Game Plan

Directed by Andy Fickman, with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Madison Pettis, Kyra Sedgwick, and Roselyn Sanchez. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. 1 hour, 50 mins. PG (mild sexuality). Playing at: area theaters. 1. There can never be too many football movies. 2. There can never be too many Shirley Temple clones. The Rock is amiable and genuinely funny as Joe "The King" Kingman, the fish-out-of-the-gridiron who has to learn that girls don't like power shakes and that ballet is cool.

It could have been a night for an upset. Lower Merion had lost its last two games, and its starting quarterback in the last one. The Aces started James Pollard at quarterback, where he had taken all of four snaps this season. But Pollard knew on whom to depend whenever Lower Merion had the ball: three seniors who have carried the Aces offense all season - Kevin Mosley, Bill Chou and Michael Moses. And when it was over, Lower Merion had a 20-6 Central League victory at Haverford High, evening its league record at 3-3 and improving to 5-3 overall.

Bud Gardler likes to put well-rounded teams on the floor. But when the season started, given the youth and abilities of the players he had, the emphasis in the Lions' game plan looked to be on half-court offense and zone defense. Two games and two victories into the Catholic League South schedule, those preconceptions have gone out the window. Tuesday night at O'Hara, the Lions (2-0, 9-2) deployed a man-to-man defense with enough hustling intensity to hold visiting Archbishop Carroll (0-1, 7-5)

By William C. Kashatus Andy Reid, who's been with the Philadelphia Eagles for 13 seasons, enjoys the longest tenure of any head coach among the city's professional sports teams. But his inability to win a Super Bowl, an antagonistic relationship with the local media, and the growing disenchantment of Eagles fans suggest that his days are numbered. Whether he can extend his career beyond 2013, when his contract expires, remains to be seen. Still, Reid could learn a few lessons from two legendary coaches, Connie Mack and Joe Paterno.

In the weeks to come, Upper Darby's football players will live by the adage that practice makes perfect. Each weekday afternoon, the Royals will listen attentively to their coaches, dedicate themselves to a game plan, and put all of their effort into not straying from it. Why? Because they have seemed to find success by those means. On a sun-filled Saturday afternoon, Upper Darby took unbeaten Ridley and turned the Raiders upside down with an eye-popping 25-0 victory that was sure to be heard all around the Central League.

By now, Andy Reid has worked through most of his famous notebook. The results speak for themselves: a 43-28 overall record, three consecutive playoff appearances, and two straight trips to the NFC championship game. The one hole that remains in Reid's curriculum vitae? The Super Bowl. With that final goal left to achieve, it is clear Reid will stick with The Plan he brought from Green Bay in a thick three-ring binder. But what exactly is The Plan? Some elements are obvious enough - the West Coast-style offense, a franchise quarterback - but Reid seldom reveals much more than that in interviews.

The School at Church Farm coach Will Frantz found out a few things about his boys' basketball team last night. One, the Griffins do have a bench capable of scoring. Two, his team may be a little deeper than he originally thought. The reason for the optimism? Church Farm played its best game of the season, ripping Devon Prep, 75-48, in a nonleague game to improve to 6-1 overall this season. The Griffins did it without starting point guard Glenn Bonsu, who is recovering from a sprained ankle, and with leading scorer Rico Negron while he is battling the flu and playing with a broken bone in his right foot.

With about a half-second left in the third quarter, Anthony Brunetti went airborne just in front of the net. He dived away from the goalie and dunked the ball in the net just as the buzzer sounded. His Lenape boys' lacrosse team charged the field as if it had just won a playoff game. In a way, it had. The goal put the Indians ahead by five scores - clearly more than enough cushion for a defense that was utterly dominant as fifth-seeded Lenape won, 9-4, at No. 4 Cherokee Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the South Jersey Group 4 playoffs.

Pounding her fist on a table, former Traffic Court Judge Bernice DeAngelis reportedly told a fellow judge who was reluctant to fix tickets: "I want you to understand. This is Philadelphia. . . . This is the way we do things. I want you to get with the game plan. " The comment was in a report ordered by Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille that details how things get done in Philadelphia. The report included evidence of rampant ticket fixing. It tallied the numbers that corroborate what many Philadelphians have long suspected: In Traffic Court, justice peeks out from the blindfold when it comes to friends and family.

MIAMI - If LeBron James played for the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich might have a message for him. It's the same one he's occasionally delivered to Tim Duncan. Selfless play is great. Moving the ball to open teammates is usually the right idea. That belief has carried the Spurs to four NBA titles. Sometimes, though, it's best if the superstar takes on more himself. "I've talked to players before about being more aggressive," Popovich said Friday, after the Spurs practiced following their 92-88 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 1. "Opportunities might be there that they didn't take advantage of. That happens with Timmy now and then.

