MAN overboard!

I used to indulge Jim Lampley ‘s ego-mania because he was a prolific newscaster who seemed eager to provide

genuine journalism. Whether hosting the Olympics for NBC or serving as a correspondent for HBO ‘s “Real Sports ,” Lampley portrayed himself as someone who might be on your side.

But then Lampley would blow it,reminding us that he ‘s an egomaniac,a fellow we wouldn ‘t want on our side.

And now Lampley seems to have gone off the deep end.In addition to his TV work,he ‘s a blogger,writing a mostly political column that is so shamelessly and comically narcissistic – and downright scary – that only a raging egocentric would have the nerve to attach his name and face to it.

Try this for starters:His entry for May 25 begins with,”More than two weeks have passed since I first established here that a mountain of evidence suggests the 2004 presidential election was decisively tampered with and general

media are doing nothing about it.Needless to say,the response,pro and con,was overwhelming.”

And what constituted Lampley ‘s mountain of evidence?His May 10 column cited “oddsmakers ” and “offshore bookmakers ” who claimed that John Kerry was a 2-1 favorite (the reports I heard and read called it too close to call), and exit pollsters who felt that Kerry was winning and would have won if,writes Lampley,”the votes had

been fairly and legally counted.

“What happened instead was the biggest crime in the history of the nation,and the collective media silence which has followed is the greatest fourth-estate failure ever on our soil.” Yikes!If only the collective media had consulted

the same unnamed odds-makers,offshore bookies and exit pollsters,then it would have met Lampley ‘s standard to declare the 2004 presidential election to have been fixed!Heck, given Lampley ‘s evidence, Dewey,did,in fact,defeat Truman.

In his May 10 entry,he also flat-out accuses Bush White House strategist Karl Rove of rigging the election.”Karl Rove isn ‘t capable of conceiving and executing such a grandiose scheme?Wake up.” Most of Lampley ‘s self-

smitten,wild-headed columns are pro-Democratic Party,which is a pity because I ‘m a Democrat. His May 27 entry,which scolds the Bush administration for the war in Iraq, includes the following: “In the process of helping

my 16-year-old with a term paper last week,I had occasion to re-read David Halberstam ‘s ‘The Best and The Brightest ‘ and Neil Sheehan ‘s ‘A Bright Shining Lie.’ ” Well,,his kid must ‘ve been late submitting that term paper.The two books that Lampley “last week ” “had occasion to re-read ” total more than 1,400 pages.

Here ‘s a story Lampley should look into:It ‘s about how in 1998,Lampley sold his name and news credentials to National Finance Corp.,a house of credit that cheerfully advertised that it had loan officers manning the phones 24hours a day,for those who need cash at 4 a.m. Lampley was seen in a TV commercial being given a tour of NFC ‘s offices,an ostensible,unrehearsed fact-finding mission.Suddenly,he stopped at a woman ‘s desk and,in the

role of catch-’em-off-guard investigative TV reporter, he asked to speak with whomever the woman was talking to on the phone. Suddenly,too,TV viewers could listen in on that conversation.

Lampley identified himself to the person on the other end of the phone,a Mr.Alexander,who seemed pleased to be speaking with Jim Lampley,but not the least bit curious as to why. Mr.Alexander smoothly told Lampley that NFC is

tops in his book.Lampley was left satisfied and impressed.See,folks?NFC passed Jim Lampley ‘s investigative news test.

The entire commercial, starring Jim Lampley,TV journalist and blogger who knows a presidential election fix when he thinks he smells one,was a fix.With Lampley trading on his credibility,the ad was geared toward the weak-minded and the vulnerable.

A year later,NFC abruptly closed.NFC founder David Silipigno ,who hired Lampley,later pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

QUOTE

‘On “Real Sports,” Lampley portrayed himself as someone who might be on your side.’