Parity

The buzzword in the scholastic baseball world is parity as the Suburban One Colonial, Suburban One Patriot, Suburban One Freedom, Suburban One Liberty, Bicentennial, Philadelphia Catholic Northern Division, Inter-Academic, and Keystone Leagues all boast numerous teams with championship potential. "The league is always a challenge," Abington coach Ray Buck boasted of the Suburban One Colonial. "We have the defending state champion in Pennridge, and they can't even be considered a favorite in our division.

As the 1980s draw to a close, the NFL is being both jeered and cheered for its competitive balance. Powerhouse teams, let alone anything vaguely resembling a dynasty, are precious few. Every flawed team probably can beat almost every other flawed team, and it can be argued that a season like this one - with 16 clubs still in contention for the playoffs going into the final weekend - is either ridiculous or a tribute to sharing the wealth....

While teams compete to win conference, South Jersey, and possibly state titles, an always interesting subplot to any season is the battle for the No. 1 spot in South Jersey. Last year, Eastern began the season on top in The Inquirer's South Jersey girls' basketball rankings and ended there. In between, there were close games, but not a lot of suspense. This season, that top spot could turn into a game of musical chairs. Parity is the buzzword in South Jersey. It's possible that any team in the preseason Top 10 could end up as No. 1. The same goes for the teams under consideration, and a team not mentioned also could sneak in. Without that one dominant team, the race for No. 1 will consist of plenty of awfully good contenders.

IF YOU ARE a fan of the Connecticut women's basketball program, or a fan of dynasties in general, you probably didn't like what happened Sunday in the semifinals of the NCAA women's tournament. But if you are looking forward to the continued growth of women's basketball, then Notre Dame ending UConn's bid for a third straight NCAA title and Texas A&M stunning Stanford was a good thing. As far as NCAA championships have been concerned, it's always been an exclusive society with a few schools winning the bulk of the first 29 titles.

It's the opinion of some coaches in the Inter-County Scholastic Hockey League (ICSHL) that parity has arrived, much the same way it has come to the National Football League. Conestoga would appear to be the front-runner in the 11-team league with a 9-0 record. Three other teams, Lower Merion (2-10), Harriton (0-10) and Radnor (1-7), seem destined to finish in the bottom three places. But the fate of seven teams is definitely up in the air. "It really seems like there's parity and things have leveled out a bit," said Unionville coach Don Centrella, whose team is in second place with 12 points.

One word best describes the Colonial Conference this season - parity. "Based on what teams have coming back from last year, I think as many as eight teams could win it," said Dave Wiedeman, now in his 18th year as Haddonfield's coach. "This is the most evenly matched group of teams that I've ever seen in the conference. " Sterling, with four returning starters from a 19-8 team, appears to be the oh-so-slight conference favorite. Haddon Heights, defending champion Woodbury, Haddonfield and Gateway are also strong contenders.

MAJOR LEAGUE Baseball sent out an advisory yesterday that outlined, among other things, how the National League would go about untangling its knot if five teams ended the regular season with the same record. Which pretty much sums up the parity that existed in baseball this year. Even though the free-spending Yankees and Red Sox once again dominated the AL East, the playing field appears to be getting more level. Revenue- sharing seems to be gaining some traction. And while there is nothing particularly enthralling about widespread mediocrity, it clearly doesn't help baseball to have half the teams come to spring training having no chance to compete, either.

Lawyers who work in the Bucks County Public Defender's Office are vowing to switch roles and become plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the county aimed at winning pay parity. Last week, the Bucks County Commissioners denied a pay grievance filed by members of the Public Defender's Office, who had complained that there is a glaring pay disparity between their pay and the pay of their counterparts in the District Attorney's Office. The commissioners did allocate an additional $30,000 for the defenders' salary budget for 1992.

When it comes to wage parity between men and women, Pennsylvania is the only state in the region below the national average, according to a U.S. Labor Department report released Wednesday. Nationally, the average weekly wage in 2010 was $747, with women earning $669, or 81.2 percent of the men's wages of $824. In Pennsylvania, women earned $664, or 80.8 percent of the $822 that men made. The average state wage was $751. New Jersey women fared better, earning $824, or 84.8 percent of the $972 earned by men. The average New Jersey wage was $895.

Hurry up, 3152. At the current rate of progress, that's the year when the black home ownership rate will reach parity - or be equal to - that of whites. Just 1,163 years away. That dramatic statistic was among the findings in a study on black progress released this week by the National Urban League at its annual conference in Washington. It is in keeping with the newly defined concept of "hypersegregation" - in which the degree of racial separatism in America can be measured by analyzing census data and housing patterns.