MIAMI - If LeBron James played for the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich might have a message for him. It's the same one he's occasionally delivered to Tim Duncan. Selfless play is great. Moving the ball to open teammates is usually the right idea. That belief has carried the Spurs to four NBA titles. Sometimes, though, it's best if the superstar takes on more himself. "I've talked to players before about being more aggressive," Popovich said Friday, after the Spurs practiced following their 92-88 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 1. "Opportunities might be there that they didn't take advantage of. That happens with Timmy now and then.

MIAMI - Before reaching the top of basketball, LeBron James was run over by the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs swept James' Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2007 NBA Finals, so long ago that the winning game plan focused on exploiting James' weaknesses. Those are nearly impossible to find now, and James essentially warned the Spurs that they shouldn't bother looking. The Spurs already know. "He'll be a lot more of a problem than he was in '07, that's for sure," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said yesterday, on the eve of Game 1. Tim Duncan told the beaten James minutes after that series that the league would someday belong to him, and he was right.

PITTSBURGH - The Boston Bruins keep talking about fortunate bounces and a dash of luck, insisting the margin between themselves and the Pittsburgh Penguins is thin. At the moment, it looks like a chasm. Brad Marchand scored twice during a four-goal first period and the Bruins routed the Penguins, 6-1, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals last night to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. "It doesn't matter what the series is at right now," Marchand said.

With about a half-second left in the third quarter, Anthony Brunetti went airborne just in front of the net. He dived away from the goalie and dunked the ball in the net just as the buzzer sounded. His Lenape boys' lacrosse team charged the field as if it had just won a playoff game. In a way, it had. The goal put the Indians ahead by five scores - clearly more than enough cushion for a defense that was utterly dominant as fifth-seeded Lenape won, 9-4, at No. 4 Cherokee Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the South Jersey Group 4 playoffs.

Comparisons of Jackie Robinson, who integrated Major League Baseball, with Jason Collins, the National Basketball Association player who this week revealed he is a homosexual, can only be taken so far. For one thing, the men made history at opposite ends of their professions. Robinson's 1947 debut was the beginning of an all-star career that propelled him into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Collins' revelation comes as his otherwise unremarkable 12-year stint in the NBA nears its end. It's also highly unlikely that Collins, if he plays next season, will endure anything close to the racist insults hurled at Robinson by white baseball fans as well as opposing players and coaches here in Philadelphia and other cities back when segregation was still the law in some states.

READING - The Phillies need offense, so they should be happy to hear about catcher Carlos Ruiz's goal for the 2013 season. "I want to hit .400," he said before starting his two-day minor-league assignment at double-A Reading on Friday night. The "Splendid Kidder" was joking, but the struggling Phillies do seriously need his bat back in the lineup, and it won't hurt having his sense of humor in the clubhouse, either. In fact, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said Ruiz's leadership might be the thing the Phillies have missed the most through these first four weeks of the season.

IN 1984, Charlie Manuel was the manager for the Orlando Twins, the Minnesota Twins' Double A affiliate. The team wasn't very good - it finished 21 games under .500 - but then-40-year-old Manuel had a savvy, experienced starter in 27-year-old Jay Pettibone. "Sinker, slider [guy]," Manuel recalled on Monday afternoon. "He was smart. " In 1983, Pettibone had pitched in four games with the major league Twins. He also made 25 starts that summer and won 13 games. Thirty years later, Manuel would love to have the same dependability from Pettibone's son. Jonathan Pettibone, called up to fill John Lannan's place in the rotation this weekend, was that kind of pitcher on Day 1 of his big-league career.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The concern for the 76ers going into Tuesday's game against the Brooklyn Nets at the spanking-new Barclays Center was the Big Three of Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson. While they probably don't come too close to rivaling the Big Three down in South Beach, they do present a legitimate problem to most teams. While definitely on the pregame scouting report, Reggie Evans doesn't often require the preparation the other three do. Wednesday, however, he was the featured attraction for the Nets.

ALTHOUGH HIS SUCCESS as a restaurateur has been something he never dreamed of when he opened his first Café Martorano 30 years ago, Steve Martorano still has goals to accomplish. Foremost among them is starring in a television series. To that end, he is represented by the same New York agency that handles such TV foodie faves as Paula Deen and the Neelys. And, of course, he has an idea. Think of it as a gentler, South-Philly-er "Hell's Kitchen. " "I wanna go back to . . . a little corner neighborhood bar and put them on the right path and bring what my little niche is," he said, when asked to describe his small-screen game plan.

Pounding her fist on a table, former Traffic Court Judge Bernice DeAngelis reportedly told a fellow judge who was reluctant to fix tickets: "I want you to understand. This is Philadelphia. . . . This is the way we do things. I want you to get with the game plan. " The comment was in a report ordered by Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille that details how things get done in Philadelphia. The report included evidence of rampant ticket fixing. It tallied the numbers that corroborate what many Philadelphians have long suspected: In Traffic Court, justice peeks out from the blindfold when it comes to friends and family.