* I have rooted for the Yankees since 1955, and the official signing of Kevin Youkilis has spoiled my day. I would have liked the Yankees to go with Eduardo Nunez to replace Alex Rodriguez at third base. They could have hit him a couple of hundred balls a day to refine his skills. He could do the job. He certainly can hit.
GENE VanAMBURGH
Albany, N.Y.
* It would have taken a beanball by Joba Chamberlain for me to believe that a clean-shaven Kevin Youkilis would ever be wearing pinstripes. In retrospect, I was brushed back previously when Roger Clemens, Johnny Damon and Wade Boggs wore pinstripes.
T. KING
Manhattan
Mets misjudgment
* So it appears R.A. Dickey is headed to the Blue Jays for catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud and others in what I think is a huge mistake. While Dickey is 38, he just came off a Cy Young campaign, and with Johan Santana iffy with arm trouble, I’m just not comfortable with a rotation including Dillon Gee, who is coming off a blood clot, and Jon Niese, who is up and down. The Mets should have stopped the penny pinching like they always do and ante up the money. This organization blew it back in 1977 when they let Tom Seaver get away and now they are going to make another blunder. The Mets are destined for 70 wins and last place.
KENNY CULLEN
Throggs Neck
Bounty-fate
* The NFL still has not been allowed to adequately punish the Saints for Bountygate, so the 52-27 thrashing New Orleans got from the Giants last week was extra satisfying.
RICHARD SIEGELMAN
Plainview, N.Y.
Win by losing
* The worst thing that can happen to the Jets is getting into the playoffs. This team is so flawed the draft doesn’t have enough rounds to begin to solve some of their problems — providing general manager Mike Tannenbaum picks well. So, the more they lose, the better off they’ll be.
ED KRAUSS
Scarsdale, N.Y.
Hockey pucks
* How many local hockey fans really care if they play hockey in the NHL this season? Are there 20,000 hockey fans who care at all in New York City and the surrounding area out of a population of nearly 20,000,000 people? Even if those fans want to read about hockey and the problems caused by the lockout, that would be only one-tenth of 1 percent of the people in the metropolitan area. The Post would gain more readers if you reduced hockey coverage and added coverage of synchronized swimming.
ALAN HIRSCH
Port Washington, N.Y.
* Thank you, Gary Bettman. The New Year will arrive with the Islanders still undefeated.
ALAN HIRSCHBERG
Forest Hills