Hey you kids, get off my lawn

If there was ever a good time to be old, this is it. Just look at what’s going on out there. Or, just look at what’s happening with the world champions of baseball. In the course of a weekend the Phillies signed a 36-year-old late-blooming outfielder to a three-year contract and allowed a 32-year-old slugger – coming into his prime athletic years – walk away.

Better yet, the Phillies signed a 46-year-old pitcher to a guaranteed two-year contract. In fact, to hear general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. tell it, making Jamie Moyer one of the oldest players in the history of the game at the end of the deal was one of his top priorities this winter.

But Moyer ought to feel a little shortchanged these days. That’s because just a day after his two-year deal was announced, Penn State gave a three-year deal to an 82-year-old man to coach the football team.

Moyer needs a new agent.

Nevertheless, it’s a helluva thing that’s going on. Actually, it’s kind of inspiring and causes a little head scratching, too. Sure, Joe Paterno has been screaming at the kids to get off his lawn for decades now, but something seems to be working these days. Paterno’s team plays USC in the Rose Bowl in two weeks, but next season is when they could be playing for the championship.

That’s all after Paterno had hip-replacement surgery, too. You know, kind of like Chase Utley.

Paterno and Moyer weren’t the only old-timer having a good 2008. Dara Torres, at 41, set an American record in the pool at the Beijing Olympics and came home with three silver medals.

Still, though the signings made headlines and media-types expressed amazement at the fact that older athletes are still productive. They just don’t get it despite the scientific evidence showing that age really is not a factor in determining ability in sports. Torres, of course, is a prime example. At just a smidge under six-feet tall, Torres competed in the Sydney Olympics at 160 pounds. But at 41 went to Beijing at a lean and mean 149 pounds of chiseled muscle thanks to workouts that stress flexibility, strength and recovery.

A high level of fitness and an insatiable competitiveness appears to be the key to athletic longevity. Plus, she just loves to swim.

“In some ways, I’m like all the other swimmers (going to the Olympics) because I still feel the passion for what I do,” Torres said. “In some ways I’m like none of them, because I’ve lived their lives twice.”

Torres is just one example. In Beijing French cyclist Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli competed in her seventh straight Olympics – and then turned 50 a few weeks later.

The best example might be hockey player Chris Chelios, who at 46 has shown no signs of slowing down (or retiring). After 25 years and three Stanley Cups in the NHL to go with four appearances in the Olympics for the U.S, and a broken leg suffered during training camp a few months ago, Chelios made his season debut for the Phoenix Coyotes last weekend.

He says he wants to keep playing until he’s 51. Chelios will keep going until they ask him to leave, just like Paterno.

Chelios’ secret? He’s part of Don Wildman’s “Malibu Mob,” a consortium of athletes and celebrities/fitness freaks who workout together with the aim of pushing each other well beyond their limits. Actually, it’s kind of like a sadistic science experiment in which the group enjoys pushing one another until bodies’ revolt and spew one fluid or another.

They do it for fun.

Moyer, meanwhile, became the second oldest pitcher in baseball history to win at least 16 games last season. The only other guy to do it was Phil Niekro who pitched until he was 48. And though Moyer enjoys the records, he really doesn’t get caught up in them. That’s something he’s saving for when, or if, he retires.

“You start getting caught up in things like that and you might start losing some focus on things you need to do,” Moyer told me recently. “I think there’s plenty of time for me to look back at the end of the season or at the end of my career and say, ‘You know what? That was cool,’ or ‘I remember that,’ or ‘I remember that game.’ But for me, having the opportunity to have the longevity that I have is the most special thing for me. To continue my career and to play and to contribute with a team, I think that is first and foremost. If you are around long enough, those things are going to start to happen.”

Moyer has no timetable for retirement and may even seek another contract when the current one ends.

“Look, I feel great and I’m pitching well and I love playing so I have no plans to stop,” he told me in a late-season interview. “But I could come in here tomorrow and the desire could be completely gone.”

Clearly that’s not the case. Moyer prepares and competes at 46 no differently than he did when he was a green rookie coming up with the Cubs in 1986. However, if there is something behind Moyer’s motivation to continue to pitch (and to pitch well) it seems to be the slights he took from baseball people back when he was struggling in the early 1990s. No, Moyer didn’t cite it as a motivating cause, but then again he didn’t have to.

“Fourteen years ago I was told to retire,” Moyer said with a smirk in a recent interview.

Moyer was unfamiliar with Torres’s story when asked, but quickly became interested in the finer details. Particularly, Moyer agreed with Torres’ idea that consistent workouts, a solid fitness foundation and smart recovery were the key to athletic longevity. Then he pondered the reasons why some players give up the game long before they could.

“Some players get injured and others just lose the desire,” he said. “Then some, for one reason or other, are told to quit because they reach a certain age or time spent in the game. Some just accept it without asking why.”

Moyer, to paraphrase a famous quote, asks “why not?” He expects to turn in his customary 200-innings and double-digits win total in 2009 simply because he always does those things. It’s important to note that Moyer has not missed a start for injury since 2000, has been on the disabled list just once dating back to 1997 and just three times during his professional career, which began in 1984.

Better yet, NLCS and World Series MVP Cole Hamels seeks out Moyer as a Jedi would seek out Yoda. To Hamels, Moyer had all the right answers.

Kind of like Yoda.

Another update

"Finger Food" is becoming "Center City." Or maybe "Center City" will become "Finger Food." Who knows... maybe we'll get all democratic and put it to a vote with an Internet poll to decide the future of this little dog & pony show. [polldaddy poll=1204944]

Nevertheless, we are in the process of lifting up this monster and dropping it down on the new site. My hope is to take this look and layout along with my archives and park them on the new format. At the same time, the http://johnfinger.com URL will be interchangeable with  http://csnphilly.com/pages/centercity.

That's the plan, anyway.

So, yes, I am a dude in flux. In the meantime, expect the same stuff that went on here to go on at the new place only more focused and organized. The plan is to have some consistency with the format... for instance, expect the same type of things on every Monday, etc., as well as interviews, videos, pictures.

You know, a web site within a web site.

There you go. The next post here will likely will be the one that moves everyting forward for good, so be ready.

Keep your shoes on

It was approximately three minutes into Andy Reid’s day-after press conference when I reached down and grabbed my right shoe and fired it as hard as I could at the television set.

Wide left.

Unbowed, I reached for my left adidas Gazelle with my right hand and missed the target again. This time it was high and outside.

Out of ammo and not willing to get up and dig into the couch cushions for the remote, I sat watching Andy Reid’s head mounted on the TV screen as if it were a prized trophy elk. The eyes on the thing were almost lifelike as they scan the room to focus a fuzzy gaze on the questioner. Oh, what those eyes must have seen! Babbling brooks, the greenest brush sprawling under a canopy of stately oaks, squirrels and rabbits and birds…

Then here comes the shoe-throwing idiot trying to take him down with some rubber sole to the dome.

Sometimes it just isn’t fair.

Look, Andy Reid didn’t do anything wrong by sitting in front of the cameras and recorders while attempting to deconstruct Monday’s night’s big victory over the Cleveland Browns. It’s just that his lips were moving and sound was emanating from his mouth, but he wasn’t saying anything.

That’s why I went for the shoes.

Andy Reid’s verbosity in press conferences is nothing new. In fact, Reid’s brevity is analyzed so much in these parts that it’s a cliché. The guy doesn’t like to talk to a room full of strangers… what are you going to do?

No, the thing that’s most interesting to ponder is the idea that sports press conferences could imitate those serious affairs with political types. More specifically, think if the local scribes just starting hucking shoes around the first time they got offended. It would be a hail of white sneakers and old loafers flying through the air like moths buzzing an outdoor light. Those folks have a low threshold to begin with, and it’s not just the subjects on the dais with the microphone that should duck and cover. The local media will turn on each other like angry snakes with an empty stomach if given the chance.

So in light of President Bush’s press conference during his surprise visit to Iraq in which he had a pair of shoes loafers thrown at him, perhaps the local teams ought to just start taking shoes as if they were TSA officials in the security line at the airport. Better safe than sorry, right? Besides, Leslie Gudel likes to wear something with a heel from time to time and I know she’s just waiting for the right chance to come out gunning.

Duck quick, Charlie.

