61.   Shukla believes that on balance, the city is better off without mandarins like the Chandlers, who for decades shaped the city, its politics and cultural life.

62.   Some of them still believe the Sox would be better off without Mo Vaughn.

63.   So the chore for Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli, his top personnel man, is to make the team better without spending big money.

64.   So the Patriots must be better off without the Tuna, right?

65.   Some patients with severe dementia may even be better off without surgery to repair a broken hip.

66.   That the Celtics might be better off without him.

67.   That may be so, but loose ends are loose ends, and his sophisticated, funny and diverting book would have been even better without them.

68.   That women are better off without two-faced boyfriends?

69.   The Bruins are not better without Davis, but there are certain advantages to having Hines and Reed in the lineup.

70.   The burden should be on Education Department opponents to prove how students will be better off without it, he said.