Newsday's Rob Kahn weighs in from the Open...

Tuesday evening, Gov. David A. Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined former mayor Ed Koch and police commissioner Ray Kelly at a ceremony naming the East Gate entryway here for David Dinkins. Dinkins is something of a deity around these parts for his efforts as mayor to keep the U.S. Open in New York.

Chief among the former mayor’s initiatives was a deal with the Federal Aviation Administration to reroute noisy landings and takeoffs from LaGuardia during matches, weather permitting -- something the FAA had refused to do even for the 1986 World Series games at Shea.

As Paterson was relating the accomplishments of his predecessor, a jet flew overhead, banking ever so slightly as if to say hello, and eventually drowning out the governor’s accolades.

When the flight had passed, Paterson looked up, then quipped: "And speaking of flying, I want to thank the FAA for sending that plane over just now."

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Paterson also managed to spotlight his own athletic prowess, relating a story about the time his dad tried to help him overcome difficulties with his tennis game.

"My father said, ‘Throw the ball and hit it and we’ll see what the problem is.’ So I threw the ball up and hit it and he said, ‘Well, that’s almost a natural serve. Let me see you do it again.’"

"I did the serve two more times and he finally told one of my brothers to go over to the other side of the net and hit one back. So I served, my brother hit it back and I didn’t move."

"My father said, ‘That’s the problem.’"

- ROBERT KAHN