Bad Blood

It appears that if the NCAA isn't the matchmaker, Cincinnati and Ohio State will never get together in basketball. When the two old adversaries - who have met just one time since the 1962 national championship game - meet in Thursday night's East Regional semifinal in Boston, it will have to be enough to mollify fans longing for a regular-season meeting. Buckeyes coach Thad Matta concedes there are too many old grudges and roadblocks to the teams' ever agreeing to get together annually.

It's no surprise that there was bad blood between supporters of a murder defendant and those who came to the Criminal Justice Center out of respect for the victim. But nobody thought the tension would lead to real blood being spilled in a Justice Center hallway. The blood on the 5th floor was found after sheriff's deputies and police broke up a screaming fight among more than 15 angry people. Two people were charged with assault. One was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge.

A borough man is to appear before a district justice Tuesday on charges that he tried to kill his brother-in-law. Paul Michael Gough, 19, of the 500 block of DeKalb Street, has been accused by police of shooting Jerry Borges, 25, on June 15 while Borges lay on his living room couch, watching television. Borges was wounded in the cheek, police said. Borges' wife, Beth, was shot in the hand when she tried to wrest the 9mm Browning away from her brother, police said. The couple live in the 200 block of East Airy Street.

Christopher McClain, 15, was driving a young woman to pick up a family member when he encountered two men who didn't like him, and whom he didn't like. Their dispute, police say, was possibly over a woman. And it was that bad blood police say that may have led one of the men to shoot Christopher, of Logan, in the head as he sat in a parked car on Weymouth Street near Clearfield in Kensington at around 11 a.m. Sunday. Police had said Christopher was shot after refusing an offer to buy "weed" from one of the men. But Homicide Lt. Joseph Maum said yesterday that the shooting wasn't "over drugs as much as it was over personal things.

The chummy rapport between ABC sportscaster Al Michaels and ABC Sports president Dennis Swanson apparently has come to an angry boil. On Monday in a Hollywood labor lawyer's office, Michaels and his boss are scheduled to face off in the first of six unusual contract-arbitration sessions over the next three weeks. Michaels, who will take a time-out to broadcast the June 9 running of the Belmont Stakes in New York, wants to be released from his ABC contract, supposedly to sign with CBS. His attorney has asked for a decision from the three-member arbitration panel by June 15. In February, Swanson suspended Michaels without pay for two weeks for nepotism after the announcer's teenage daughter worked as an ABC runner at a figure-skating event.

And, so, tonight the staggering Phillies begin a 12-game, four-city western swing. Perhaps through clenched teeth, you're muttering, Great, at least we get a chance for quick revenge on those bleepin' Giants. Put the bitter feelings on hold. The destinations on this trek are San Diego, Houston, Arizona and Colorado. The Phillies do not visit San Francisco until Aug. 28 to 31, and who knows what the team's mood, most likely dependent on its lots in wild-card life, will be then?

MARY KOHLER still reigns as hero in the hepatitis C battle. Her December vigil outside the Mayor's office publicized the crisis of hep C among firefighters and their struggle for the city to pay attention - but now we can add another name to the list: House Majority Leader John Perzel. The Philadelphia Republican was sponsor of a bill that classifies hepatitis C as a workplace-related disease for firefighters. It extends this coverage to police and prison guards, reckoning all three to be put at risk because of their exposure to blood.

The shade beneath the tree at the South Philadelphia street corner was distinctly drawn by the morning's strong sun, a sharp line delineating light from shadow. The clarity of the weather stood in contrast to the disputed events that brought the mourners here to the Murphy-Ruffenach Funeral Home. Inside the two-story brick building, John McFarland's family was saying goodbye to him, and outside, his friends, some in Eric Clapton T-shirts and black armbands, milled around, looking grim.

Police have charged a man with killing his nephew after a midday shooting yesterday. Anthony Le Bresco of Paoli was taken into custody after the shooting of Vernon March Jr. March was shot about 2:15 p.m. yesterday at his home in the 300 block of Old Lincoln Highway, said District Attorney Anthony Sarcione. Le Bresco, 68, was charged with murder, criminal homicide, possessing instruments of a crime, recklessly endangering another person, and carrying firearms without a license.

"As I stumbled to get up, Michael Quinn pushed me back into the railing and Michael Amoroso made contact with me. I think he pushed me. I don't think he punched me or kicked me. I'm pretty sure he just pushed me. At that time, I stabbed him in the chest. " Stephen Freeman listened with teary eyes yesterday in Superior Court to the sound of his tape-recorded voice describing to authorities the brawl among a group of high school students during Senior Week '92 that ended in Amoroso's slaying and Freeman's arrest in the death.