Speaking of ducking quick, how about the moves on President Bush? Hey, we know he doesn’t do press conferences all that much and probably answers fewer questions than Andy Reid. Moreover, judging from the poll numbers it’s a bit of a surprise that Helen Thomas hasn’t bopped him with a dress pump. But not only did he duck quickly as evidenced in the attached video, he stuck his chin out like Sugar Ray Leonard against Roberto Duran in the “No Mas” fight.

There's no way Reid can be that spry... right?

So long, Mo’

Speaking of press conferences, Maurice Cheeks stood up in front of the local press on Tuesday morning to face the music just three days after his firing. But instead of wanting to hurl footwear, everyone in the room wanted to give Mo a big hug.

It’s been written already, so we’ll just pile on here, but on the way out Cheeks was the epitome of class and dignity. He didn’t point fingers, nor did he do that passive-aggressive thing with the read-between-the-lines subtext. Instead, he fell on his sword when it would have been just as easy to spread around the blame for the Sixers’ slow start.

After all, that’s what we do. Though it seems as if it would have been easier if Cheeks had a bona fide two-guard instead of shot-misser Andre Iguodala, but those are the breaks.

Anyway, Cheeks walked in his head up and walked out the same way.

“Things don't always work out the way you expect them to,” Cheeks said during his farewell presser. “I take solace in the fact I did the best I could.”

At the end of the day that’s all any of us has.

Still the Sixers’ struggles have reached the national press with The New York Times venturing down to South Philly for the scoop on what’s going on.

Hey, aren’t you the Flyers? Things are going so well for the Flyers lately that they can pretty much do whatever they want… on and off the ice.

On Tuesday night they sewed up their fifth victory in a row in a cakewalk over the Avalanche. But a few days ago a bunch of the guys were out celebrating a victory over the Penguins when they decided to join (crash?) a Temple University fraternity formal in Olde City.

Yes, it made a few of the blogs.

But here’s the thing I don’t get…

Temple has fraternities?

Chase Utley: 'Hey kids, watch your bleeping mouths'

Chase Utley looked directly into the gaggle of TV cameras at the end of the conference room in the basement at Citizens Bank Park and delivered a stern and serious message.

You know, for the kids…

“I definitely would say to all the kids out there, ‘Kids, it’s a bad word. Don’t say. And I’m dead serious,’” said Utley in his “Just say, ‘No,’ moment during a press conference on Monday to give the local media an update on his surgically repaired hip. Utley, of course, was talking about his euphoric expletive shouted from the podium at the Bank at the World Series-victory pep rally.

Oh yes, it has been reported on.

But in other words Utley was giving all those youngsters out there that whole “Do as I say, not as I do” bit that adults like to drop so often.  Essentially it’s a cop out that adults use to excuse their own bad behavior.

You know, parenting.

Utley told the kids, “Do as I do, not as I say.” Or kind of. If a kid mimics Utley’s choice of adjectives in his post-parade speech in the World Series rally at the ballpark, well, that’s not cool. Only 29-year-old MVP candidates that just won the World Series can use those words, according to Utley.

“That was definitely an emotional day that we all had,” Utley said. “That drive down Broad Street to the park was one of the best days of my life. I imagine for a lot of Phillies fans it was the same. I could have used different words to express myself. At the time I didn’t. I tell all kids not to use that word. If they’re 29 and they win the World Series, I think they can say that.”

No fair. It’s just something else the kids have to wait to grow up for. First it’s driving, then it’s voting and then it’s turning 21.

Now cursing at 29 but only after winning the World Series?

What a gyp.

But it’s also wrong. Peppery language with unique adjectives and creative gerunds are just as much a part of baseball as spitting, indiscrete uniform adjusting and cutting off beer sales in the seventh inning. No, it’s not the most graceful part of the game, but bleepin’ this or bleeping that is sewn into the fabric of the Great American Pastime.

And Chase bleeping Utley knows this.

However, during the press conference Chase was asked what his mom and dad thought about his salty tongue during in his infamous speech, and, well, his body language kind of gave it away. Moms don’t like that kind of talk. In fact there is no mom on the planet that looks at their son standing in front of a screaming throng of people and beams with pride after junior just dropped a “bleeping” as a descriptive verb.

I’ll bet that even Redd Foxx’s mom didn’t go for her son’s famously filthy lounge act, either. However, in some weird way it worked for Redd just as it worked for Chase after winning the World Series. The fact is those bleepers will be bleeping away on the ball diamond and that’s just the way it bleeping is.

Some are better at it than other, though. Utley, of course, was deep. Poignant even with his cussing. He tapped into something that was so deep in the belly of every long-suffering Philly fan. We felt it, but he said it for us. And for that the city will always be appreciative.

Seriously, if Joe from Fishtown got on the mic and gave an Utley speech, he’s get a citation, an afternoon at the Roundhouse, and a pretty good-sized welt after the local PD introduced Joey to Mr. Taser.

A whole bunch of volts, too.

Still, Utley was our Thomas Jefferson and for as much as mom might not like it, I’m sure the Founding Fathers had to let it loose from time to time. Just look at that Ben Franklin, who in his time was known to be a bit of a rascal. Get that guy at the City Tavern and it was like the Def Jam Comedy Show. No doubt that Ben and Chase would have gotten along very well.

Fine moments in the language

For the record, Chase Utley is hardly the best curser out there. He’s good, but it’s the Big Leagues, baby. They all bring it.

Take Larry Bowa for instance (please, take him)… one Sunday afternoon in Baltimore during the 2001 season, I heard him use one specific expletive four times in one sentence in an analogy about an Orioles’ pitcher and Cy bleeping Young. Frankly, it was a work of art and set the bar so high.

Soon after, in a seperate incident, Bowa stood above me and asked if I was, “bleeping stupid?”

How do you answer that?

Aaron Rowand could bring it. The same goes for Billy Wagner. Scott Rolen was easily the smartest and most creative with it, but he only trotted it out for select audiences. The truth is that most guys just do it because they are big leaguers and they can get away with it.

Utley isn’t one of those guys though. He’s not much of a talker so when he says something, he means it.

Just cover your ears every now and then.

Pat Burrell: Gone. Butt not forgotten

My memory draws a blank on the event, but in a testimonial or roast (something like that) the story went that when Harry Kalas left the Astros' broadcast team to join the Phillies before the 1971 season, 12 bars closed in Houston.

Yes, it's a joke and (probably) an exaggeration, but it appears as if the shoe is on the foot here in Philadelphia. With Pat Burrell headed for a new team in 2009 (Cincy, Tampa?), what is going to happen to The Irish Pub?

What about some of those places in Olde City the so-called "Midnight Mayor of Philadelphia" ducked in and out of when making his nightly rounds? These are hard economic times for a lot of business owners. People are losing jobs and generations old companies are simply folding. Needless to say it's a difficult time for the conductor of the gravy train to be choo-chooing it to another town.

Deciding to part ways with Pat Burrell to go with Raul Ibanez in left field is a clear example of the Phillies' brass not looking at the entire picture. Oh sure, Burrell's career in Philly was marked by massive waves of wild productivity and futility. There were gigantic home runs to win ballgames and even larger strikeouts to lose them.

In the end it was Burrell who led the parade down Broad Street a top of a Budweiser truck, no less. Man, they nailed that one -- with his wife and English bulldog Elvis by his side, Burrell was once again leading the celebration.

But the reason why Burrell so endeared himself to so many Philadelphians wasn't just because of his performance on the diamond... it was more than that. Yes, Philadelphia loved Burrell so much because he was right out there mixing it up with everyone and the stories became instant legends.

Jim Salisbury of the Inquirer wrote it best in his interview with Dallas Green from December of 2006:

"It's neat to have money, it's neat to have good looks, and it's neat to have broads all over you. Every place I've managed, I've talked to kids about the same thing. It's a hell of a life..."

Burrell acted just like the way we all though a ballplayer should act. He was a throwback to a type of player who went all out whether it was at The Irish Pub or Citizens Bank Park and Philly loved that. He was always first to arrive and the last to leave. Better yet, there's a good chance that the No.1 overall pick in the 1998 draft might have even have bought you a drink at some point.

But Burrell's loss will hurt more when it comes to a certain segment of the fan base. Oh yes, the "broads," to use Green's term, are seething over the probable loss of Burrell in left field for the Phillies in 2009.  Worse, the Phillies raised ticket prices in a depressed economic climate and won't have Burrell out there in his tight home whites.

No, the ladies aren't happy about the Phillies' off-season so far.

