Fight Song

David B. Zoob, 87, a longtime Philadelphia lawyer whose work as a corporate and real estate litigator was accompanied by his early musical accomplishments - notably, authorship of the University of Pennsylvania fight song - died Friday at Lankenau Hospital. A Philadelphia native and resident of Wynnewood, Mr. Zoob could have pursued a career in musical theater but chose the legal profession. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1927. As a Penn freshman, he wrote "Fight On Pennsylvania," which was introduced at a Franklin Field game on Thanksgiving Day 1919.

It's something between a jingle and a ditty, a one-verse composition so musically and lyrically undistinguished that even a well-lubricated chorus of 70,000 football fanatics can't do it much harm. But for all its aesthetic shortcomings, "The Philadelphia Eagles Victory Song," punctuated by the recently added postscript of "E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles!," has begun to filter into the region's consciousness. "Fly Eagles fly, on the road to victory. "Fight Eagles fight, score a touchdown 1,2,3.

This is a fight song? Look, Travis Tritt, you're a country star and all that, but if you have to sing about fans getting up off their seats, you've pretty much already admitted defeat. "Mmmmm, hmmmm . . . " This is how you start your new song, "Falcons Fever" (whose historical roots date to, oh, October) - Mmmmm, hmmmm? Yeah, that'll get everyone all charged up. If the song's so catchy, why did the team have to issue a plea on its Web site asking the "Citizens of the Metro Atlanta Area" to learn it?

THEY say that a picture is worth a thousand words. But since newspapers rarely print letters of such length, I am enclosing a photo of my cell phone banner proclaiming my sentiments. Regretably, Verizon Wireless advises that they cannot program the phone to play our fight song for incoming calls. GO EAGLES! David M. Seltzer Huntingdon Valley

BENEFITS OF DANCING NEARLY WIPE OUT ALL OTHER BENEFITS It's one thing tripping the light fantastic, but nearly dancing away your welfare benefits? Hey, that's another matter entirely. Word out of Oslo, Norway, is that that's precisely what Nelly Elgaen nearly managed to do. Seems Elgaen, 44, heard that dancing might help her bad back, which has kept her out of work and on sick leave for almost a year. So she went to a village dance in March and took a few turns with her husband.

Irving R. Leshner, 83, a psychologist and big-band musician who composed the Villanova University fight song more than 50 years ago, died Wednesday at St. Agnes Hospital. Mr. Leshner, who lived in Ardmore, was born in West Philadelphia and graduated from Overbrook High School and Temple University. He received his master's and doctoral degrees in psychology from Temple. He was a psychologist for 30 years at Jewish Employment Vocational Services in Center City, counseling people entering the work force.

The mourners wore red and white school jackets, and a tape of the fight song echoed through the funeral home in tribute to 13-year-old Brittanie Cecil. The honor student was buried yesterday, six days after she was hit by a puck while attending her first hockey game. Several hundred friends and relatives crowded the stone-and-wooden-frame funeral home outside West Alexandria, Ohio, a town of 1,500 people. Some children arrived wearing the jackets of Twin Valley South middle school, where Brittanie was an eighth-grader, cheerleader, soccer player and student council member.

Crunch time drew near. Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis was a few hours away from a nostalgic homecoming to Swarthmore College yesterday, and organizers hadn't decided what song to play when he was introduced. "What's the school fight song? Do you have a school fight song?" asked Pat Fn'Piere, a national advance man for the Dukakis campaign. Smiles all around. Swarthmore is a Quaker school, where the mere existence of a football team had once sparked controversy about violence, and a fight song is unthinkable.

SAN ANTONIO - Maybe the Kansas coaches were having some fun. Or maybe it was a total coincidence yesterday afternoon at the Alamodome that a shooting drill featured players firing jump shots from the exact area of the floor where Mario Chalmers' arching three-pointer forever changed the KU basketball program. Either way, for observers of the Jayhawks' open practice session, the symmetry was hard to miss - especially for those who were there on that April night 3 years ago. Kansas pep-band members Keenan Soto and Sara Minor witnessed Mario's Miracle when they were freshmen.

Until this fall, the most notable athletic achievements by Alabama quarterback Gary Hollingsworth were his 2-1 record and 5.84 earned run average for the Crimson Tide's baseball team last spring. Football? Well, during his first three years at Alabama, Hollingsworth must have thought football was an elective course, because the Tide's coaching staff elected not to play him. That's why there is this constant refrain in his football resume: Did not see varsity action. As a freshman.

