NCAA VP/Women's Basketball Championships ANUCHA BROWNE, who settled her sexual-harassment lawsuit against MSG in '07, had "some advice for the woman alleging Mets COO JEFF WILPON ousted her from the front office because she was pregnant and single," according to John Marzulli of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. Browne, the former Knicks Senior VP/Marketing & Business Operations, said, "Hunker down and prepare for war.” She added that she "plans to speak directly" to former Mets Senior VP/Ticket Sales LEIGH CASTERGINE, who sued the club and Wilpon in Brooklyn Federal Court last week. Castergine is represented by N.Y.-based lawyer ANNE VLADECK, who also took Browne’s federal case to trial in '07. Browne: “I certainly don’t think Anne would take on a case that doesn’t have merit. Once the facts come out, my hope is she (Castergine) will be vindicated." Browne added, “You just have to stand your ground. What happened to her is wrong. It absolutely goes on. Women in the workplace shouldn’t be treated to a different standard than their male counterparts. There are a lot of single mothers out there in the workplace who do a phenomenal job" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 9/15).
DIRECT CORRELATION? In N.Y., Tim Rohan wrote Mets home games in September have become a "punch line." The club's "dwindling crowds are the backdrop" to Castergine's lawsuit. Mets GM SANDY ALDERSON has indicated that this season's $89M payroll "will increase only when the attendance does." Rohan: "It sounds like baseball’s version of which came first: the chicken or the egg?" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/14).
