Honesty, what a concept

TALK ABOUT TEMPTATION: box-seat tickets for New York Yankees playoff games lying on the street.

Not for these nine youngsters in Summit, N.J. They just gave the tickets to the police, according to a story by the Associated Press.

“It’s a real tribute to their honesty and total integrity,” Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said Friday in a statement through spokesman Howard Rubenstein.

The tickets belonged to Wachovia bank. Only four of 70 tickets in a package worth $20,000 that apparently fell off a delivery truck Monday are still missing, Wachovia bank spokeswoman Fran Durst said.

Since the tickets — some worth $2,600 each — are for bank customers, the bank will treat the boys and their parents to a New Jersey Nets game Dec. 10 against New Orleans from its luxury box at the Continental Airlines Arena, Durst said.

The Yankees also gave the boys and their parents tickets to Thursday night’s 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins that captured the A.L. East title. The boys were honored before the game at Summit City Hall. They also will be sent Yankee memorabilia, Rubenstein said.

“I was very happy that they were rewarded,” Corey’s mother, Elizabeth Platt, said Friday. “But I’m a little nervous … that the next time he does something right and doesn’t get this reaction, he might not do the right thing the third time.”

Rose-colored shades

Tampa Bay Bucs coach Jon Gruden said after last week’s loss dropped his football team to 0-3:

“I think the future’s so bright here I have to wear shades.”

Observes Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel:

“You know it’s getting bad when the man is resorting to quoting bad songs from the ‘80s. If the Bucs lose to the Denver Broncos this week, I guess we should expect Gruden to open up his post-game news conference with the following statement: ‘We didn’t play very well today, but, by gosh, we’re gonna Wang Chung tonight!’ “

They’ll pay their way next time

Pro golfers who qualified for a free plane flight from Pittsburgh to Ireland received several unexpected bonuses: smoke in the cabin, an extra stop for fuel and a strange noise in the left engine.

“My son thought it was pretty cool,” David Toms told the Associated Press of his 7-year-old’s reaction. “He said, ‘Hey, Dad, we’ve already been to four countries – United States, Canada, Iceland, Ireland.’ I didn’t think it was all that great.”

Stupid Yankees tricks

Two of Gary Sheffield’s top 10 Yankees strategies to win the World Series, courtesy of “The Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS:

•Blind opponents with light reflected off (Derek) Jeter’s World Series rings.

•Hit a home run and Oprah buys you a new car.

Front-runners

NASCAR driver Kyle Petty, on pre-race bonding: “If you are pretty good, other drivers start coming up to you, saying hello, seeing how you are doing. … You know how well you are running by how many other drivers drop by to see you. The better you are, the more friends you have on Saturday. They all want to run with you on Sunday.”