Gym

As people continue to focus on wellness - with green shopping habits, yoga practice, mindful meditation, cardio classes - they are increasingly expressing their sense of style through workout clothes. Not just for fashion's sake - although a pair of bun-sculpting lululemon yoga pants do look fantastic. But in the interest of time management, I need to run my errands and make a pit stop on Kelly Drive to bang out three to five miles. "It's about being able to integrate fitness into your every day, which is the only way you will be able to stick to it," said Nadine Gelberg, president of Devigi, a Chestnut Hill-based line of gym wear designed to help women exercise accessorized.

SO THIS GUY walks up to me in the gym with a worried look on his face. "You think Bynum will ever play this year?" he asks. "No," I say, smiling. "That sucks," he says. He is not smiling. He is sad. It is Christmas season and he is sad because Andrew Bynum, the center who was supposed to make the Sixers whole, has instead become a hole. A giant one. And so . . . The Sixers are a mess. Again. About the time a young Delaware Valley sports fan receives his first authentic Eagles, Flyers or Phillies shirt, he or she are given these simple words to use on those rare occasions the name of the town's NBA franchise comes up. The words are a very handy sports tool.

South Camden on Sunday celebrated the opening of a new youth gym and community center that the Rev. Michael J. Doyle called "a miracle from God Almighty on Camden. " The facility is dedicated to Doyle, who on Sunday also marked the 38th anniversary of his start at the Sacred Heart church and school on Broadway. In a neighborhood long gripped by violence, Doyle said, the gym offers "12,000 square feet of sacred space where children will play and be safe . . . grow and mature and make it in this town that's not worthy of them.

In the 2008 football season, Franklin's Steve Garrett, wearing No. 88, lined up at tailback for a trick play and fired a fourth-down scoring pass to slotback Marquis White, normally the tailback. It was the first pass of his varsity career and gave the Electrons a 12-6 OT win over Roxborough. Why, you might ask, was Garrett given this opportunity? . . . Because, earlier that same day, he'd been spotted firing a Nerf ball in a gym class! "One of my fellow teachers told me, 'That kid has a really strong arm,' " said coach Ken Geiser.

NEW ORLEANS - The team had long boarded the bus and headed back to the hotel after Wednesday morning's shootaround at the New Orleans Arena, but 76ers rookies Maalik Wayns and Arnett Moultrie were still on the court, dripping with sweat and hoisting shot after shot after shot. Under the guidance of assistant coach Aaron McKie, the rookies stayed behind for close to an hour, listening intently as McKie showed some techniques and lectured them so well on the game that his college coach, John Chaney, would have been beaming.

When she can't make it to the gym, Donna Grote boots up her laptop and streams a live yoga class into her Uniontown, Pa., home. She finds a quiet spot, sets up her mat and logs on to www.yogatoday.com . Point. Click. Namaste. "I enjoy it for those times that I can't fit a class into my schedule," she says. "It's a nice way to get instruction from a knowledgeable source while practicing at home. " Streaming fitness can be a cheap, convenient alternative to the gym. Time-crunched commuters, stay-at-home moms or shy newbies can boot up their computers and take Pilates, yoga or step in their living room or basement.

Dara Taylor's favorite photo of Maggie Lucas is from when the two were 11 years old. The former AAU teammates used to wear thick, terry-cloth headbands - a la Rajon Rondo - and were in what Taylor describes as "an incredibly awkward phase. " "We were skinny with big feet and of course had braces," recalled Taylor, now a junior guard on the Penn State women's basketball team. "It's so cool to see how she's grown. She's so much taller, wiser, stronger. She was a good shooter then.

Almost each day, Angel Garcia would dial the number of his Juniata Park rowhouse and make a promise. He told his two young sons that when he was released from prison, he would dedicate his life to them. Garcia said the phone conversations, in which he would ask about school or what was for dinner, helped him "feel a little less helpless" as he spent two years behind bars on a drug conviction. Garcia left behind a 10-year-old son, Erik, an 8-year-old son, Danny, and his wife, Marissa.

IN A PLACE like Joe Frazier's Gym, decent people tried to teach decent values to young people, despite their own pressures. And they hung on. "And the old heads have hope, and the young people represent that hope for them. So they try to bring a young person along . . . try to encourage him to do the right thing, knowing full well that the streets can get him any day. " That's how Elijah Anderson, the noted Yale sociologist, described the importance of Frazier's Gym in the film "Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears.

At the Francis Myers Recreation Center in Southwest Philadelphia, where police say a 12-year-old girl was raped by four boys Monday night, parents and community leaders vowed Tuesday not to let the attack ruin the facility's image. The center was as busy as ever Tuesday, with parents picking up children from summer camp, pushing them on swings, and splashing with them in the pool. In the gym, the grassroots group Fight for Philly urged community members to join them in rallying for economic change.