"The Phillies don't have any hotties anymore," said one 30ish woman (I believe the term is "cougar"... hey, it's not my term) in a conversation about the new makeup of the team's roster.

"What about Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins or Cole Hamels?" I asked.

"I mean Chase is OK if you just want to make out," she answered. "But where's the eye candy?"

Where indeed?

Another woman says she will continue to attend Phillies games at Citizens Bank Park, though she just won't purchase the top-dollar seats.

"What's the point of sitting close to the field?" she asked. "I'm not going to pay a premium on tickets if there isn't anything to look at."

It's a fair point. After all, to some baseball is less a religious experience or pure test of athletic prowess and will than it is a night out on the town for some (not so) cheap thrills. For some in the largest portion of the population, the Phillies just got a lot less interesting.

So what is it about Burrell that put the fannies in the seats?

"Oh, it was his butt. No question," another woman said, intensely asking that her name won't be used. "When he's out there it's kind of like watching Michelangelo's David only in reverse and in a baseball uniform. It was sublime, just a work of art.

"Oh yes, it's definitely the butt."

Kissed on the Cheeks There are only a handful of professional sports coaches that get to dictate the way they go out. Oddly, it appears as if Charlie Manuel will be one of those rare examples. Maurice Cheeks, the Sixers' newly-fired coach and greatest point guard, was not.

That's the trouble with hiring legendary players to coach a team - it rarely ends well. Larry Bowa is the prime example of that.

The interesting part about Cheeks' ouster is that it lacked the adulation that marked his hiring. When Cheeks re-joined the Sixers as coach five years ago, all anyone could talk about was what a good guy he was while breathlessly remembering the time in Portland when he helped a young girl sing "The Star Spangled Banner" when she forgot the words.

So to remember the good times with Mo Cheeks, we'll leave you with this:

Good luck, Mo.

Utley in town Fresh off hip surgery, Phils' All-Star Chase Utley will meet with the local press on Monday afternoon to discuss how his rehab is going and whether or not he will be ready to play on Opening Day.

As a public service to our readers, Andy Schwartz of CSNPhilly.com was kind enough to put together the transcript of Monday's press conference ahead of time.

Here it is:

Question: "Chase, how you feeling?"

Chase: "Good."

Question: "You hope to be ready by the start of the season?"

Chase: "We'll see. Probably."

Question: "How tough was it to play with the injury last season?"

Chase: "I wasn't hurt last season."

Leaving Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – Well, that just figures doesn’t it? As soon as we all decide to pack up and get out of Las Vegas to return back to civilization, the Phillies go ahead and make a splashy signing.

So that’s why general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. decided to stay in Vegas an extra day… Here I thought it was so he could catch Wayne Brady at The Venetian.

Is Ruben Amaro gonna have to sign a left fielder?

Yes, apparently so.

The old rumors from long before the traveling baseball circus hit The Bellagio turned out to be much more valid than the ones we heard on site. Instead of guys like Rick Ankiel or Ryan Ludwick coming over to Philly in a trade with the Cardinals, Amaro went out and signed up type-A free agent Raul Ibanez for three years. The price tag was $30 million for three years and a first-round draft pick.

Hmmmm… isn’t that a little steep for a 36-year old left-handed hitting outfielder?

Nevertheless, one part of the info we picked up in Vegas was solid and that was there was no way the Phillies were going to give Pat Burrell a three-year contract. Ibanez? Sure, no problem. But the 31-year-old top overall draft pick with 251 homers, including 30 in a World Series-winning season?

No way.

Sure, Burrell isn’t much of an outfielder these days. In fact, a source revealed that there is so little interest in the slugging left fielder because of his bum wheels. Nobody seems to think Burrell can play the outfield anymore, which certainly puts a crimp in a National League team’s interest in signing him to the three-year deal he reportedly wants.

Still, what makes Ibanez so much more attractive than Burrell? Sure, Ibanez  is a little more fleet afoot, but he certainly has suffered more injuries than Burrell and hasn’t been as consistent a run producer as the longstanding Phillie.

Better yet, re-signing Burrell over Ibanez would not have cost the Phillies a first-round draft pick.

"I think there will be a market for him," manager Charlie Manuel told us on Thursday. "He averages 30 homers and he knocks in 100 runs even though I take him out of the gameto I run for him. He still scores over 100 runs and he has a high OBP and if you look, he sits right up there with the leaders. He's a run producer and I think there are teams in baseball that definitely need that and I think that once it all works out, I think that Pat will see where he’s at and, you know, he's gonna land somewhere and, there might be a chance that he could work his way back with us."

Sorry Charlie.

But there had to be some reason Burrell was shoved out the door for another left-handed hitter. For instance, Ibanez had 110 RBIs, a .358 on-base percentage and a .472 slugging percentage last season. He is one of just five outfielders who have driven in at least 100 runs in each of the past three seasons with Carlos Beltran, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Lee and Bobby Abreu. He also hits lefties better than righties, which is an interesting little anomaly.

Even more interesting is the fact that Ibanez was such a big run producer while playing half of his games in the pitcher-friendly Safeco Field in Seattle. Who knows what 23 homers and 110 RBIs at Safeco translates to at the bandbox Citizens Bank Park.

Either way, Ibanez is probably excited to get started.

End of an era

So here’s one for you: How does will the Pat Burrell Era be defined? As the third-best home run hitter in team history (behind Mike Schmidt and Del Ennis), as well as seventh in RBIs (827), eighth in extra-base hits (518), fifth in walks (785) and second in strikeouts (1,273).

If his career in Philly were placed on a sheet of graph paper it would look like a roller coaster ride on the stock market. In the beginning there was great promise and much adulation from the hometown fans, followed by maddening slumps and an even more frustrating plateau. But toward the end of his days with the Phillies, Burrell settled into his role and routinely posted 30 homers and 90 RBIs even though he usually was removed from games for defense or a pinch runner.

Who knows how much better (or worse) his numbers would have been if he did not lose those handful of at-bats each week.

However, the Burrell Era ended pretty well in Philly. Only one other era ended better.

Re-Pete

It’s boarding time here at the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. When we get back to the Eastern time zone, look for more nuggets from the afternoon spent with Pete Rose at Caesar’s Palace as well as the ol’ emptying of the notebook from the Winter Meetings.

That Pete Rose is something else. Here’s something I bet you didn’t know about him… like Charlie Manuel, he’s a bit of a “toucher” when engaged in conversation. It’s friendly and chummy and kind of nice.

Pete also has no internal editor and he doesn’t change the style of his discourse for his audience. He just lets it fly. Needless to say, that’s very fun… maybe a little crazy, but very fun.

Closing up shop

LAS VEGAS – It had already been a long day. With nearly every agent representing all of the top free agents as well as every general manager in Major League Baseball traveling from a hospitality suite to the lobby area of The Bellagio yesterday, the media-types working the angles and looking for any glint of information were already exhausted. There was no way to process any more of the fodder for posting on the web or talking on TV.

The only thing most people wanted to do was get a hot shower and a hot meal.

At least that’s the way I felt. Finally able to adjourn the media workroom after waiting for Ronny Paulino or Jason Jaramillo to pass a physical (yeah, so glamorous) so that Phils’ GM Ruben Amaro Jr. could announce Wednesday’s trade, the plan  was to clean up and take a breather before catching up with my old work friends from work Leslie Gudel, Neil Slotkin and Matt Yallof.

Matt had already been up at the crack reporting on the CC Sabathia deal with the Yankees for SportsNet-New York on Wednesday and was understandably cooked. Yet, as I was looking for the exits, Matt came barreling around the corner with his tie askew, BlackBerry hanging from his hand like a six-shooter, hair no longer meticulously crafted and tired eyes pleading for a break that wasn’t coming.

“Whoa… where are you going in a hurry?”

“Yeah, I don’t think I can make it tonight.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Mets just made a three-team, 12-player trade with the Mariners and the Indians. Minaya is on his way down.”

“You’re kidding?”

“Wish I was.”

“Oh man. When is this day going to end?”

“No time soon.”

Who would have ever thought that talking, walking and writing could be so tiring? No, it’s not digging ditches or anything like that, but everything is relative. Making the scene at the schmooze fest that is the baseball Winter Meetings can wear you out. Just ask the Phillies’ brass who tirelessly worked around the clock to put together a deal before jetting back to Philadelphia.

