Hot Commodity

You can think of QVC Inc. as a producer of television programming. Or you can think of it as an electronic shopping mart whose wares run the gamut from Lillian Vernon tchatchkes to Neiman-Marcus class. In fact, it's both. And that double wallop goes a long way toward explaining why Comcast Corp. is ready to pay $2.2 billion, nearly half of it borrowed money, to keep its grip on QVC. It also explains why rumors are swirling that BellSouth Corp. or Cox Enterprises or Tele-Communications Inc., or some combination of them together with QVC chief executive Barry Diller, might be willing to offer even more to wrest QVC away from Comcast.

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.

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.

The biggest surprise in the first month of free agency is not that so many players have switched clubs (40 as of Friday), or that Rust Belt hamlets Green Bay and Cleveland have thus far attracted more sign-ups than all five West Coast teams combined. No, the biggest surprise is that the most-coveted bodies on the open market (Reggie White aside) have been offensive linemen. The faceless, nameless grunts who draw notice only when they are called for penalties suddenly have become very hot commodities.

Joel McKinney was looking to invest some of his retirement nest egg, so when a salesman telephoned two years ago and suggested that he consider buying rare coins, the retired research engineer paid close attention. McKinney, 68, of Pittsburgh, had collected coins over the years and knew something about them. He also knew that rare coins were being touted at the time as a great investment, a point that was not overlooked by the salesman. After being assured that the salesman's company, Golden Oak Numismatics Inc. of Marina Del Rey, Calif.

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.

On The Joshua Tree and The Unforgettable Fire, its two most consequential outings, U2 was the Band at the Top of the Mountain. From that impressive vantage point, the Irish quartet evoked limitless panoramas and set fires raging across the lands to awaken sleeping souls. Bono, U2's lyricist and lead singer, wrote about an all-consuming passion for independence and places where the streets had no name. The musicians behind him found ways to bring their contributions right to the precipice, and the roar they created was vast enough to take in everything - the taste of exotic passionfruit, the exhaust of the city, the sharp rush of arctic wind.

Philadelphia's trash has become desirable. So desirable, in fact, that waste companies are hotly competing to dispose of it for even less than the city now pays. Yesterday, the city announced that it had received nine bids for its refuse from landfills and incinerators, virtually ensuring that Philadelphia will pay less than the $62 a ton it now costs to dump its trash in Waste Management Inc.'s Tullytown Landfill in Bucks County. Streets Commissioner Alexander L. Hoskins told a citizens solid waste advisory committee that every one of the seven landfill bids was "well under the current contract costs.

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.

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.