Hot Commodity

Randall Cunningham is hot. Very hot. Not just football hot, but marketing hot. Media hot. Superstar hot. It is hard to say just when it happened, but at some point in the last year the Eagles' dashing, young quarterback crossed over the line between football player and folk hero. Now Cunningham is doing what all good folk heroes do in the '80s: He is cashing in. He is doing commercials. He is selling his face on posters and T-shirts. He is hosting TV and radio shows.

Richard Dent is wearing a much higher price tag than the Eagles expected when they invited him to Veterans Stadium for contract talks this week, personnel director John Wooten said yesterday. "We were surprised," Wooten said. "Actually, shocked might be a better word. " Wooten said he and other club officials were still very interested in Dent, 33, a free-agent defensive end who won raves from coach Rich Kotite during his visit Tuesday. "We think it's a good fit," Wooten said.

In Barcelona they're a hot commodity - coveted by collectors and known to sell for the hefty price of $150. Only an estimated 10,000 of them are circulating around the Olympic Village in Spain. Carrying caricatures of Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan and the like, they're as good as travelers' checks. They reportedly have been traded for hotel rooms and other essentials. They are brass pins, the size of a large postage stamp, that commemorate the members of the U.S. Olympic basketball team - the Dream Team.

Despite what Danny Meyer has done in fine dining — his Union Square Hospitality Group restaurants are among America's most honored destinations — his legacy probably will be a fast-food chain begun by accident.   It's Shake Shack, whose first Philadelphia location opened this week at 20th and Sansom Streets. This is the 15th location, counting seasonal stands at ballparks and new outposts in Dubai and Kuwait. The interior is built for speed and ecology, with lots of reclaimed wood; tables are made from heart pine taken from an old bowling alley.

For the party that's out of power, off-year elections often serve to transform someone into a hot commodity for the next presidential election. Sometimes it's an individual who wins overwhelming reelection in an important state, as George W. Bush did in Texas four years ago. Or whose campaigning gives a decisive boost to other candidates around the country. No such person emerged for the Democrats this year. If anything, the 2002 results served only to diminish several of the usual suspects.

Everyone wants to be wanted. And if Mike Gminski had waited just a few more months, he would have been one of the most wanted men in the NBA. As the cream of this season's crop of unrestricted free agents, he would have had a sizable percentage of the league's general managers standing in line waiting to whisper $weet nothing$ in his ear. But there are more important things to the 76ers' center than spending the summer having his ego massaged...

To hear Richard Jeni tell it in his upcoming Showtime special, airing tonight at 10, he's not too fond of, among other things, game shows, naked men in locker rooms, Midwesterners and health clubs. For a guy with such diverse dislikes, then, it's not such a surprise to hear that he always considered himself an outsider. Take, for instance, this high school recollection: "I was too much of a street kid to hang out with the student government/ football people," he informs, "but not enough of an idiot to be with the drugged-out, let's-beat-up-the-other-people guys.

It wouldn't surprise the average fan to find out that Springfield juniors Rob Seavey and Steve Ashworth don't let friendship interfere when it comes to competing on the golf course. Ashworth is the No. 1 one golfer for the Cougars, and Seavey is No. 2, just five strokes behind. Despite the competition for the top spot - and an automatic seed in the districts - the friendship endures. "I look at it as a fun rivalry that can only make both of us better," Seavey said. On Wednesday, Springfield defeated Lower Merion 221-245 as Ashworth carded a nine-hole 37 in a match at Cobbs Creek.

In her article of Aug. 19, Inquirer staff writer Lini S. Kadaba reports, "Some are calling Chester Springs, 19425, the newest pearl in the heirloom string of neighborhoods of the Main Line. " The article makes further references to "new Main Line," "old Main Line" and "that Main Line feel. " As a member of a family that has resided on the Main Line for more than five generations, I'm not sure which has me angrier: the geographical falsehoods being spawned here by the promoters of the Chester Springs zip code or the shameless exploitation of the vaunted region's name.

When the thermometer dips below freezing, rock salt is an important commodity - but when the thermometer gets buried in snow and caked over with a few inches of ice, salt becomes more precious than gold. Throughout Chester County, this week's showering of snow and ice once again sent homeowners scrambling in search of salt for their walks. Local public works directors began borrowing from each other and praying the trucks would make it to them on time. And salt suppliers watched their collective blood pressure shoot to new highs as they tried to meet all the demands placed upon them by increasingly cranky customers.