Hey, it takes a while to get a guy like Ronny Paulino.

Nevertheless, while joshing with Amaro before the TV/web-only availability the other day, I asked the GM how the tables had been treating him in Las Vegas.

“So Ruben, how much are you up?”

“Twenty-four. I’ve been up 24 hours.”

I believe him. He looked like he’d been up all night working all the angles.

Now he gets to go home with Ronny Paulino.

More schmooze

One of the highlights of the Winter Meetings was getting the chance to chat a bit with former big-league All-Stars Eric Davis and Ellis Burks. Davis, of course, was a star for the World Champion Reds in 1990 and famously returned from colon cancer in the late 1990s to put together a few more successful seasons before retiring in 2001.

During his prime many thought that Davis might be the first ballplayer to put together a 50-50 season, but injuries robbed him of too many games.

So after being introduced to Davis I reminded him of a home run I witnessed at Camden Yards at the tail end of the 1993 season when he was playing for Detroit.

“The ball was still on its way up by the time it hit the batters’ eye,” I said.

“Yep,” Davis said. “Arthur Rhodes. It was a 2-1 pitch. Slider.”

Who is he, Rain Man?

These days Burks works for the Cleveland Indians as an advisor, but during his days as a player Burks clubbed 352 homers and batted .291. A strong case could be made that Burks should have been the NL MVP in 1996 over Ken Caminiti.

Anyone who gets a chance to listen to Charlie Manuel talk about hitting and his days as manager with the Indians has heard an Ellis Burks story or two. When informed that Charlie still speaks highly of him and asked if he had any favorite memories of playing for Manuel, Burks launched into one of the finer impressions of the Phillies’ manager.

Burks also talked about his days with the Red Sox and his teammate, John Marzano, who died after a fall in his home last April and a man Burks referred to as his best friend on the team.

“He was just fun guy. I miss him a lot,” Burks said.

More coming?

One of the most interesting developments on Thursday morning was watching teems of GMs, scouts, players and agents hurry to the taxi queue and a ride to the airport immediately following the Rule 5 Draft. It almost looked as if it were the last day of school and all the kids where pouring out of the building as fast as they could just to get away from the place.

Even most of the Phillies’ traveling party had left Las Vegas on Thursday morning, Amaro and a few other execs were sticking around an extra day in order to continue working.

Hey, who knows? Maybe he’ll come home with Nick Punto, too.

Charlie Hustler

Stopped by the Forum Shops in Caesar's Palace this morning with the hope of catching up with Pete Rose. The most infamous ballplayer alive and the ex-Phillies and Reds great spends some time in a memorabilia store where he signs autographs and chats with the fans.

However, Pete rolls in during the afternoon and wasn't around during the visit. He has my digits though... he'll call to chat, right?

"I felt like I had the flu again."

- Charlie Manuel when asked how he felt after learning that the Mets had acquired closer Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz on the same day.

Changing course

LAS VEGAS – It’s not all that uncommon for one to wake up in the morning here in the capital of excess and phoniness with the feeling that one of those big tractor trailers hauling pigs, septic waste and all the ancillary by-products just drove over one’s legs. It happens all the time. In fact, it’s the main reason why a lot of people purchase plane tickets and spend money on themed hotel rooms* and travel to the edge of the desert.

Yet at the same time it’s not all that uncommon for folks to come to Vegas and contently head down a particular path – maybe lined with primroses, gilly flowers and lilacs – before suddenly and inexplicably changing course.

Hey, Vegas will do that to you. Those sirens have sweet voices and they make those free comps look a lot more valuable than they really are. It’s with that in mind when we consider the developments of the latest CC Sabathia developments.

Though Dodgers’ general manager (and Philly guy) Ned Colletti said that CC said that he wanted to play for LA, and despite the fact that the burly lefty was building his new home in Southern California to be close to his family, those sweet-sounding sirens got to him. CC just couldn’t get those voices out of his head. They taunted him, challenged his manhood even. They told him that everything would be OK. They would pat him on the back and lift him up and dust him off if he fell. They’d whisper sweet lullabies in his ear when he had second doubts about every decision to make. It’s always sunny in Los Angeles, but not the South Bronx.

Still, the song remains the same…

If you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere…

So last night as the gang congregated at the Baccarat Bar just off the main lobby at The Bellagio last night to pass around information and stories as if they were flakes of confetti, Sabathia and the Yankees brass were somewhere ironing out the details of a seven-year deal worth $160 million.

So much for a tough economy (which is a topic we’ll delve into this week). Nevertheless, the details of the pact will be announced after Sabathia passes a physical.

Never has the phrase, “turn your head and cough” sounded sweeter to New Yorkers.

But as they say, sometimes the tidal wave is caused by the tiniest of ripples, and vice versa (or vise-a versa as Jim Thome and my uncles used to say). This time the waves could be felt down the Delaware River tributaries to Philadelphia where the team’s pitching staff might come into clearer focus.

You see, with Sabathia getting all the money in New York, right-hander Derek Lowe likely will no longer be an option for the Yankees. That means the Phillies could be in good position to sign Lowe up for the next couple of years.

According to a few of the friendly people we spoke to at The Bellagio this week, the Phillies and the Yankees were the two teams working the hardest to woo Lowe. But unlike the Yankees, the Phillies might not have the years or the cash to properly entice Lowe to bring his sinker to cozy CBP. That’s because Lowe is reported to be seeking a five-year deal worth $80 million and the Phillies rarely offer more than three years to pitchers. Sure, they can make an exception here or there, but will they for Derek Lowe? More importantly, if Jamie Moyer and the Phillies can reach a compromise on contract talks(Moyer is asking for two-years and $18 million and the Phillies have offered two- years and $14 million), where does that leave Lowe?

But, if the Phillies are able to get Lowe, don't count on the team also trying to re-sign Moyer. At the same time, if Moyer re-signs, the pursuit of Lowe likely will end, too.

“If we were to get a pitcher of that ilk, we would probably allow one of our kids battle it out for the last spot on the rotation,” Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. told us kids from Comcast SportsNet last night. “But at this point we're not sure how big that possibility is. We’re trying to do a variety of things.”

But most of those involve hanging out in a hospitality suite on the 31st floor of The Bellagio where Ruben and his Vegas crew gather around a dry erase board (always turned away from prying eyes when folks like us stop by for a visit) with a fresh supply of fruit, diet cokes and Odwalla Bars.

Meanwhile, here come the rumors Apparently the Indians have agreed to a two-year deal with closer Kerry Wood. OK, I’ll say it… the Indians have Wood. … oh yeah, that three-way deal with Jake Peavy, Mark DeRosa, the Padres, the Cubs, the Orioles, the Phillies and maybe even the Council of Cardinals at the Vatican – still very much alive. The Phillies are working hard at it, which means they will likely exhaust the supply of Odwalla Bars by noon today.
On the docket Today is the annual manager’s luncheon where folks like us media types have a couple of gin-rickies, maybe a salad, sandwich and a broth soup and talk ball. Should be a good time.

Speaking of a good time, Charlie Manuel will hold court this afternoon. He was supposed to do it yesterday, but spent the day in his room recovering from the flu.

More updates coming… check back.

----- * How about this for a new Vegas hotel theme... Vegas! Why not? Isn’t the entire city a parody of itself anyway?

Hey, let's chat...

LAS VEGAS – When the baseball bunch showed up at The Bellagio on Monday morning to kick off the annual Winter Meetings, the biggest grumbles were from the media types complaining about the dearth of activity.

Oh what a difference a day makes.

Tuesday morning the contingent in Vegas woke up to the news that the Padres and Cubs were close to ironing out the much-ballyhooed Jake Peavy trade with the Phillies also in the mix; CC Sabathia expressed a desire to pitch for the Dodgers; and the hated Mets were preparing to close a deal with save machine Francisco Rodriguez.

Yes, the Mets finally have a legit closer.

That’s three National League teams making some big moves while the World Champion Phillies kept the dialogue going.

But sometimes all talk and no action isn’t all that bad. In the Phillies’ case the chit-chatter might be the ground work for a move before the team heads home on Thursday. Of course it’s all speculative right now, which is the beauty of the Winter Meetings. There’s a bona fide cottage industry in all this banter – some of it which might even be true.

As far as the Phillies go, it appears as if they really aren’t in the mix for Peavy after all. However, the team apparently is still interested in utility infielder Nick Punto as well as Penn alum Mark DeRosa.

