unfortunately, a reality check is needed. There is no free health care - we the taxpayers are the ones who foot the bill. If the "free health care" that other countries rave about is so marvelous, then why do they wait for months just to get a routine doctor's appointment?

Fear swept the floor of the U.S. Senate a few days ago. The Kennedy Center will fold, warned Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, and 90 percent of the city's restaurants will have to close. What filled Mr. Stevens and his allies with such fear? Long-delayed legislation to stop lobbyists from lavishing free tickets, meals and trips on them. It's not so much that Mr. Stevens et al. are addicted to the freebies, you understand. They were just trying to protect the jobs of all those waiters, ushers and entertainers that would be lost if lawmakers had to pay their own way. Just a case of politicians rallying on behalf of the little guy!

A summer day was turning to dusk as I parked my car in front of my house. Yay! Home in time for the first pitch of the All-Star game. A neighbor across the street called to me: "What? You're not at the game? Why not?" "Don't have a ticket," I replied. "You're kidding. Don't all you guys get freebies?" Don't all you guys, you journalists, get freebies? That unintentionally wounding query keeps rattling around in my head as I ponder the dispiriting response of the public to the brouhaha over Joe Klein and Primary Colors.

Last week, Brenda Watson of Wilmington did something extraordinary: She paid for a ticket to see Russell Thompkins Jr. and the New Stylistics at the Dell East. Watson apparently was unaware that in this city, nobody - well, virtually nobody - pays at the Dell. Not anyone who is in the know. Meaning that they know a city councilman or the mayor or someone in the mayor's administration with clout. So far this summer, 84 percent of tickets for the first five shows of an eight-concert schedule were distributed for free through political benefactors such as City Council members, Mayor Street's office, and state legislators.

"LAST MONTH I bought $888.10 worth of groceries for $147.04. I saved $741.06, and I have $18.41 in rebates coming back, and $35.50 in Catalina coupons [check-out coupons that offer incentives good on your next shopping trip to that retailer], which I can use as cash on anything I want," said Sarah Barrand, an Idaho wife, mother of three and blogger. Impressive? You bet. But it's not like Barrand just woke up one day and decided to start saving coupons. "Couponing isn't about getting the Sunday paper and just clipping the few coupons you think you might need," Barrand said.

3 PUBLIC TRANSIT VIEWS This is the first time I've written to a newspaper, but I just can't contain my anger and frustration any longer. SEPTA has the nerve and the gall to raise fares again, when the service is lousy. I ride SEPTA weekdays around 5 and 5:30. While I wait at 11th and Race for a C bus, I see at least for or five buses pass with a "Not In Service" sign, and all the time the corner is filled with waiting passengers. After the fifth bus passes, one will come along and pack us in like sardines.

Would you believe that of the three dozen pieces of music being ladled out at the 10-day 1990 Mellon Jazz Festival beginning this evening, fully two- thirds of the helpings are free? They might as well call it the Free Lunch Festival (they wouldn't dare!) and we'll impart another secret that the sharper jazz devotees know almost by instinct: some of the freebies leave some of the big-ticket shows in the dust in terms of sheer talent and seat-of-the- pants satisfaction. A strong case in point: on this very weekend, the free attractions at Penn's Landing, at the foot of Walnut street, will include Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, plus the New York Voices, and the inimitable though often pilfered jazz stylings of the ageless Anita O'Day.

TEMPLE'S BASKETBALL team doesn't go down back-to-back. Or, at least it hadn't in exactly 3 years and a day. So you didn't really think this season's Senior Night at the Liacouras Center, where the Owls have dropped one in the last 2 1/2 seasons, was going to be any different? Well, almost. The 23rd-ranked Owls, who had lost by 10 on Saturday at Saint Joseph's to end their 11-game winning streak, needed overtime for the second time in three games to finally get past Massachusetts, 90-88.

Question: I live with my boyfriend in his elderly mother's paid-for vacation home. She comes to visit a few times a year for a few days each time, and we are expected to provide meals and entertain her. I'm totally OK with this. When she's not here, we care for the home as if it were our own: paying house bills, doing maintenance, paying for repairs, etc. Again, totally OK with this. I'm very thankful to live in her beautiful home with her wonderful son. Here's the reason for writing: Once or twice a year, one of my boyfriend's siblings wants to use the house as a vacation home for his family and friends.

