[Newsday.com]- It’s clear that the sporting world is not immune to the effects of a dismal economy. General Motors recently pulled all its commercials from the Super Bowl, and everyday it seems another baseball team is announcing that it has decided not to raise its ticket prices.

It wasn’t until recently, however, that the economic downturn really threatened to impact the lives of many professional athletes. Yes, Scores, the famed Manhattan strip club that has been a second home to area sports figures for more than a decade, has announced it will be shutting its doors at he end of this month.

Club owners blamed both the weak economy and the loss of a liquor license for the club’s demise. (Apparently, a champagne room that serves just ginger ale doesn’t cut it. Not to mention the fact that when you are sober you might think more about what your wife might say when she sees that $1,000 charge on your credit card.)

The announcement brings an end to an era that started in 1990 with one club at 333 E. 60th St. and grew into a chain of seven clubs, including another one on West 27th Street. At its peak, the East Side scores was a gossip columnists dream, regularly drawing celebrities such as Mark Messier, Jason Giambi, Madonna and shock jock Howard Stern, who constantly talked about the club on his radio show.

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So, in a final act of homage to this soon-to-be defunct sports institution, here’s a look some memorable moments in Scores history.

— Mark Messier made a big hit when he brought his teammates and the Stanley Cup to Scores in 1994. According to a report in Sports Illustrated, the Cup became an integral part of the striptease show and was a big hit with the other clientele. Said Scores spokesman Lonnie Hanover: “It was the first time I’d seen our customers eager to touch something besides our dancers.”

— Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees caused a tabloid sensation when he visited a Toronto strip joint and later returned to his hotel with a woman later identified as 31-year-old former Scores stripper Joslyn Morse.

— In her lawsuit against Madison Square Garden, Anucha Browne Sanders alleged that the Knicks’ Isiah Thomas conspired with concierges at hotels frequented by opposing teams to encourage opposing players to go to Scores and other strip clubs the night before games and get drunk.

— In a 2007 USA Today article on strip clubs, Hanover talked about the popularity of his club with New York athletes. Said Hanover: “Scores girls get invited to more sporting events than Mayor Bloomberg,” he says.

— Scores, along with Atlanta-based Gold Club, made huge headlines in a 2001 racketeering trial. During the trial Patrick Ewing and other athletes testified about having sex with strippers as club Gold Club owners watched.