The Deadline Looms. Alex Rodriguez: "In the spirit of cooperation, I advised the Red Sox I am willing to restructure my contract, but only within the guidelines prescribed by union officials. I recognize the principle involved, and fully support the need to protect the interests of my fellow players. If my transfer to the Red Sox is to occur, it must be done with consideration of the interests of all major league players, not just one. Any statements by club officials suggesting my position is different than stated is inaccurate and unfortunate." ... Magglio Ordonez and his A-Rod connection. ... Aaron Gleeman examines which duo is more productive: Manny/Nomar or ARod/Ordonez? ... Paul Finkelman, the Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law at University of Tulsa College of Law: "What we have here is the most odd thing of all. The whole origin of the union comes from a player's desire to play in the city where he wants to play as long as a team in that city wants him to play there. Now the union is coming along and saying [Rodriguez] is not getting enough to play where he wants to play. That seems to me to be outrageous on the part of the union."

9/11 Independent Commission Chairman Thomas Kean said yesterday that the terrorist attacks could have and should have been prevented. Kean: "This is a very, very important part of history and we've got to tell it right. As you read the report [due in May], you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done. This was not something that had to happen." ... Kristen Breitweiser: "How is it possible we have a national security advisor coming out and saying we had no idea they could use planes as weapons when we had FBI records from 1991 stating that this is a possibility? ... If you were to tell me that two years after the murder of my husband that we wouldn't have one question answered, I wouldn't believe it." ... CBS, which broke the story last evening, closed its online coverage with this intriguing sentence: "Kean promises major revelations in public testimony beginning next month from top officials in the FBI, CIA, Defense Department, National Security Agency and, maybe, President Bush and former President Clinton." ... Also: Kean: "I don't expect to have any new friends after this is done. And after this, some old friends may not be friendly any more." ... Commission spokesman Alvin Felzenberg: "We are going to have some disturbing conclusions." ... Coverage in Fox and the New York Post also.