Philadelphia Orchestra executives came to the Wells Fargo Center recently to see the orchestra perform the national anthem on the big screen. In an effort to provide class, and improve the overall fan experience, the 76ers' new CEO, Adam Aron, hired the orchestra to record the anthem. The video will be played at every home game. I was hanging with Aron that day, met the orchestra execs, and told them I had seen the Brahms Requiem . This really shocked them. I was impersonating a sports reporter, after all. Shows you how stereotypes run deep in both directions.

SAN ANTONIO - Maybe the Kansas coaches were having some fun. Or maybe it was a total coincidence yesterday afternoon at the Alamodome that a shooting drill featured players firing jump shots from the exact area of the floor where Mario Chalmers' arching three-pointer forever changed the KU basketball program. Either way, for observers of the Jayhawks' open practice session, the symmetry was hard to miss - especially for those who were there on that April night 3 years ago. Kansas pep-band members Keenan Soto and Sara Minor witnessed Mario's Miracle when they were freshmen.

Chris Gocong is funnier than anyone realized. He's funnier than he realized, too. Earlier in the week, the Eagles linebacker was talking to a Comcast SportsNet reporter about the gravity of Sunday's repeat clash with the New York Giants. There was a grave this-is-a-must-win discussion before things inevitably turned to wide receiver Plaxico Burress. You may have heard that Burress is fond of firearms (as well as wearing sweatpants to nightclubs and maiming himself). Gocong was asked how not having Burress on the field might affect the Giants.

There won't be any cussing at my house during the Super Bowl because I have become a G-rated Philadelphia Eagles fan. I know that is not the reputation, but I had a choice when my two sons were born. I could keep the rough-and-tumble tradition, or I could start a new one. Whereas profanity used to flow from my mouth during Eagles games in a way that was probably bordering on psychosis, I now rebuke the team with less sailor-on-shore-leave-inspired phrases such as "Come on!" It is par for the Sunday course if you have a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old, although my mother always said that kids should learn to cuss at home.

This is a fight song? Look, Travis Tritt, you're a country star and all that, but if you have to sing about fans getting up off their seats, you've pretty much already admitted defeat. "Mmmmm, hmmmm . . . " This is how you start your new song, "Falcons Fever" (whose historical roots date to, oh, October) - Mmmmm, hmmmm? Yeah, that'll get everyone all charged up. If the song's so catchy, why did the team have to issue a plea on its Web site asking the "Citizens of the Metro Atlanta Area" to learn it?

Some of the thousands who came by car and train from the Philadelphia region to Belmont Park yesterday were racing fans. Others arrived to drink and party. But most Philadelphia sports fans in the crowd, it seemed, were on a kind of pilgrimage of the psyche, seeking something that, in some cases, they had never seen in their lives. "We need Philly to win something, man. It's been a long time," said Joe Corcoran of Brigantine, N.J., as he sat on a cooler outside the Belmont clubhouse entrance.

THEY say that a picture is worth a thousand words. But since newspapers rarely print letters of such length, I am enclosing a photo of my cell phone banner proclaiming my sentiments. Regretably, Verizon Wireless advises that they cannot program the phone to play our fight song for incoming calls. GO EAGLES! David M. Seltzer Huntingdon Valley

It's something between a jingle and a ditty, a one-verse composition so musically and lyrically undistinguished that even a well-lubricated chorus of 70,000 football fanatics can't do it much harm. But for all its aesthetic shortcomings, "The Philadelphia Eagles Victory Song," punctuated by the recently added postscript of "E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles!," has begun to filter into the region's consciousness. "Fly Eagles fly, on the road to victory. "Fight Eagles fight, score a touchdown 1,2,3.

The mourners wore red and white school jackets, and a tape of the fight song echoed through the funeral home in tribute to 13-year-old Brittanie Cecil. The honor student was buried yesterday, six days after she was hit by a puck while attending her first hockey game. Several hundred friends and relatives crowded the stone-and-wooden-frame funeral home outside West Alexandria, Ohio, a town of 1,500 people. Some children arrived wearing the jackets of Twin Valley South middle school, where Brittanie was an eighth-grader, cheerleader, soccer player and student council member.

"Remember Temple. " That's been Virginia Tech's fight song since last October, when the Owls, five-touchdown underdogs, rallied from 17 down to beat the Hokies, 28-24, in Blacksburg. Tech was 5-0 at the time, ranked 10th. The Big East rematch is Saturday at Veterans Stadium. This time, Tech is favored by four TDs. The Hokies are 9-0, ranked No. 2. They're two wins away from probably securing a berth in the national-title game. Which is the main reason ESPN2 is showing this one to the nation, starting at noon.