Who knows what else we’ll be talking about by the end of today.

Seen and heard

Our spies say ex-Phillie farmhand Kris Benson and his wife, Anna, were walking through the corridors at The Bellagio on Monday night. Phillies outfielder and post-season hero Shane Victorino also was making the scene for a brief moment, too. … Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan just walked by this second (10:50 a.m. PST).  … Phils’ manager Charlie Manuel is nursing a bit of an ailment and will not be able to hold court at his media availability this afternoon. … Rays' manager Joe Maddon -- that guy is everywhere! ... Winter Meetings veterans say more players have showed up at this year’s get together than in recent memory. The official reason, of course, is that many of them are seeking work (Luis Gonzalez, Frank Thomas and all of the big-name free agents). But seriously, how is going to pass up a trip to Vegas in December?

That's just Vegas

They say that if you stick around long enough you just might see everything. Spend a week in Las Vegas and you might see everything by midweek. For longtime friend of CSNPhilly.com, Howard Bryant of ESPN, the trip to Vegas gave him a chance to cross off another been-there-done-that experience from his checklist.

You see, Howie got to town last week in order to write about the sentencing in the O.J. Simpson kidnapping and what he saw was pure Vegas.

After the sentencing was handed down, Howie walked out of the courthouse to see a man dressed as Elvis giving TV interviews on whether justice had been served. Standing next to Elvis was someone dressed in a Wonder Woman outfit.

Elvis and Wonder Woman making media appearances is undoubtedly odd, but the most surreal scene occurred inside the courtroom where Howie sat in the jury box and watched O.J., dressed in the county blues, be led out by the marshals with his hands cuffed behind his back and leg irons around his ankles.

Hangin' 'em up

What is with the dirty looks from the folks at the craps table when I throw the dice and scream, “Yahtze!” just before they tumble over on to the hard eight?

LAS VEGAS – Everyone has a Greg Maddux story. Better yet, everyone has a Greg Maddux story that involves loud, bawdy laughter with punch lines that are often not repeatable in mixed company or fit for print.

The guy has the most interesting and warped sense of humor in the game, which is enough to make him the all time favorite of this little corner of this web site.

More importantly, Maddux is also known as the game’s best ambassadors. Low key and unassuming, Maddux doesn’t bowl people over with his presence in the physical sense. However, when he enters a room of baseball people everyone knows it. His teammates adore him and he always seems to have time for the fans and the press for a good quote or one of those stories he’s famous for.

As it turned out, Greg Maddux’s last appearance in a Major League game came at Dodger Stadium in a relief role against the Phillies during the NLCS. Even then, in his last game, it looked as if Maddux, at 42, could pitch a few more seasons. Last year he made at least 30 starts for the 20th season in the last 22. Had it not been for the two strike-shortened seasons, it would have been a perfect 22-for-22.

He never got hurt, never skipped a start and never changed. It was a career that was so eerily consistent that it was almost boring. Think about it -- every year you knew Maddux was going to pitch every five days no matter what. There was no drama or any of that silliness. Just good pitching and good humor.

With 355 career wins and every other award and accomplishment on his ledger, Maddux officially announced his retirement on Monday afternoon at The Bellagio.  And just like everything else during his sure Hall-of-Fame career, Maddux delivered the goods.

“I never changed,” he said in summing up his career. “I think, ‘Hey, you can locate your fastball and you change speeds no matter who is hitting strikes or what is going on around you.’”

Maddux took special pride in mentoring young players, but made sure that the lessons weren’t one sided or exclusive to just the players on his team. Just this past season, in fact, Maddux famously took Phillies pitcher Kyle Kendrick aside during batting practice before a game in San Diego and schooled the kid on the finer points of pitching. Sure enough, the lesson was absorbed and Kendrick went out and beat Maddux in their next start.

Maddux says he was learning all the way up to the very end of his career.

“I just think the best way to learn is to screw up and not do it again,” Maddux said. “I think it’s OK to make mistakes. Hopefully you learn by it and you don’t make those mistakes again. I think it’s the easiest way to learn.”

Why the Hall not?

Speaking of the Hall of Fame, the Major League Baseball Veterans Committee announced the results in the balloting for enshrinement and once again the club is quite exclusive.

Former Yankee second baseman Joe Gordon was the only man elected to the Hall on Monday in a pair of votes from committees that selected players whose careers began before 1943 and one that focused on players who played after 1943.

On the pre-1943 side, former Yankee Allie Reynolds just missed out on the Hall of Fame by just one vote. Former Phillie Sherry Magee received just 25 percent of the ballots cast, while Mickey Vernon, the recently departed native of Marcus Hook, Pa. (and Harry Kalas’ boyhood hero), got 41.7 percent.

In the post-1943 election, no one came close. Once again Ron Santo fell way short garnering just 60.9 percent while ex-Phillie Jim Kaat finished second with 59.4 percent. The other notable miss was Dick Allen who got just 10.9 percent. Of the 10 ex-players that received votes, Allen got the fewest.

Rumors, rumors and rumors

Here’s what you waited for:

The Cubs are said to be in the hunt to sign free agent Bobby Abreu. … The Mets meet with closers Brian Fuentes and Trevor Hoffman today. Mets’ COO Jeffrey Wilpon was in on the talks with Francisco Rodriguez last night which reportedly lasted over four hours. The Mets are also interested in starting pitcher Jon Garland. … The Cardinals, Mets and Phillies have talked to right-hander A.J. Burnett. ... Charlie Manuel is here. Whispers are that he was cleaning up at the craps tables. We will attempt to get verification on that one this afternoon.

Tough times

Here comes the only sure thing in town this week: Whatever happens in Vegas will land on this web site. How the business and convention center missed that line for its ad campaign is baffling.

LAS VEGAS – The business of baseball is in full bloom. Better than that, Major League Baseball is very profitable. Actually, profitable is the wrong word. The folks from MLB were seen at the lobby bar at The Bellagio lighting cigars with $50 bills. Walk up to anyone not employed by MLB this week and most sentences are peppered with the phrase, “… they made 6.6 billion dollars last year!”

Things are going so well for MLB that they took over the posh hotel The Bellagio for its annual meetings.

Yet MLB.com, the burgeoning web site and veritable clearing house for the league, the players union and the 30 teams, decided to lay off one of its writers last week. Yeah, even though Commissioner Bud Selig and his staff get together in his suite for a nightly “money fight,” MLB decided to eliminate some jobs.

Never mind that MLB is set to launch its own television network on Jan. 1, that $6.6 billion just ain’t getting it done.

Incidentally, the one writer MLB laid off wrote about the team that just won the World Series. Times must be really tough if a $6.6 billion industry is cutting a guy from its championship team.

It’s not just MLB either. Gannett, the newspaper chain that owns USA Today as well as local papers the Wilmington News Journal and Camden Courier Post just announced significant layoffs. At Camden that meant two of the guys that wrote about the World Series-winning ballclub were sent away with a gift card and a severance package. The paper’s Eagles’ writer was let go days before the football team played in their biggest game of the season.

The strange thing about all of this isn’t that the economy is bad, because that very much is a factor in these moves. The wacky part is that in 2007 the News Journal had a profit margin over 25 percent, while the Courier Post limped in at nearly 10 percent.

Think the auto industry wouldn’t take numbers like that?

So last week we had the big three automakers sitting before Congress to ask for $700 billion. If they didn’t get it, the execs warned the lawmakers, they just might have to lay off some workers. Meanwhile, flush companies like newspapers and the National Pastime just don’t get it.

Needless to say the gallows humor is in full force at the Winter Meetings. Every few minutes or so the scribes walk past one another and ask about one another’s employment status on the hour.

“It’s a blood bath,” one veteran baseball writer said.

Phillies stuff

Ruben Amaro Jr. and his gang are in meetings all Monday morning and won’t meet with the Philadelphia contingent until 4:30 p.m. local time. Meanwhile, reports are the negotiations with pitcher Jamie Moyer are not going very well. The big hang up appears to be over money, a development Amaro described as “disappointing.”

Moyer just completed a two-year $9.5 million deal with the Phillies and led the team in wins in ’08 and would have been in line for a hefty raise had the team offered him arbitration.

