Big Pond

If Julia Roberts is intimidated by her first starring role in a major motion picture and her first encounter with an international corps of reporters, she isn't showing it. Roberts, one of the leads in the heavily hyped "Steel Magnolias," sits down at a table full of reporters, lights a Marlboro and winces slightly when someone asks her if she's always wanted to be an actress. "No. I wanted to be a veterinarian," she sighs, taking a puff. "So, I joined the 4-H Club, took care of our own pets - and I became an actress.

From his company's small display booth, no matter in which direction he looked at last week's PGA Merchandise Show, Richard Greene could see bigger booths from the marquee companies of the game. Callaway, Taylor Made, Mizuno, Wilson, Spalding, Nike and Cleveland - company after company, aisle after aisle - they were in the cavernous Orange County Convention Center, many having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to set up shop at golf's annual trade show. For a company hoping to launch a new product, the PGA show can be a make-or-break week.

AS NEW ORLEANS turns from a natural disaster to a human disaster, some are asking the farsighted question: Should the city be rebuilt? House Speaker Dennis Hastert yesterday told a suburban Illinois newspaper that on the issue of federal assistance in rebuilding New Orleans "We ought to take a second look at it. But you know we build Los Angeles and San Francisco on top of earthquake fissures and they rebuild too. Stubbornness. " Hastert is now facing some harsh criticism for suggesting that the Big Easy should be allowed to remain a big pond.

Strath Haven, the defending PIAA Class AAA state soccer champion, seems to be heading into the Class AAA District 1 playoffs in much better shape than it started the season. The Panthers (14-5-1 overall, 8-1 league) won their fifth Central League title in the last six years, sharing the top spot with Radnor. To do so, they needed to win eight straight after they lost their season opener, 1-0, to Radnor - the first time in nine years the Panthers lost to Radnor. The defeat caused some concern to stir in the mind of Panthers coach Mike Barr.

It is a lunch break for Fran Drescher of CBS' "The Nanny," and a fellow cast member is fidgeting in her lap. It's her dog, Chester Drescher. "I believe in getting jobs for everyone I know and love," says Fran, whose husband, Peter Marc Jacobson, like her, is one of the series' creators and producers. Drescher punctuates the comment with her characteristically nasal, staccato laugh. It's the same piercing laugh that accompanies her all the way to her ATM these days, replacing the snickers one used to hear from people whenever then-CBS Entertainment President Jeff Sagansky would predict "The Nanny" was going to be a hit. Turns out he was right, so Drescher gets the last "heh, heh, hehhhhh.

The Atlantic Ten Conference tournament, which enjoyed its most successful financial year this past season playing its first three rounds at the Palestra, may relocate to Springfield, Mass. Atlantic Ten commissioner Ron Bertovich confirmed yesterday that he has received an offer from officials from the Springfield Civic Center - home of the preseason Tip-Off Classic and the Division II men's basketball championships - to move the league tournament there. Bertovich said that a league committee would discuss the proposal during meetings this week at the Final Four.

This is a place to chill out after the holidays. If you're up for driving a gantlet of strip shopping centers and oil tank farms, run-down rowhouses and cookie-cutter condos, it awaits you at the end of a winding dirt road. Peace. Despite the urban surroundings, there just isn't any place at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum for the stress and strain of what passes for civilization. Maybe, in warmer weather, you might get a hint of it, what with birders and fishermen and tourists and schoolchildren all vying for space on its 10 miles of trails.

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel often talks about the focus that players need to bring to the ballpark every day. Manuel said he didn't see as much of that this past week in Seattle and Oakland, where the Phillies went just 2-4 to cool considerably after a 12-1 homestand that fired up fans. The Phillies lost to the Athletics, 5-2, yesterday afternoon at McAfee Coliseum. They hope some of that newly acquired Citizens Bank Park magic returns tomorrow night against the New York Mets.

In Courtroom 804 in the Criminal Justice Center yesterday, Common Pleas Court Judge Rayford Means summed up the case this way: "It seems to me she is just a small fish in a big pond - and they're going after the whale that's in the Atlantic Ocean. " She is Margaret Greer, the former office manager at a Philadelphia-based scrap-metal company who pleaded guilty yesterday to a misdemeanor charge of theft by deception during a tense and emotional hearing in Means' courtroom. As for the whale in the Atlantic, Means did not elaborate.

The mute swan with the dancing neck and throaty hum knew life was good at his old, dusty farmyard. Even though it lacks a big pond. Even though there are no females to impress with his handsome plumage. Two years ago animal caretakers at the PAWS Farm Nature Center in Mount Laurel dropped the enormous bird off at a sparkling lake four miles away and wished him happiness. But three days later, he was back. He apparently trekked all the way home. PAWS is that kind of place.

