METS PLAN 2001 PARK OPENING; WILPON QUESTIONS N.Y. COVERAGE

          The Mets "are days away" from completing plans for a
     new 45,000-seat ballpark, according to David Waldstein of
     the N.Y. POST.  Mets CEO Fred Wilpon said that he has had
     "extensive" talks with the Giuliani administration regarding
     a new park, and is at a combination of public-private
     financing.  Wilpon: "We are closer to a new stadium now, far
     closer, than we ever were."  Wilpon also said that the team
     would seek approval this year and hopes to begin
     construction next year (N.Y. POST, 2/18).  In related news,
     Wilpon "openly pleaded" with reporters "that his team be
     cast in a more favorable light."  Wilpon to reporters: "You
     keep writing about the negatives.  How about 60 seconds of
     some positives?"  In N.Y., George Willis writes that Wilpon
     "came off sounding pouty and slighted by all the attention
     the cross-town Yankees have gotten" (N.Y. POST, 2/18).  More
     Wilpon, on the Yankees comparison: "What do you want me to
     do, fire some people?" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/18).