Wednesday's preliminary hearing for Kareem Alleyne, the East Mount Airy man charged with vehicular homicide in the late-night death July 15 of an off-duty police officer who was riding a bike, was postponed to Oct. 2. Assistant District Attorney Mark Levenberg requested the delay from Municipal Court Judge Teresa Carr Deni, saying his office needed more time to investigate. Alleyne, 35, was arrested after his car allegedly hit the bicycle ridden by Officer Marc Brady, 32, on Musgrave Street near Meehan Avenue.

A chance meeting late Sunday in East Mount Airy between an off-duty Philadelphia police officer and his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend ended with the officer dead and the other man in handcuffs, police said. Kareem Alleyne, 35, was charged Monday with homicide by vehicle and manslaughter after police said he intentionally struck Officer Marc Brady's bicycle with his car. Alleyne, of Mount Airy, had just left his girlfriend's house around 11:40 p.m. Sunday when he saw Brady riding on Musgrave Street near Meehan Avenue in the direction of the woman's home, said Philadelphia Capt.

It appears that if the NCAA isn't the matchmaker, Cincinnati and Ohio State will never get together in basketball. When the two old adversaries - who have met just one time since the 1962 national championship game - meet in Thursday night's East Regional semifinal in Boston, it will have to be enough to mollify fans longing for a regular-season meeting. Buckeyes coach Thad Matta concedes there are too many old grudges and roadblocks to the teams' ever agreeing to get together annually.

James Neal recorded his second NHL hat trick and Sidney Crosby had four assists in his first home game in more than three months as the Pittsburgh Penguins ripped the visiting Winnipeg Jets, 8-4, on Tuesday night. Evgeni Malkin added two goals - including the 200th of his NHL career - and dished out three assists to lift his point total to an NHL-leading 93. Tyler Kennedy also scored twice for Pittsburgh. With the win, Pittsburgh pulled within a point of the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers.

Most of the Flyers had a wait-and-see attitude about the NHL's realignment that will take place next season. But club chairman Ed Snider, in a phone conversation from California on Tuesday, said there will be more positives than negatives in the format. On Monday, the NHL's board of governors voted, 26-4, in favor of the new setup; the Flyers were one of the 26, Snider said. The Flyers will be in a still-to-be-named seven-team conference with Pittsburgh, the Islanders, the Rangers, Washington, New Jersey, and Carolina.

Twins getting closer to full strength Good news for languishing-in-last-place-in-the-AL-Central Minnesota: All-star catcher Joe Mauer , rehabbing in Fort Myers, could return to the Twins by the end of the week. Mauer, a career .326 hitter, was batting .235 when he went on the DL in the middle of April with bilateral leg weakness. Now if the Twins could only get designated hitter Jim Thome (quadriceps) back. All right already, Carmona's sorry Cleveland pitcher Fausto Carmona has said he didn't mean to hit Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira with a pitch Friday night, an incident that cleared the benches and stoked the bad blood between the two teams.

SURPRISE NO. 1: There's no connection between the Marian Anderson Award - which attracts headlines in Center City - and the Marian Anderson birthplace, residence and museum - withering on the vine in nearby South Philly. The birthplace, museum and residence are owned by the Marian Anderson Historical Society. The award is an invention of the city. When Mia Farrow was here in April to collect the high-profile $50,000 Marian Anderson Award, it beamed no sunshine on the historical society.

A team Muffy could get behind The envelope please, for the All-Preppy/WASPy-Sounding National League team. Pirates first baseman Lyle Overbay almost made the cut with his game Sunday, but as with the AL team named May 31, these selections have nothing to do with players' skill, only their names. The selections also have nothing to do with players' actual race, ethnicity, religion, or familiarity with crew, lacrosse, or squash. 1B: Aubrey Lewis Huff III , Giants 2B: Chase Utley , Phillies 3B: (Tie)

A small army of blood technicians clad in red T-shirts and holding posters, banners and pennants raised their voices yesterday afternoon outside the building at 7th and Spring Garden streets housing the American Red Cross' blood-donor center. "Red Cross, double cross!" the employees chanted. About 100 members of Local 5103 of the Health Professionals and Allied Employees began striking yesterday morning in a fight for contract changes regarding safety, pay, scheduling and staffing.

A 43-year-old woman was charged with murder today in the deaths of two coworkers during a shooting rampage that erupted Thursday night at Kraft Foods baking plant in Northeast Philadelphia shortly after she had been suspended from her job and sent home. Police say Yvonne Hiller drove back to the plant and pointed her licensed .357 Magnum handgun at two unarmed security guards, forcing them to let her through the gate. She immediately went to the third floor, where earlier she had been arguing with three coworkers - an ongoing dispute that led to her suspension.