Bad Habits

After scrimmaging since August on their own, plus two additional weeks in training camp, tonight the Flyers get to play a real opponent. The New Jersey Devils visit the Wachovia Center (7 p.m.) to open the preseason amid Hurricane Isabel. Hurricane Hitchcock plans to play a dozen or more NHL players in this game. "You want to see what you put in place actually look organized on the ice," coach Ken Hitchcock said yesterday. "We want to see a strong, two-way game with everyone committed at both ends of the ice. We're going to stay on top of that all year.

Ten days ago tonight, Jeremy Roenick was stretched over backward near the Atlanta Thrashers' bench by Ronald Petrovicky. Yesterday, the Flyers' No. 1 center was still paying the price of that check with an injured back that kept him out of practice and could keep him off the ice tomorrow night in Pittsburgh. An MRI was ordered yesterday to confirm the medical staff's suspicion that Roenick was suffering from muscle soreness. It confirmed the soreness but showed no other damage, the Flyers said.

For a hundred years, the Germantown Boys & Girls Club has been a place of refuge for kids looking for something more than what the streets offer. They are lured to the club - which celebrates its 100th anniversary at an alumni dinner tomorrow - by swimming, baseball, football and other programs. But it's all just a sophisticated hook. Once the kids are inside and interested, the club, on Penn Street near Germantown Avenue, does its best to help them construct a moral shield around themselves while strengthening their character, said Gerald Romeo, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitian Philadelphia.

Someday, Kevin Stocker will look back on his 1995 season and it will seem - well, forget that cliche. It will probably seem like a nightmare. "It was horrible," Stocker said. "It was a bad year for the Phillies and a horrible year for me. " How horrible? Stocker hit .218. He hit .217 against lefthanded pitchers and .219 against righthanded pitchers. He hit .167 in April and .185 in August, and .218 in May and .213 in June. "I had all year to find it and I couldn't find it," Stocker said.

Optimists would say the 76ers came away from the Richfield Coliseum last night with the glass half full. They rallied from 29 points down against one of the best teams in the league, cutting a large third-quarter deficit to just six points in the final minutes of the game. Pessimists would say that allowing another team to romp nearly out of reach is the sign of a half-empty glass. The Cleveland Cavaliers outscored the Sixers by 27-1 during a seven-minute horror-show stretch. Either way, half-empty or half-full, the Sixers were still thirsting for a victory after Cleveland finally put away the 110-98 decision.

After four days of continuous adulation from students, faculty and everyone else on campus, the Villanova men's basketball team left last night for the airport and its trip to Detroit to participate in the NCAA Final Four. Wildcats coach Jay Wright said the departure came at just the right time. "I think we're ready to go on the road," he said. "I think we've enjoyed all the home cooking and accolades, but it's getting a little crazy around here right now. "So I think the timing is perfect that we get on the road, and get to make this a little bit more of a business trip.

DALLAS - The passes were on target, the shots were falling, and the defense made things tough on the other guys. The Dallas Mavericks played their best stretch of the NBA Finals at the end of Game 2, pulling off a rally that reshaped the series. Now they have to try to keep it going. The Mavs go into Game 3 on Sunday night feeling good about themselves because of the way the last game ended and because they will be back home. They also know that to win their first NBA title, they're going to have to play more like they did down the stretch of the last game, and less like they did in the 71/2 quarters that preceded it. "We just can't let up," Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki said Saturday.

Last summer, 6-foot-9 Lavoy Allen of Pennsbury High realized he could take his skills to a higher level. He was playing in a summer-league game at Loyola Marymount University in Southern California. The opposing big man was headed for North Carolina State. "I played pretty well," Allen said yesterday. How well? "Pretty much unstoppable," he said. From that day, Allen knew he had options. He could pursue a chance to play at a place like Kentucky or Georgia - coaches from both schools were in the Loyola Marymount gym - or he could find the right fit, a school where he could play right away, and wouldn't be recruited over, where maybe he could be a star.

The phrase that best describes my mother, Gina Pino, is "tower of strength. " Juggling three kids, a husband, and a high-pressure career is no easy feat, but somehow she not only manages but thrives. Sure, we nag her and sometimes take our problems out on her, but she still gives loving advice, offers support, and forgives us when we lose our tempers. Why is it as children we take our anger out on our mothers? I finally figured it out. We do it because we know in the end they will still love us. So, Mom, this Mother's Day I would like to say thank you for putting up with me and tell you I appreciate and love you. Alexis V. Pino Sewell I made a mistake, and my mom, Susan DiRenna, helped me fix it. I was away from home for the first time - rebellious and confident I could conquer the world.

When the Phillies opened the 2000 season here without Bobby Abreu in the lineup against the Arizona Diamondbacks, it caused some controversy back in Philadelphia. The brunt of the criticism was aimed at former manager Terry Francona. How on earth, the armchair experts wondered, could Francona sit his best hitter on opening night? Truth was Abreu sat because he was afraid that if he faced Randy Johnson on opening night, it might damage his swing for an extended period of time.