Bad News

ONE DAY AFTER finally sitting down for a chat with NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith, Roger Goodell went on ESPN's "Rome Is Burning" yesterday and gave us some good news and some bad news regarding the league's labor negotiations. The good news: He thinks the two sides can work out a deal by March 4, when the current collective bargaining agreement is scheduled to expire. The bad news: The two sides will need to meet virtually around the clock for the next 6 weeks to get that done.

The Citizens' Crime Commission has offered an $11,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person who attacked Marsha Moore, a longtime community activist in Southwest Philadelphia. Moore, 52, a block captain and winner of a crime commission award, was beaten while she slept Oct. 29. She suffered fractures to her fingers and arms, and required major facial reconstructive surgery. She is at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The reward could grow, John Apeldorn, crime commission president, said Friday.

I HAVE GOOD news and bad news related to my column last week about Matt Britt, who's suffered a decade of terrible breaks. The bad news? My right wrist is swollen like a gourd, from slitting open all the mail from readers who responded to Matt's plight. The good news? Those 200-plus envelopes contained an astounding $12,757 - ranging from $5 to $1,000 - for Matt and his three girls. That's in addition to the $10,000 raised for the Britts at a fundraiser at the North Penn VFW in Glenside on Friday night.

  Some incoherent thoughts, some off-the-mark conclusions and one or two astute observations as we mourn the passing of Week 6 of the NFL season: The Eagles are 11-0 the week after their bye, which is a good omen for their Nov. 7 game against the Colts. But they have struggled the week leading into the bye, which is bad news for Sunday's game against the Titans. They are 5-6 before the bye and have lost six of their last nine pre-bye games. A lot of Eagles fans are calling for the head of Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson for his hit on DeSean Jackson.

OUR FIRST reaction to a new report from Pew's Philadelphia Research Initiative that found the number of people moving into the city is rising faster than those moving out was . . . anxiety. Does this good news mean we're going to be forced to finally abandon the last vestiges of low self-esteem and actually start believing we live in a cool, happening city? The forces for such civic confidence have been working on us for a few years now - thriving neighborhoods, big new buildings, gains in education, and, of course, a certain October parade back in 2008.

The lead in the National League West has changed hands four times in 5 days. So with a week left to play, the Phillies still don't know whether they'll be facing the Padres, Giants or Reds in the first round of the playoffs. The wild card also remains up for grabs among San Diego, San Francisco and Cincinnati. About the only certainty seems to be that another late charge by the Rockies will come up short. Colorado is four games behind in the wild-card standings with just a week left to play.

8 tonight ABC FAMILY Amy (Shailene Woodley, right) surprises her family and Ricky (Daren Kagasoff) by coming home from New York early. But Ricky has some bad news: He's not ready to commit.

ST. LOUIS - The first hint that something was amiss came with the Phillies batting in the top of the second. Out in the visitors' bullpen, beyond the leftfield fence at Busch Stadium, Andrew Carpenter began warming up. Sure enough. Bad news. When Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina stepped up to lead off the bottom of the inning, starter Jamie Moyer remained in the dugout. Carpenter, who had been called up from Triple A Lehigh Valley earlier in the day and had just gotten off a plane from Indianapolis a few hours earlier, was thrown right into the action.

It has been declared on Page 2 by the estimable Mr. Gonzo that Major League Soccer is "a weak product of insufficient entertainment value. " I happen to disagree, but I also spend my winter watching Big Five basketball at the Palestra instead of the 76ers. To each his own, I say. So the question is: What do you think it would take for all of these apparently newfangled American soccer fans to also become fans of Major League Soccer? American fans probably aren't sold on the MLS for the same reason American fans don't watch the NBA's Development League or minor-league baseball: Because, like Page 2, it's not where the best players play.