There is a little story from The Daily News about the Phils "talking" about outfielder and top draft pick Delmon Young. Another rumor is a little more interesting that kind of involves the Phillies…

Apparently MLB wants to have day-games in the World Series after the weather-based debacles of Games 3 and 5 at Citizens Bank Park last October. MLB pitched the idea to broadcast rights older Fox, who balked at the idea initially until a compromise, reportedly, was struck.

Yes, it appears as if there will be a daytime World Series game in 2009. The start time: 5 p.m. in the east.

That’s a day game?

Comings and goings…

The Mets met with record-breaking closer Francisco Rodriguez last night and plan to meet with “every available closer” this week in Vegas. … The Tigers and Rangers made the first trade of the week when Texas shipped catcher Gerald Laird to Detroit for right-handed pitching prospects, Guillermo Moscoso and Carlos Melo.

As of this writing, Greg Maddux is holding his retirement press-conference about 30 yards in front of me… check back around 4 or so with another update.

The winter meetings are neither in winter nor are actual meetings... discuss

We were somewhere near Barstow by the time… wait, that wasn’t me. LAS VEGAS – Strangely, the baseball winter meetings have never been held in the capital of all that is decadent, gaudy, glittery and, well… tacky, ever. It’s a fact that seems a bit unbelievable at first because baseball, baseball players and baseball front office types blend in quite well in places like Las Vegas.

Monte Carlo, not so much. But Vegas is a perfect match.

If it were up to the people that go to things like the baseball winter meetings, Las Vegas would be the permanent venue. Of course this is being written before the actual winter meetings have even begun, but from the reports from a few of the folks that arrived in town a few days early, everyone is having a really good time.

Needless to write, everyone knows what Las Vegas is all about and everyone likes to philosophize about the meaning of the so-called Sin City as a paradigm of post-modern American culture (or something like that). But most people have no idea what actually occurs at the baseball winter meetings. Based on some of my conversations with friends not in the biz, they think that there will be actual meetings in conference rooms or auditoriums where we’ll skip out early in order to catch the early-bird special at the buffet and the lounge act in the hotel bar.

Nope. Not even close. The “winter meetings” is a classic misnomer like “global warming” or “jumbo shrimp.” Basically it’s a time where front-office types, media people, job hunters, carneys, agents and the worst of the bunch – baseball writers – can meet under one roof for an entire week in order to barter in information. The best part is that it’s completely lo-fi in that the best way to get information is to have an actual conversation with someone.

And where does it all take place? Well, in a hotel lobby, of course.

It’s all about the lobby… The first places most folks look for when they are on the road and far from home and need a little action are the bars and/or the hotel lobby. Everyone knows what goes on in a bar so there isn't much need for explanation there, but the hotel lobby - specifically if it also has a bar - is like Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras, Times Square during rush hour, and Broad Street during a parade.

At least that's the way it is during the baseball winter meetings.

Essentially, that's what the winter meetings are... it's like Spring Break only no one goes topless. Or, it's like the South by Southwest Music conference in Austin, Tx. only not cool. Come on, think about it - how cool could it be? This year’s winter meetings are being held in a resort where the over-60 set lines up around the block to see Bette Midler.

That being the case, a cavalcade of baseball writers, general managers, those hep cats from ESPN, and a bunch of job-seeking wannabe baseball flaks all under one roof... do we have to get into why that's the epitome of uncool?

OK. First there are the baseball writers, who easily are the angriest and most frustrated group of people on the planet. They're all burnt out from long hours spent at the ballpark and ridiculous travel itineraries for eight months. Better yet, the best way to really drive one of those guys crazy it to say: “Hey, at least it beats a real job, right?”

The necessary response to that:

Punch, drink, cry.

As far as the hipness factor goes, I can only speak reasonably knowledgably about the Philadelphia crew and let's just say TMZ.com doesn't have a group of photogs staking out the gang. For one thing, one of the guys used to be an actor in Renaissance Faires and, no, he wasn't even something somewhat cool as the knight on horseback in the joust ring. Nope, he was a pawn in the chess game and it wasn't like the one in Mel Brooks' History of the World Part I.

Scarily enough, it gets much worse than that. But in the interest in protecting the guilty...

Aw, forget it.

The geeks love online poker, one dork is into long-distance running, another went by the stage name “Todd Cougar,” and still another is pining for a long-ago shorn mullet. What sane person would agree to spend a summer surrounded by a group like that?

But there they are – trolling the lobby at The Bellagio listening to the tall tales and truth stretching that goes on whenever baseball folks get together. Actually, it's really not all that different than any other time spent during a summer afternoon only there isn't a game to be played later in the evening and no one has to drive anywhere, which heightens the stakes a bit. Think about it – who goes to Spring Break and rents a car? Probably no one. So if the plan is to get the scribes, GMs, job seekers and hangers on all under one roof it will lessen the load for the local law enforcement and make the scene into how it must have been to cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race in the desert around Vegas in the early 1970s.

If Raoul Duke and his Samoan attorney roll into the lobby of The Bellagio, everyone should leave – or  keep tabs on the grapefruits.

Anyway, the GMs are the reason why everyone gets together for the week. Really, what other reason is there? In a baseball organization, the GM is where the proverbial buck stops. Actually, it's better than that. The GM is where the information originates and information (not knowledge) is the commodity everyone has traveled to Las Vegas and camped out in The Bellagio for. Think about it – is there another resource more important than information? It's better than gold and almost as good as oil and it's the reason why ESPN and Yahoo! are snapping up all the top hunter/gatherers in the info set for a premium. It's also why ESPN has set up something of its own little Green Zone inside of The Bellagio – information. It's the king.

That means the GM-types are the kingmakers. And like any good crowner of things that get crowned, the GM is coquettish as all get-out. You know how the scribes like to cite "sources" in all those rumor mill-type stories folks wolf down like hamsters to pellets? Well, apparently those "sources" have access to the inner sanctum. They might actually know the GM well enough to collect crumbs of information here and there before running off to feed it to the gluttonous writer-types and their panting public.

Yet even though the general managers from all across baseball will be making the scene at The Bellagio, it's not as if their presence boosts the hipness factor. Actually, unless one thinks those Hawaiian/Tommy Bahama-type shirts are “cool,” then rollin' with the GMs is the way to go. After all, this is a set of people who take their cues on coolness from Spuds McKenzie. Imagine that... instead of covering South by Southwest where one could hang out at the hotel and talk shop with Deerhoof, the writers are left to chase down old men who look as if they just got in from the hunt. Instead of Elvis Costello they get a guy dressed like Elvis.

Incidentally, why is that Elvis impersonators are usually always the fat Elvis?

Apparently, though, there is one GM who is considered cool, but that's because at 34, Theo Epstein is approximately 40 years younger than all of his counterparts. Epstein is also considered cool because he plays guitar in a cover band called Trouser or something ambiguous like that. Come to think about it, the band's name could be the most undetailed thing happening with Epstein. After all, a name like Trouser (if that is, in fact, the name) doesn't befit a devotee of Sabermetrics.

Sabermetrics, of course, is the baseball philosophy that likes to take all the life and intrigue out of a sport and assign it cold, hard spots on a sheet of graph paper or an excel spreadsheet. “Enough of the thinking,” they say, “give me data.”

We exaggerate because it’s fun.

Nothing ambiguous like human nature... we need undeniable information! Nevertheless, Trouser is a cover band that plays cover songs of cover songs, which, frankly, is about as low on the musical food chain as one can go. In fact, it's the Renaissance Faire of the musical word -- the pawn in the chess game instead of the knight in the phony joust.

Then again, maybe the baseball winter meetings are nothing more than a phony joust, too. Oh sure, actual work gets done and trades/deals are made. In fact, Ruben Amaro Jr., the new GM of the Phillies, says he hopes to leave Las Vegas and The Bellagio with a pitcher to add to the roster.

Meanwhile, a few of the scribes hope to leave Vegas with one of those cowgirls in town for the National Rodeo Championships this week.

Next edition(s) on Monday: The scene, the rumors, the deals and O.J.

Army-Navy flashback

Dressed in specially-designed camouflage helmets and uniforms, the Army football team had a difficult time with its passing game in the 34-0 loss to Navy in the 109th version of the classic rivalry. No wonder... with the receivers dressed in camo how could the quarterback see them down field? Laughing it up with The Mayor

You can always tell who the really cool guys are by the things they laugh at. A sense of humor, after all, is not a trait everyone possesses. In fact, humor affects everyone as differently as broccoli or Brussels sprouts.

Trust me, I know.