You need a liquor license for your bar or restaurant? You are not alone, it seems, as Philadelphia is in the throes of a restaurant boom. This helps to explain a sharp rise in the price of restaurant liquor licenses in the city recently, after a steady rise over the last decade. Licenses that last fall sold for $60,000 to $65,000 are now fetching $85,000 and perhaps more, according to lawyers who specialize in the transactions. That is more the double the asking price for a license in 2002, when they sold for $35,000.

Despite what Danny Meyer has done in fine dining — his Union Square Hospitality Group restaurants are among America's most honored destinations — his legacy probably will be a fast-food chain begun by accident.   It's Shake Shack, whose first Philadelphia location opened this week at 20th and Sansom Streets. This is the 15th location, counting seasonal stands at ballparks and new outposts in Dubai and Kuwait. The interior is built for speed and ecology, with lots of reclaimed wood; tables are made from heart pine taken from an old bowling alley.

TOP PHILLIES pitching prospect Trevor May is ready to take the next step - even if it means a lot of lying down. May, a 6-5, 215-pound bulldog of a righthanded pitcher, last season received this counsel from Phillies backup catcher Brian Schneider: Get bendy. Schneider and Carl Pavano played together in Montreal a decade ago. May's body type and temperament reminded Schneider of Pavano, another burly, 6-5 righthander who, in his early 20s, lacked flexibility. Pavano kept getting hurt.

IF NOT FOR the NFL's labor issues, tonight would be glorious night for Eagles fans. Imagine the boys at the Nova-Care Complex trading Kevin Kolb to one of the many quarterback-needy teams in the top 10. Imagine them getting their hands on Cincinnati's pick at No. 4 or Arizona's at No. 5 or San Francisco's at No. 7, and walking away with one of the draft's big prizes. Maybe cornerback Patrick Peterson or Prince Amukamara. Maybe offensive tackle Tyron Smith or Anthony Castonzo.

TRENTON - As Gov. Christie approaches rock-star status within certain circles of the Republican Party, candidates nationwide are turning to him for inspiration and advice for November's midterm elections. The Republican Governors Association is so taken with its new poster boy that it is producing a 20-minute movie, to be released online Sept. 8, about Christie's upset victory over a millionaire Democratic incumbent, Jon S. Corzine, in a heavily blue state, and his first eight months in office.

Bob Whiteman, a Center City bond salesman, is playing the market. But this one - the market for World Series tickets this weekend at Citizens Bank Park - is a little more robust than Wall Street. That's frustrating for Whiteman, a buyer in a seller's market. Every day this week, he has stopped by Wanamaker Ticket Office on 16th Street, trying to land an extra ticket for his son Kyle, a 22-year-old senior at Penn. "He's an ardent Phillies fan, and I'm trying to figure out a way to get him into the stadium," said Whiteman of Newtown Square.

In her article of Aug. 19, Inquirer staff writer Lini S. Kadaba reports, "Some are calling Chester Springs, 19425, the newest pearl in the heirloom string of neighborhoods of the Main Line. " The article makes further references to "new Main Line," "old Main Line" and "that Main Line feel. " As a member of a family that has resided on the Main Line for more than five generations, I'm not sure which has me angrier: the geographical falsehoods being spawned here by the promoters of the Chester Springs zip code or the shameless exploitation of the vaunted region's name.

For the party that's out of power, off-year elections often serve to transform someone into a hot commodity for the next presidential election. Sometimes it's an individual who wins overwhelming reelection in an important state, as George W. Bush did in Texas four years ago. Or whose campaigning gives a decisive boost to other candidates around the country. No such person emerged for the Democrats this year. If anything, the 2002 results served only to diminish several of the usual suspects.

Psssst. Thought your chances to see the Sixers in action were over? Maybe not. After soaring through the roof like high-tech stocks in the late '90s, tickets to the NBA Finals have turned into the dot-coms of 2001: You can't give 'em away. For a week, brokers were having a field day, and bidding on the Internet trading post, eBay, was fast and furious. Then came Game 4. The third straight loss for Allen Iverson and company. Suddenly, ticket sales plummeted. "We've sold nothing so far," said Steve Zuppo, a salesman for All American Ticket Service in Claymont, Del., which had 100 tickets available for tonight's Game 5 as of yesterday.