Ready, set (as in TV set), binge! If you're the kind of person (and many of us are) who's tempted to do marathon viewing of a favorite show, you might want to rethink your plans for the last week of this month. As long as you're an Xfinity TV customer. Starting March 25, Comcast's Watchathon Week will offer FREE "access to over 3,500 episodes of 100 TV series across 25 premium, cable and broadcast networks," according to a news release. Included: -- "Almost the entire TV libraries of HBO, Showtime, Starz, and Cinemax," including The Sopranos, Sex & the City and The Wire , according to spokeswoman Jennifer Bilotta.

The Phillies have filled the stadium the past few years with things like home runs, stellar pitching performances and playoff wins. It's easy to forget it wasn't always so. The 40,016 in attendance at Kevin Millwood's 2003 no-hitter were really there for the Phanatic's birthday party. The team is better now, but it's still worth checking the promotional-giveaway schedule before you pay $100 in the preseason for a 200-level seat at an August game. Worst case scenario, you go home with a knicknack for yourself or your kid. To help you get the most bang for the buck, the Daily News has developed an innovative new statistic for the modern-thinking baseball fan. Using Giveaway Wins Above Replacement, or GWAR, you can figure out how to get the best swag for your game-going buck.

AFTER WEEKS of panicky talk about the looming fiscal cliff, I thought it was time for fresh perspective. You see, as a married father of three, I've long been standing at the edge of my personal fiscal cliff, so I'm used to being broke. I'm so good at it that if they awarded a gold medal for fiscal cliff-diving, I'd have more neckwear than Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. Don't feel bad for me, though. I've learned a thing or two while teetering on the edge, and I'd like to share some of it with you. The first thing you need to know is that there isn't going to be any fiscal cliff.

Newly divorced Tom Cruise is determined to minimize the impact that his split from Katie Holmes will have on their 6-year-old daughter, Suri, reports People magazine. "He's going to try, despite all the attention, to have things be as normal as possible," Anon Source tells the mag. Cruise, who has been filming in California, visited New York on Tuesday and did normal dad-daughter things, like climbing into a helicopter for a jaunt somewhere. "It's going to be challenging," Source says.

Cruise lines are using two-for-one deals, onboard ship credits, discounted airfares, "free" gratuities, even chocolate-dipped strawberries to jump-start business as they cope with a tsunami of bad news this year. First came safety fears raised by the January shipwreck of the Costa Concordia in Italy, then a fire aboard a sister ship, the Costa Allegra, in the Indian Ocean in late February. An outbreak of the norovirus forced a Princess Cruises ship to return to port. A group of cruise-ship passengers were robbed while on a nature hike near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

TEMPLE'S BASKETBALL team doesn't go down back-to-back. Or, at least it hadn't in exactly 3 years and a day. So you didn't really think this season's Senior Night at the Liacouras Center, where the Owls have dropped one in the last 2 1/2 seasons, was going to be any different? Well, almost. The 23rd-ranked Owls, who had lost by 10 on Saturday at Saint Joseph's to end their 11-game winning streak, needed overtime for the second time in three games to finally get past Massachusetts, 90-88.

The LOVE Statue is getting upstaged by what Kraft calls 'The Big Noodle. " Not only is the giant elbow mac brighter (yellow as a rubber ducky), bigger (20 feet long, 10 feet high), wordier ("You Know You Love It" stretches across its grin), and closer to the corner of 15th and JFK Boulevard, the cheesy-whatsit even has events. Like photo ops and giveaways. It is, after all, a promotion for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. The food behemoth forked over $24,500 to keep its one-ton noodle there into early January, certain to be seen by thousands of passersby and visitors to the shops of the Christmas Village, which opened in the park right after Thanksgiving.

Today through Saturday, Chick-Fil-A is giving away free breakfast entrees - while reservations last. But beware: At least one fake deal is out there, gathering private info from unsuspecting suckers. The impostor offers a coupon, while the real deal uses online reservations. Here's the genuine article: www.chick-fil-aforbreakfast.com . (A link also shows up on Chick-Fil-A's home page when it fully loads, but the link on the Facebook page wasn't working this morning.)