A good sense of humor, an easy affability and a hearty, Wilfred Brimley-esque laugh are like magic. They are like magnets that draw a crowd wherever they go or decide to hold court. On Saturday afternoon in the press box at Lincoln Financial Field during the Army-Navy game, Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter showed off an easy laugh and the knowledge to pick on an attempt at a joke.

Hey, who doesn’t like a guy like that?

So after deftly handling questions from some sports scribes on the future of the Army-Navy game in the city and its economic impact, Mayor Nutter was cornered by a smart-aleck (me) with a not-so serious question about the state of Philly sports.

“Mr. Mayor,” I asked earnestly. “Could you give me your thoughts on the championship drought in the city? We’re approaching 40 days without a title, and frankly, there are a lot of people ready for another parade. It's been long enough.”

Rather than give that all-too familiar curious look – kind of like when a dog sees itself in the mirror and just doesn’t know how to think or react – the mayor smiled and let loose with a boisterous and bawdy laugh.

Actually, Mayor Nutter has a tremendous laugh. It’s natural and easy. The “ha-has” come out loud and happy, but not obnoxious. It’s a genuine laugh that’s not forced or put on. The mayor is totally organic with the yucks and it feels good. Better yet, it comes with a good pound on the shoulder followed by another slap to the arm with his right hand. As he walks on to the next place he has to be (he is a busy guy, after all), the mayor leaves with a few quips of his own laughing that laugh the whole time.

“Ask me that if it takes another 25 years,” he said. “We’re doing OK these days.”
Shipping out?

As far as the future of the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia goes, Mayor Nutter said the city will be “aggressive” in its attempts to keep the game at Lincoln Financial Field after 2009.

As it stands, Philadelphia has bid against 2007 host Baltimore; East Rutherford, N.J.; Foxborough, Mass.; Landover, Md.; Indianapolis and Pittsburgh.

There’s only one natural choice amongst those cities, according to Nutter.

“People know that the Army-Navy game is a Philadelphia tradition and belongs in Philadelphia,” Nutter said. “Many of the folks who are in leadership positions now were in the service and came to the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia. They have brought their families and some of them, their children are in the stands right now, or are out on the field playing.”

Philadelphia has hosted 81 of the 109 Army-Navy games in four different stadiums (Franklin Field, JFK, the Vet and the Linc). New York City has hosted the classic 11 times with Baltimore and East Rutherford serving as the site of the game four times apiece.

The best reason for the Army-Navy game to stay at the Linc? How about all that cash.

“Over 50,000 vistors come to Philadelphia [and] every hotel in the city is sold out,” Nutter said. “There are more hotel rooms in downtown Philadelphia than [in] any other city that's trying to compete against us.”

Plus, excluding the occasional World Series game or NCAA Tournament stop, Army-Navy puts the fannies in the seats all over town.

“I think in terms of any one game, other than probably the World Series with the Phillies, I don't know that there's any ballgame that brings as many outsiders to Philadelphia, especially in terms of our hotel and restaurant activity,” Nutter said.

Funny ha-ha Speaking of funny, President George W. Bush showed up on Saturday for his third Army-Navy game during his presidency (no, that’s not the funny part) to mix with the Cadets and Midshipmen, give a pep talk to the ballclubs, and toss the coin before the game.

In that role, the President came through. Take a look:

But what is missing from the video was the President’s most stellar and genuinely humorous moment. As he was walking that walk of his out to midfield to deliver the coin toss, the President made a slight detour at the 30-yard line toward a ball teed up and ready to go for the opening kickoff. Suddenly, Bush approached the ball and in his best Lou “The Toe” Groza imitation, placed a black-shoed boot on one that fluttered 15 yards for a nearly perfect onside kick.

It’s a wonder he didn’t make a run after it to make the recovery.

The President, along with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, didn’t stick around to watch the entire game.  Instead he returned to Air Force One at Philadelphia International to get back to his lame-ducking.

Ballot stuffing Navy senior Shun White was voted the MVP of the game on the strength of a 148 yards rushing on 13 carries and a pair of touchdown. One of those TDs came on a 65-yard dash in the opening quarter to give Navy a quick 7-0 lead.

But upon further examination of the media ballots on Saturday, one voter cast his tally for "that plucky (W)hite kid." Whether the "White" was meant as an adjective or proper noun is open for debate. Either way, it seemed to be the right call.

Along with White, Midshipman running back Eric Kettani carried the ball 24 times for 125 yards.
Look at the size of that thing… Speaking of Air Force One, the aircraft buzzed over top of the Linc about two hours before game time giving the pre-game tailgaters a big eye full of the most famous plane in the world.

As people on the ground munched on burgers and hotdogs and fished beverages out of big coolers in the Wachovia Center parking lot, the giant machine with, “The United States of America” emblazoned on the entire length of its side lumbered over a few thousand feet over The Linc.

The thing was huge. As it dipped its wings and dived over South Philly on the way to the airport, the image of a flying tour bus came to mind. It was as if Bon Jovi put wings on the bus to get from gig to gig, only this was the President of the United States and his carbon footprint must look like a Sasquatch.

"Their helmets were kind of gross."

- Navy's Eric Kettani on Army's new camouflage uniforms

Man of the year

Good morning and welcome to day 36 without a championship in Philadelphia. Charlie and the Olympian

We've been touting the genius as well as the Tao (yes, the Tao!) of Phils skipper Charlie Manuel for four years now. In fact, we were so far out in front of the pack in lauding Charlie, that we have lapped everyone else. In fact, I still have copies of the nasty e-mails I received when I wrote something at the end of the 2005 season suggesting that the Phillies should give Charlie a contract extension pronto.

Needless to say it hasn't been easy for Charlie or his supporters in Philadelphia. Actually, it was April 18, 2007 when talking head Keith Olbermann told Dan Patrick of The Dan Patrick Show that Charlie's days were numbered.

To wit:

"I’m a little worried about the Phillies," Olbermann said. "What I saw there looked like chaos to me and I don’t know if it’s going to go well.

“I think Charlie Manuel is going to get fired. I think the Phillies have woefully mismanaged their pitching staff. They have starters who should be relieving and relievers who should be starting and it’s a mess. The batting order is a mistake. Pat Burrell was not the guy to bat behind Ryan Howard and it’s going to ruin Ryan Howard this season and it’s even going to hurt Chase Utley ahead of him because they’re going to pitch around Howard and Utley isn’t going to have a chance to steal bases. Wes Helms at third base might be a good hitter, but they are just now noticing that he might not be the most mobile infielder. There are a lot of problems and I’m not really sure if Charlie Manuel is a good manager.”

Man, was he ever wrong on that one.

Needless to say, winning the World Series has a way of making folks take notice of a guy. It also forces a lot of people to re-evaluate some things, though it's rare that these re-evaluators will ever admit making a boneheaded, knee-jerk reaction based largely on a bit of regional xenophobia.

Be that as it is, Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci really stepped up and gave Charlie some big kudos. Actually, it was better than that. Verducci nominated Manuel for the magazine's prestigious "Sportsman of the Year" Award against the likes of president-elect Barack Obama, Tiger Woods, Bill Russell and Usain Bolt, amongst others. Philadelphian Bernard Hopkins also received a nomination for the award won by record-breaking gold medal winner, Michael Phelps.

Charlie's newfound celebrity isn't quite to the level of most of his fellow nominees, but the acknowledgment from SI feels like the cherry on the top of a very interesting year.

Quoth Verducci:

Charlie Manuel never won a gold medal or a manager of the year award. Never has he been called a "genius" or an "innovator." Corporate America would not prefer his kind of elocution for motivational speeches. (When asked about his famous run-in with a Philadelphia radio host, Manuel said, "I don't want to hash it.") There is nothing fancy about the guy. And that is why Manuel is my choice for Sportsman of the Year. He is a proxy for all those baseball lifers who love what they do. He also is proof that success does not require a good and honest man to change.

Manuel's story is remarkably without ego or privilege. In the western Virginia hills Manuel grew up poor and he grew up fast, especially from that day his father, Charles Sr., left a suicide note to the teenage "Fook," as his mother called him, to take care of his mama and his 10 siblings. Charlie did so by forsaking a possible college basketball scholarship to take a $20,000 bonus from the Minnesota Twins. Manuel hit .198 in 242 major league games before leaving for a prolific playing career in Japan. When Manuel, upon being hired by the Phillies to manage, was asked in a questionnaire to identify his funniest baseball moment, he replied, "My entire career as a player in the states."