A most intriguing voice, hefty blasts of (and from) the past, plus cool jazz, folk and world music have our attention in this week's new recorded music offerings. THROUGH THE HOOP: There's no staying neutral on Jesca Hoop and her second album "Hunting My Dress" (Vanguard, A-) . In the vein of a Bjork, PJ Harvey or Kate Bush, you'll find Hoop fascinating or off-putting and for much the same reasons - her soaring range, tongue-rolling pronunciation (sometimes appearing British, though she's not)

For every mayor, there is a city hall. Not every mayor, however, has one like this that costs $600 million, comprises 580,000 square feet, and hosts 12,000 visitors a day. As Rep. Robert A. Brady roamed through the massive underground complex known as the Capitol Visitor Center last week, you could almost hear the wheels turning in the Philadelphia Democrat's formidable silver-maned head. "I wish I had been chairman when construction was beginning on this thing," he mused about the nearly finished addition to the U.S. Capitol.

Robert "Dondi" DeShields has been doing more with less for the eight years he's been the basketball coach at the Community College of Philadelphia. At a commuter school with no athletic scholarships, DeShields has been unable to land even one of the local high school stars who have left town for prep schools short of meeting Division I freshman eligibility standards, instead of remaining in their hometown to try to work things out at CCP. Now, with the recent NCAA rule that takes away a high school athlete's option of attending a prep school to reconfigure his or her transcript, CCP and other two-year schools around the country are very likely to have a bigger pool of recruits.

AS NEW ORLEANS turns from a natural disaster to a human disaster, some are asking the farsighted question: Should the city be rebuilt? House Speaker Dennis Hastert yesterday told a suburban Illinois newspaper that on the issue of federal assistance in rebuilding New Orleans "We ought to take a second look at it. But you know we build Los Angeles and San Francisco on top of earthquake fissures and they rebuild too. Stubbornness. " Hastert is now facing some harsh criticism for suggesting that the Big Easy should be allowed to remain a big pond.

In Courtroom 804 in the Criminal Justice Center yesterday, Common Pleas Court Judge Rayford Means summed up the case this way: "It seems to me she is just a small fish in a big pond - and they're going after the whale that's in the Atlantic Ocean. " She is Margaret Greer, the former office manager at a Philadelphia-based scrap-metal company who pleaded guilty yesterday to a misdemeanor charge of theft by deception during a tense and emotional hearing in Means' courtroom. As for the whale in the Atlantic, Means did not elaborate.

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel often talks about the focus that players need to bring to the ballpark every day. Manuel said he didn't see as much of that this past week in Seattle and Oakland, where the Phillies went just 2-4 to cool considerably after a 12-1 homestand that fired up fans. The Phillies lost to the Athletics, 5-2, yesterday afternoon at McAfee Coliseum. They hope some of that newly acquired Citizens Bank Park magic returns tomorrow night against the New York Mets.

The mute swan with the dancing neck and throaty hum knew life was good at his old, dusty farmyard. Even though it lacks a big pond. Even though there are no females to impress with his handsome plumage. Two years ago animal caretakers at the PAWS Farm Nature Center in Mount Laurel dropped the enormous bird off at a sparkling lake four miles away and wished him happiness. But three days later, he was back. He apparently trekked all the way home. PAWS is that kind of place.

From his company's small display booth, no matter in which direction he looked at last week's PGA Merchandise Show, Richard Greene could see bigger booths from the marquee companies of the game. Callaway, Taylor Made, Mizuno, Wilson, Spalding, Nike and Cleveland - company after company, aisle after aisle - they were in the cavernous Orange County Convention Center, many having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to set up shop at golf's annual trade show. For a company hoping to launch a new product, the PGA show can be a make-or-break week.

Shatee Cooks still has that Simon Gratz mentality. Cinderellas? Underdogs? Former Gratz players just don't think of themselves that way. No matter who the opposition is, they always have the edge. Which is why Cooks, a 1997 Gratz graduate, feels good about tonight's NCAA Division II Elite Eight men's basketball game between Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Kentucky Wesleyan at Louisville's Commonwealth Convention Center. Sure, Wesleyan (29-2) won the national championship last season and reached the final the year before.

It was your basic trap, nothing fancy, nothing that hundreds of high school football teams don't run. But it had Bok tackle Charles Kennedy confounded. Northeast ran it over and over against Bok in a scrimmage two seasons ago, gaining plenty of ground at Kennedy's expense. Kennedy was younger then, new to the game and the tricks opposing teams love to spring on untested sophomores. Even if they are 6-foot-3, 240 pounds. "So we're on our way home after the scrimmage," Bok coach Tom DeFelice recalled with a laugh, "and Charles says to me, 'Mr. D, is that what you mean about getting too deep on the trap?