Even in the world of entertainment, somebody's always mad about something. At the Cannes Film festival, five women from French feminist group La Barbe took to protesting on the red carpet due to the lack of female directors at this year's fest. Of the 22 films vying for this year's Palme D'Or, none were directed by women. La Barbe (which means The Beard) previously had a letter complaining about the male-dominated line-up published in Le Monde and The Guardian newspapers.

WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney's presidential campaign raised $12.6 million in contributions in March, adding to roughly $14 million his Republican Party brought in last month. But the combined figure puts Romney at a disadvantage with the man whose job he wants in November. President Obama countered Romney's fund-raising haul with about $53 million in donations between his campaign and the Democratic Party during the same period. That left his campaign with $104 million cash on hand - about 10 times more than the $10 million Romney had in the bank at the end of March.

When it comes to wage parity between men and women, Pennsylvania is the only state in the region below the national average, according to a U.S. Labor Department report released Wednesday. Nationally, the average weekly wage in 2010 was $747, with women earning $669, or 81.2 percent of the men's wages of $824. In Pennsylvania, women earned $664, or 80.8 percent of the $822 that men made. The average state wage was $751. New Jersey women fared better, earning $824, or 84.8 percent of the $972 earned by men. The average New Jersey wage was $895.

IF YOU ARE a fan of the Connecticut women's basketball program, or a fan of dynasties in general, you probably didn't like what happened Sunday in the semifinals of the NCAA women's tournament. But if you are looking forward to the continued growth of women's basketball, then Notre Dame ending UConn's bid for a third straight NCAA title and Texas A&M stunning Stanford was a good thing. As far as NCAA championships have been concerned, it's always been an exclusive society with a few schools winning the bulk of the first 29 titles.

The NCAA tournament didn't disappoint during the opening weekend. Unless your enjoyment of the event is directly related to how you're doing in your bracket, in which case it probably disappointed you greatly. Pool sheets aside, the tournament provided all the dramatic and unexpected moments that make March Madness an annual thrill. The first five games of the weekend were decided by just 15 points. From Butler's opening-day buzzer-beater over Old Dominion to Temple's dramatic but heartbreaking, double-overtime loss to San Diego State, the tournament was mesmerizing.

While teams compete to win conference, South Jersey, and possibly state titles, an always interesting subplot to any season is the battle for the No. 1 spot in South Jersey. Last year, Eastern began the season on top in The Inquirer's South Jersey girls' basketball rankings and ended there. In between, there were close games, but not a lot of suspense. This season, that top spot could turn into a game of musical chairs. Parity is the buzzword in South Jersey. It's possible that any team in the preseason Top 10 could end up as No. 1. The same goes for the teams under consideration, and a team not mentioned also could sneak in. Without that one dominant team, the race for No. 1 will consist of plenty of awfully good contenders.

Imagine a toilet that knows how long you've been there and flushes accordingly. Or one that raises the lid as you approach and lowers it as you walk away. Indeed, the toilet of the future will do everything but wash your . . . oh, wait, it does that, too. And then dries you when it's finished. But the toilet of the future is also a molded plastic potty perched over a pit, the waste composting below. These are the two directions toiletry is headed - ultra luxury for the high-end, ultra simplicity for eco-types.

Bob Schreiber's business in Morrisville, Burns Pharmacy, was briefly famous as the setting for a scene in Signs , the M. Night Shyamalan movie that depicts a scary alien invasion threatening a Bucks County farm family. Nearly a decade later, the disturbing threat to Schreiber and at least some of his customers isn't an alien. It's the growing efforts by health insurers, desperate to cut costs, to bypass bricks-and-mortar businesses such as Burns Pharmacy in favor of mail-order prescription fulfillment - efforts that have led to growing push-back in Harrisburg by independent pharmacists.

In the two years since Mayor Nutter took over as chairman of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, he and the rest of the board have overseen a turnaround of the agency. The RDA is now managing two major federal stimulus programs, adding up to $64 million. These funds, from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, are allowing the authority to create jobs by renovating houses that underwent foreclosure during the financial meltdown. The RDA is ahead of schedule on this project and recently requested additional stimulus funds from the state.

Think a woman singing "One Shining Moment" is an upset? Consider this: When CBS unveils the NCAA tournament bracket tonight, neither North Carolina, Connecticut, UCLA nor Indiana will be in it. Baylor and New Mexico could be No. 4 seeds, Butler and Temple could be No. 5 seeds, and Northern Iowa could be a No. 6. Texas, which was the No. 1 team in the country two months ago, could drop as low as a No. 9 seed, and the fourth No. 1 seed, presumably Duke,...