Hey, who knows... maybe when ol' Charlie hits Vegas next week for the baseball winter meetings he'll find his name in all the celebrity gossip rags with Phelps. It could happen, right?

In the meantime, Charlie has a speaking gig set up in Charlottesville, Va. for Jan. 31.

Meanwhile, closer Brad Lidge showed up to visit his old alma mater in South Bend, Ind. last week, and got a little face time on the Notre Dame football network, a.k.a., NBC.

Taxpayer Stadium looking good As the hot-stove season is about to begin in earnest this weekend, bringing some new additions to a lot of big-league clubs, the hated New York Mets' new digs are coming along nicely.

Now all they need to do is come up with a name for the joint...

Let's chat...

A day after becoming a dad to twins, Donovan McNabb skipped the paternity leave and showed up at the NovaCare complex for practice yesterday. The Eagles' QB even took some to time to talk with the press about a whole bunch of topics. However, before the topic could turn to diapers, rashes, immunizations and midnight feedings, McNabb revealed that he wants to have a sit-down with the team's brass...

Sounds like someone might get whacked.

Anyway, we're not sure about the names or what type of cigars McNabb passed out, but we're pleased to hear everyone is healthy and happy.

Happy and healthy aren't the best adjectives to describe star-crossed Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress these days after he accidentally shot himself in the thigh with a gun in a nightclub. On the "phew" side for Burress, the defending Super Bowl champs left the door open for a possible return. But the thing about that is it's just not going to happen this year since the team suspended the receiver for the rest of the year without pay.

Here's the beef

Man... aside from the sellout crowd, the 76ers probably aren't too excited about Kobe Bryant's return to his hometown. That's because Kobe wrecked the Sixers with 32 points on 13-for-20 shooting in 36 minutes during the 114-102 victory. Interestingly, Bryant says he usually shows up in Philadelphia intent on visiting old spots and eating an authentic cheesesteak, however, this trip he said he was more focused on work and pushing the Lakers' record to 15-2.

As if the big game wasn't enough, Kobe and Bartram High alum and Philly hoops legend Earl Monroe shared a moment last night.

Man... talk about some talent. They called Monroe "The Pearl" and "Black Jesus," but what he really was on the playgrounds in Philly back in the day was "The Truth."

A rough night got slightly rougher for the Sixers, who lost Elton Brand late in the game with a tweaked hamstring. Before the game, GM Ed Stefanski told reporters that he isn't second-guessing the decision to sign Brand despite the 8-11 start.

Holy Toledo? Though Joe Paterno's head coaching future is very much up in the air after Penn State plays in the Rose Bowl, the legendary coach's son might in line for the head coaching gig at Toledo, according to reports.

Who knows, if things don't work out at State, perhaps Jay Paterno could hire his dad for the staff?

"I don’t have any weapons. I don’t own any weapons unless you call a couple of Louisville sluggers and aluminum baseball bats some of my weapons, but if you come into my house I am going to turn into Barry Bonds on you."

- Donovan McNabb

Things that make no sense

Every once in a while we dive into the media scene on this space. Why not? In some quarters there is a theory that the press is just as much a part of the show as the ballplayers. Different tent, but the same circus. Nevertheless, the Philly media is reeling a bit after the announcement that Gannett, the owner of both the Wilmington News Journal and Camden Courier Post, unceremoniously (as if there is another way) laid off a significant number of folks from their staffs yesterday. Certainly such developments are the norm in the biz these days and not just in the media either, where we sometimes have the innate ability to be a tad self-absorbed. Times are tough everywhere these days and there are a lot of good, hard-working people looking over their shoulders waiting for the axe to fall.

To be sure, there are a lot of sleepless nights all over.

Yet despite 2007 profit margins of 25.08 percent at Wilmington and a more modest but by no means poor 9.83 percent at Camden, the layoffs came with impugnity. Stranger yet, someone at Gannett decided that the Courier Post no longer will cover the Philadelphia professional teams.

Yeah.

Get this: a profitable business in an industry that now hs more readers than at any point in its history is laying off the very people that made it such a viable and profitable business in the first place.

As an old ink-stained wretch and veteran of decades in the newspaper business told me recently, "newspapers aren't dying, they're committing suicide."

They also appear to be doing a disservice to their readership. Barely a month after the Phillies galvanized the region and delivered the first championship to the fans in a quarter century, someone with a spread sheet and a bunch of numbers decided that Phillies scribe Mike Radano and columnist Kevin Roberts (and approximately 30 others) had to go. Yeah, that's right... mere weeks after Mike and Kevin were the biggest reason why people were looking at the Courier Post every day, they're gone.

But at least Kevin didn't go empty handed. In addition to a modest severance package and his walking papers, Kev received a gift card for being named employee of the month of November.

No, you can't make this stuff up.

Meanwhile, with the Eagles making one last push for the playoffs just four days before marching up to the Meadowlands to take on the Super Bowl champion New York Giants, the readers in South Jersey (and beyond) will be given nothing. That's because beat writer Sean McCann received the same fate as Mike and Kevin.

Hey, I know people have their own problems and I know there are a lot of good people who have been downsized, laid off, and abandoned by a poor economy and/or ineptitude by some greedy people. Times are hard. It's evident.

But it's a shame that profitable businesses can't figure that just because the world is a rat race, it doesn't mean one has to be a rat. For epochs, advancements in technology made life easier for people. Recently, it made things like newspapers and television better. Innovation is what makes the world go 'round.

Yet for some reason it seems as if certain advancements in technology have not only limited the level of discourse in the United States, but stiffled it greatly simply because some old-time execs didn't get it or couldn't quite figure out how to make a buck off the most important technological advancement of their lifetime. Yes, this is simplifying it a bit, but this is a rant...

So the show lost a few characters yesterday and it likely will lose a few more in the months coming up. For people who enjoy sports and have that passion heightened because they could revel in the glory or agonize in the defeat along with a writer or storyteller, the games sadly became a little less fun.

... and then suddenly, it was November

Hey folks... we're coming back soon. There are a few details and odds and ends that are being worked out, but we hope the site will be up and running very soon. Expect things to be a little bigger... maybe better, too.

Stay tuned

OK, so I made it back and will get to all the insider info (yes, I talk to Zolecki for that) as well as the point-blank range on the latest from the champagne room, a.k.a. the Phillies' clubhouse. Yep, it's all coming... get ready.

Game 4: All even

LOS ANGELES --I will only have periodic, in-game updates tonight because I'm busy and there are a lot of things going on to write about. In other words, I'm too busy to focus completely on this site. Nevertheless, I will have some stuff here, but look over at csnphilly.com for all the latest.

Fifth and sixth innings: Lots of zeroes in the offense

LOS ANGELES – Having some trouble with the wireless connection again out here, which is kind of a pain, but oh well. My trouble getting online is nothing like the Phillies’ problems in attempting to figure out Hiroki Kuroda. In two previous outings against the Phillies, the 33-year-old rookie from Japan pitched a pair of two-hitters. So far tonight in Game 3, Kuroda is again pitching a two-hitter.

After Pedro Feliz’s two-out RBI single in the second inning, Kuroda has retired 10 in a row with three strikeouts.

I wish there were something more to add, but the Phillies just can’t figure out Kuroda. Forget the third time being the charm… unless the Phillies stage some sort of wild rally, the Dodgers look like they’re going to get back in the series.

Meanwhile, the fans here at Dodger Stadium are having a good time doing the wave and batting around beach balls. Sometimes they even watch the game. That’s where they’d see everything going the Dodgers’ way.

During the sixth, Kuroda sat the Phillies down in order again to push his string to 13 straight retired hitters.

Between the top and bottom of the sixth, they showed a montage of Fernando Valenzuela highlights. The fans went nuts. On another note, I saw Fernando in the press box before the game, but he didn’t seem to remember our conversation from the other day.

Helluva of pitcher though.

Scott Eyre came on in the sixth for Happ. Who knows… maybe Happ will start the next time Moyer’s spot in the rotation comes around.

End of 6: Dodgers 7, Phillies 1

Greetings from Dodger Stadium

Tons of good stuff about the baseball team coming soon. Jamie Moyer and Charlie Manuel are going to talk to us and it's a gorgeous and sunny Saturday afternoon. It's early, too... so it will still be day time when I get back here to do some writing.