Sports

THE RUMBLE

Willie’s true Blue

Randolph rooting for Reese, Eli

For a variety of reasons, Willie Randolph couldn’t be happier that the Giants are playing in the Super Bowl. “Listen, I’m not jumping on the bandwagon,” the Mets manager said. “I don’t want to portray myself as a die-hard Giants fan. In fact, my brother Terry played for the Jets. I love football, but I couldn’t be happier for Jerry Reese and Eli Manning.”

Reese, is the club’s first African-American general manager and Randolph the first African-American manager in New York baseball history. “I know the pressures he faced,” Randolph said. “He worked his way up through the ranks and has proven to everybody that he’s a solid football man.”

Randolph met Manning while the two were Christmas shopping last month. “I was in a store with Eli and it was just the two of us and I was really impressed with what a nice man he was,” Randolph said. “We talked about the pressures of playing in New York and I’m excited for him the way things have turned out.”

Former Giants quarterback Scott Brunner says the Super Bowl-bound Manning is oozing with confidence: “Clearly Eli has managed the game well, and he’s playing in a way that he is not forced or rushed,” Brunner said. “He has a sense of confidence in his team and knows he can rely on his teammates to make things happen.”

A Pennsylvania native, Brunner stayed in New Jersey after his playing days alongside Phil Simms. “After playing the most significant years of my career with them, I am a season-ticket holder, so I’ll be rooting hard for the Giants,” said Brunner, who is prepping Delaware quarterback Joe Flacco at TEST Football Academy for the upcoming NFL Scouting Combine.

Babes for Belichick

Hall of Fame publicist Sy Presten tells us that ex-Penthouse Pets are divided on whom they’re rooting for in the Super Bowl. They are fans of Patriots coach Bill Belichick ever since he posed for pictures with Pet Lynn Johnson, who visited the Giants’ training camp in 1986 when Belichick was an assistant to Bill Parcells. But Giants Lawrence Taylor and Sean Landeta, who used to date many Pets, also posed very willingly. Parcells refused to pose.

A year ago, tickets to the Playboy Super Bowl party were so hot they were being bought on the scalping market for more than it cost to get into the game itself – some for more than $2,500. This year’s bash, which is taking place Saturday night at the Pavillion at Wild Horse Pass, is scheduled to draw a slew of celebrities form the sports and entertainment world including Tony Romo (no word yet on his date), Adrian Peterson, Steven Jackson, Drew Brees and Helio Castroneves.

Jay Horwitz, the Mets vice president of public relations and Giant season-ticket holder since 1958, won a lottery for seats in Glendale and will be seeing his third Giants Super Bowl in person … NFL Network this week will feature complete original re-airs of these games (featuring original network announcers): Tomorrow, 8:30 p.m. – Super Bowl XXI, Giants vs. Denver (first ever re-air of this game); Wednesday, 9 p.m. – Super Bowl XXV, Giants vs. Buffalo; Friday, 9 p.m. – 2007 Week 17, Giants vs. Patriots.

Head over to Foley’s

It’s not point shaving, it’s shaving for a point. Dozens of big-hearted Giants fans will become “Big Blue Baldies” from 5-8 p.m. at Foley’s NewYork, 18 W. 33rd St., to support their team and benefit a good cause. HeadBlade is sponsoring the event, which is expected to raise thousands of dollars for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation for children’s cancer research. Foley’s owner Shaun Clancy, who uses HeadBlade to shave his own smooth dome, will give participants vouchers that can be spent at his Giants-Patriots “Super Beer Party” next Sunday. Register atwww.stbaldricks.org. Giants great George Martin is expected to send his greetings from the road on his “Journey for 9-11.”

From rafters to Waldorf

After the Brian Leetch No. 2 retirement ceremony Thursday night, Rangers and alumni continued celebrating at the Starlight Room in the Waldorf-Astoria. … Gen. Colin Powell dropped the ceremonial opening faceoff on Martin Luther King Day when the Islanders hosted Carolina. Gen. Powell, who was the guest of his friend, Islanders owner Charles Wang, and hosted students from the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies at CCNY, also visited the Islanders locker room and received a No. 1 jersey from captain Bill Guerin.

After being involved in one of the most-talked about fights in the history of the National Lacrosse League, Ryan Boyle of the New York Titans is schooling up on his fighting and self-defense skills. One year after being the victim of a sucker punch from Kyle Sorensen of the San Jose Stealth, Boyle trained with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend and International Fight League star Renzo Gracie in preparation of anticipated continued fisticuffs with the Stealth. The Titans meet the Stealth Thursday at the Garden in the Titans’ 2008 home opener.

Play-ful Al McGuire

“McGuire,” Dick Enberg’s one-man play about legendary Marquette basketball coach Al McGuire, will be presented at Hofstra’s Black Box Theater Feb. 9 (1 and 8 p.m.) and Feb. 10 (2 p.m.). The play, which is being presented in cooperation with Marquette University in Milwaukee, first debuted there in 2005. Enberg, the legendary TV play-by-play man, will conduct a talk with the audience after every performance. For tickets or more information, call the Hofstra Box Office at (516) 463-6644.

Electrifying Lance Stephenson and his Lincoln Railsplitters will headline the SNY Invitational tournament at NYU’s Coles Sports Center on Friday and Saturday. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (212) 228-5558.

Look out, Gladiators!

Kim Marciniak (below) spent years cheering for athletes, the so-called modern gladiators. Now she’s going to become one, when the former Knicks City Dancer competes in American Gladiators tomorrow on NBC. The 5-3, 116-pound Avenel native is a self-professed bubbly Jersey Girl who was captain of the Rutgers Dance team that won the 1998 national title. She had a five-year run as a Knicks City Dancer, and was so popular during her third season the position of “Arena Host” was created just for her. She’s a TV veteran, having appeared on “Sex and The City,” “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “Good Morning America,” “Good Day NY,” VH1 and MTV. But chances are this is the first time she gets to bludgeon another model-esque girl over the head with a foam-covered weapon. And before you ask, yes she’s married – to former Rutgers baseball player Jeff Marciniak.