DALLAS- They arrived at college campuses in the fall of 2001 ready for a life of independence.

But this would be an extraordinary fall term for a freshman class expecting to be ensconced safely in college.

Before completing their first set of final exams, a perfect storm of economically crippling events struck, starting with the terrorist attacks on Sept.

Gone are the days of the Splendid Splinter, the Yankee Clipper, the Sultan of Swat – the nicknames that made baseball’s luminaries sound so regal, so untouchable.

So heroic.

Today we have the Pronk. He sounds nothing like a superhero. He is a breakfast cereal or a car part or a disease.

You came to Salve Regina University for its beauty, for the luxury of living in mansions surrounded by the breathtaking sights of the Atlantic Ocean.

Little did you know that living in some of Salve’s dormitories may include not only sharing your room with a roommate or two, but with the university’s ghostly history as well.

HACKENSACK, N.J. – Alex Tsaur loves his sporty black Audi S4. It has soft leather seats, satellite radio, all-wheel drive and a moon roof. When leased last fall, it was worth more than $50,000. Tsaur says he earned it — by pleasing his parents with As and Bs in school.

HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Internet is running out of real estate.

Just like a city, the Internet’s virtual space is divvied up into addresses, not e-mail addresses, but Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Each numerical address represents a piece of the Internet, and you can’t connect to the Internet without one.