Fundamentals

There are two sides to Michael Vick's athleticism. At times, his breathtaking talent conjures gains from thin air when the defense is closing in. But last season, Vick's unfailing belief in his own ability too often led to risky plays and game-changing turnovers. "He gets caught sometimes doing too much, trying to do too much, and that's where he gets in trouble," Eagles quarterbacks coach Doug Pederson said Monday in advance of full-team practices that begin Tuesday. "We eliminate those and keep him within our system, and positive things are going to happen.

Burlington Township is going back to the egg this year. "We are definitely in a building process," said coach Alex Marian. "I'm trying to start with the basics, build on the fundamentals of the game, try to improve all phases of (the players') game. " The Falcons were winless last year. Since essentially the same players are back, inexperience will not be a problem, but all phases of their game could certainly stand to improve. Marian listed the things he planned to have the team work on: "The fundamentals - for instance, handling the ball, dribbling the ball without looking at their hands; also fundamentals in passing - the bounce pass, the chest pass, the baseball pass, the hook pass.

It was the top of the fifth inning, with Sun Valley leading 14-1. Chester needed four runs to keep the game going to avoid losing prematurely by the 10- run rule. The Clippers managed to score three runs and load the bases for junior Nikkita George. But George grounded out - and to the delight of the Vanguards, the sixth and seventh innings were omitted. Chester lost the April 25th game, 14-4. For Chester's first-year softball coach, it must have been just another in a season long filled with disappointment.

Phillies minor league instructor Jim Fregosi doesn't get angry or frustrated going through monotonous, repetitive fielding drills with Class A Clearwater Phils shortstop Kim Batiste. Batiste, considered a talented prospect, has 28 errors in 70 games this season. But Fregosi, a former six-time, All-Star infielder for the California Angels, New York Mets, Texas Rangers and Pittsburgh Pirates, understands Batiste's struggle. "A lot of times, young players will make foolish errors, just by doing things like not setting up to throw properly," Fregosi said.

The time is opportune to reflect on the basic characteristics of our economic system that have brought about our success in recent years. Competitive and open markets, the rule of law, fiscal discipline and a culture of enterprise and entrepreneurship should continue to undergird rapid innovation and enhanced productivity that in turn should foster a sustained further rise in living standards. It would be imprudent, however, to presume that the business cycle has been purged from market economies so long as human expectations are subject to bouts of euphoria and disillusionment.

As a student-teacher at West Chester Henderson in 1969, Paul Stankewicz decided to volunteer his time with the boys' lacrosse team. "I was sort of green," Stankewicz said. "I didn't know anything about it. It gave me something to do in the spring, and I thought it would help me get a job somewhere. " Stankewicz, 50, has stayed with Henderson and lacrosse, so much so that he is synonymous with the school and the sport. After completing his student teaching, Stankewicz graduated from West Chester State in 1969.

The structure of high school all-star basketball summer camps was shaken on Aug. 28, 2004. That was the day the United States men's basketball team, which had been expected to win the gold medal, instead settled for bronze at the Summer Olympics. After that loss, some TV analysts and basketball people said that the American players were selfish, and that they lacked fundamentals. They pointed to summer camps and amateur tournaments for high school players as a source of the problem.

The Downingtown softball team, it turns out, owes its success to something other than the pitching of Angie Templin and a sensational defense. The Whippets are successful, in part, because head coach Mike Morgan isn't exactly Tony Gwynn at the plate. "I can't hit," Morgan said. "I can't hit a lick. You can't teach hitting, so I have to teach something. " Watch Downingtown for a game or two and you see what Morgan teaches. The Whippets are one of the most fundamentally sound - if not the most fundamentally sound - teams in the area.

It was a cold, blustery day, the type of day when it's tough enough to feel your fingers, let alone feel around for ground balls. Yet, Downingtown's players were fielding ground balls and hitting the cutoffs and making all the right fundamental plays in a 1-0 preseason win over Haverford High earlier this week. "No errors," Whippets coach Mike Morgan said. "Our pitchers were throwing strikes. We were able to get a run. As cold as it was, we played well. " Fundamentals.

What do you do if you're a coach and your whole team graduates? You congratulate them, wave farewell and, if you're Pam Shuster, you start all over again from scratch. She is the girls' field hockey coach for Olney High, and she is just as enthusiastic teaching the fundamentals to the newcomers to the game as she was when she was guiding the veterans. Still, it sure is tough sometimes.

ITHINK IT was during the Clinton era that I first heard the words "safe, legal and rare" used in connection with abortion. It was a masterful bit of PR designed to appease everyone on a polarizing issue. Unfortunately, it contradicts the deeply held convictions of both pro-choice and pro-life activists. The choicers like the "safe" and "legal" part but are unwilling to swallow any law that would make it more difficult for a woman to exercise her fundamental right to empty her womb.

