Philly is second to one

SURE, PHILADELPHIA MAY have a world champion, but Pittsburgh has two.

That appears to be the mentality of a computer program at the Sporting News that ranked Philly second in the publication's annual Best Sports Cities List. The complete list will be in the magazine on newsstands this week.

Take solace in the fact that Philly was a "close second" based on a system that assigns points to a variety of categories, like the city's number of teams, its regular-season won-lost records, playoff berths, championships and more.

"The Phillies bringing home a World Series title was the story in Philly, but look at how close the Eagles came to making it an all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl," said Sporting News chief of correspondents Bob Hille. "This is as close as the point totals at the top of our rankings have been in quite a while."

Former Kixx player faces sentencing

Yesterday, the Cape May, N.J., native pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated manslaughter and drunk driving after he caused an accident that killed a Philadelphia man on March 7. He faces up to 10 years in prison when he's sentenced in January.

Maher's SUV crashed into the rear of a minivan driven by 55-year-old Hort Kap, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

"It's simply a tragedy all around," said Kixx president Jeff Rotwitt. "Matt was a very nice young man and it's a shame for someone so young to have to experience this."

The 25-year-old Maher appeared in five games for the Kixx last season as a defender. He played 4 years at Temple and is the younger brother of current Kixx forward Anthony Maher.

"He was a hard worker, you know, he had a lot of heart," said head coach Don D'Ambra. "That's why I was really surprised when this happened; hopefully once he's served his time, this will be the beginning of a new positive chapter in his life."

- Kerith Gabriel