OSAMA BIN LADEN probably was the most influential person of the 21st century, until his death Sunday at the hands of U.S. forces. Whether he remains so depends on what the United States does now that his body rests at the bottom of the sea. During his late-night announcement on Sunday, President Obama reminded Americans that bin Laden was by no means a Muslim leader. Not at all. Muslims made up the overwhelming majority of al Qaeda's victims. And the Arab Spring, in which ordinary citizens across the Middle East are risking their lives, are demanding freedom and democracy - not allegiance to al Qaeda and bin Laden, who are irrelevant in that revolution.

NFL players are "committed" to avoiding a lockout, the head of their union said Thursday, but he added that the NFLPA and league have a "fundamental" disagreement over dividing the NFL's $9 billion in revenue. That's the big picture. From the Eagles' perspective, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith made the most significant news by disputing the NFL's assertion that teams can still use the franchise tag to retain stars, even if the collective bargaining agreement expires in March.

The Flyers will open their first session of the Flyers Ice Hockey School on Monday at IceLine Quad Rinks in West Chester. The school will allow young players to improve their overall game as well as their hockey knowledge through multiple on-ice sessions, off-ice conditioning, and time in the classroom. The curriculum was designed by the Flyers' coaching staff to develop hockey fundamentals and skills. The off-ice conditioning program was created by Flyers athletic trainer and strength and conditioning coach Jim McCrossin for recreational and youth hockey players.

Andy Reid said he's likely to "break out the mats" for a little refresher on tackling fundamentals when the Eagles resume practice tomorrow. Quintin Mikell can deal with the mats, but he would prefer that everyone not break out into a panic over the Birds' defense, so pliant in that 45-38 victory over the Giants on Sunday night. Strong safety Mikell has been one of the steadiest Eagles over the past several seasons - tough, smart, fundamentally solid. He was horrendous Sunday night, taking back-to-back illegal contact penalties (though the first one looked bogus on replay)

Jake Bronstein is on a mission to fill the world with fun. At the moment, he's succeeding, one tiny magnetic ball at a time - when he's not writing love letters to strangers, or breaking weird world records, or posting funny words (kerfuffle, discombobulated, spork) at his blog, Zoomdoggle.com. The 31-year-old New Yorker who graduated from Central High School (255th Class) is the brains behind a new toy/gadget/gizmo called Buckyballs. It's hard to categorize, not unlike its quirky, loopy creator, but Buckyballs, which debuted in March, are 216 powerful rare-earth magnetic spheres that can be used to make countless shapes.

An elementary math program that has won acclaim for producing stellar math scores on state tests and yet continues to take hits as being fuzzy and weak on basic math facts has put down deep roots in the Philadelphia region. Everyday Mathematics, developed two decades ago by University of Chicago math-education researchers, is in more than 175,000 classrooms nationwide, reaching 2.8 million students, its creators say. Among those using it are private schools such as Haverford, Baldwin, and Penn Charter; 15 of 22 Montgomery County districts; districts as diverse as Oxford in rural Chester County and Radnor on the Main Line; Haddonfield and Pitman in South Jersey; and the big Philadelphia district.

It seems presumptuous, even preposterous, to make a movie called The Human Condition. Surely, it would have to address mind-boggling philosophical questions about who we are and why we are (here) in the face of our ineluctable march to death. But the late Japanese master, Masaki Kobayashi (1916-96), is no ordinary filmmaker. And his 9 1/2-hour masterpiece, The Human Condition, is no ordinary film (due Sept. 8 in a four-DVD box set from the Criterion Collection (www.criterion.

The president of the Pittsburgh-based company hired to train state liquor-store clerks and managers in the basics of being nice is married to one of the Liquor Control Board's top-level employees. Buddy Hobart, president of the Solutions 21 consulting firm hired to conduct the training, is the husband of Susanne Hobart, the Liquor Control Board's regional manager in Pittsburgh. Hobart, who is paid $85,000 a year, is one of only three regional managers for the agency. Liquor Control Board officials said yesterday that Susanne Hobart has no sway over contract matters in general and had no say over the $174,000 contract recently awarded to Solutions 21. According to LCB spokesman Nick Hays, Solutions 21 was among five firms that bid for the contract, and it submitted "the lowest and best" offer.

Stocks climbed again yesterday, leaving last month's bear-market lows far behind, but it might be too soon to stop sweating your investments. "We're going to see more pockets of volatility," both up and down, said Michael Stolper, general partner and chief executive officer of Veritable L.P., an investment-consulting firm in Newtown Square. Emotions drove last month's gut-wrenching losses, and they also are playing a role in the recent gains by the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, experts said.