Poster Child

THIS WEEK created a beautiful harmonic convergence in the resignation of Traffic Court Judge Willie Singletary and in public hearings yesterday on judicial merit selection. Singletary, as you may recall, initially got into hot water for suggesting, while campaigning, that donors would get favorable treatment, and later outdid this behavior by allegedly showing iPhone pictures of his genitals to a female colleague. (Singletary, who also resigned by iPhone, might want to consider trading it in for a Nokia.)

Thank you for the hearts, but we get it - women get turned on up there; for men, it's down below. It's the formula of every romantic comedy, but is that truth "ugly"? Or is this just the worst title ever? Kathryn Heigl wears heels, but she's (too) sensible; a bad girl would flash us the stiletto heel of her peep-toe pump. Gerard Butler is a rapscallion - we know this, because he wears jeans with a jacket, and he's so lazy, he has to lean. (The four-day stubble is mandatory.) It's "27 Dresses" vs. "300," and L-O-V-E is a numbers game.

It isn't every 5-year-old child who can hear a golf tip from a Professional Golfers' Association tour member such as Hal Sutton and turn it into a perfect 10-foot putt that rolls gently into a practice-green hole at White Manor Country Club. But then again, Folsom's Joey Jenkins isn't any ordinary little boy. Joey is this year's official poster child for the $25,000 McNeil Classic, a PGA tour event to be conducted Monday and Tuesday at White Manor in Malvern. The tournament will be dedicated to Joey and almost 30,000 other children nationwide who have cystic fibrosis.

The man who was photographed throwing snowballs during a New York Giants game says he had been turned into a scapegoat for thousands of fans who did the same thing. "I feel like, hey, I'm being tossed out there like a piece of meat to the lions," Jeffrey Lange said yesterday at a news conference at his lawyer's office. "Honestly, I can't believe I've been singled out. " Lange, 26, of Readington, N.J., was arrested Wednesday and charged with improper behavior for throwing a snowball onto the field during the Giants-San Diego Chargers game Saturday at Giants Stadium.

Six-year-old Michael Stumm of Havertown grins and giggles and says he thinks it will be "fine" to be famous. By the end of the month, the face of the cheery child with an infectious grin will be seen throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania as the 1990-91 "Winning Kid" poster child of the Epilepsy Foundation of Philadelphia. The poster will mark November as National Epilepsy Month. When he was 4, Michael began having seizures. There were days when he had as many as six or seven a day, his head dropping and nodding.

Emily Sara Biddle, 4, of Northeast Philadelphia, poster child for the Eagles Fly for Leukemia fund-raising drive and one of running back Ricky Watters' biggest fans, died of cancer Thursday at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. Emily and Watters were featured on a poster promoting the nonprofit organization that raises money for cancer research and supports pediatric cancer-treatment centers in the region. Eagles players volunteer their time for the program. Emily was recommended as poster child by staff members at St. Christopher's.

He always did have a craving for ice and rarely hesitated to indulge it. That ice is melting now. So diamonds, it turns out, really are not forever. A Georgia judge has ordered Allen Ezail Iverson to pay a jeweler about $860,000. But apparently he can't, so his bank account has been commandeered, and his earnings, whatever of them may be left, are to be garnisheed. The King of Bling, it would seem, is about to become the Prince of Pawn. The man who is the best small scorer in the history of the NBA, who lit up Philadelphia nights with his pyrotechnic play, is said to have worked his way through the better part of - big inhale here - $150 million.

It's a cover-up at the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Responding to criticism from its board and subscribers over the poster for a forthcoming production of Strauss' Salome, the troupe stapled four (not seven) red chiffon veils over the biblical temptress's nipples and crotch in the poster put up recently outside the Academy of Music. In addition, the company will not put the specially commissioned illustration on the cover of its program booklet or in bus-shelter advertisements.

The world finally got to see Dharun Ravi cry, and if his tears didn't demonstrate the remorse he has so famously failed to express publicly, they at least looked genuine. The seemingly unflappable Ultimate Frisbee ace barely batted an eyelash Monday when others in the Middlesex County courtroom described his actions as "evil" and so lacking in humanity as to verge on monstrous. But when his mother, Sabitha Pazhani, began sobbing just a seat away, Ravi's enormous brown eyes filled up, then spilled.

RE DAVID TISCHMAN'S Nov. 4 "Poster Child" movie review: Who are you to try to put Tyler Perry and his movie "For Colored Girls" down? I realize that your opinion is just that. . . yours. However, are you upset that Tyler Perry (despite his unpleasant childhood) has been so blessed to "make it," and become super rich? He also "gives back. " If he wants to use Janet Jackson in his movies, what's it to you? Everyone I know loves Tyler Perry's movies and plays. What's your problem - other than being a hater?

The world finally got to see Dharun Ravi cry, and if his tears didn't demonstrate the remorse he has so famously failed to express publicly, they at least looked genuine. The seemingly unflappable Ultimate Frisbee ace barely batted an eyelash Monday when others in the Middlesex County courtroom described his actions as "evil" and so lacking in humanity as to verge on monstrous. But when his mother, Sabitha Pazhani, began sobbing just a seat away, Ravi's enormous brown eyes filled up, then spilled.

THIS WEEK created a beautiful harmonic convergence in the resignation of Traffic Court Judge Willie Singletary and in public hearings yesterday on judicial merit selection. Singletary, as you may recall, initially got into hot water for suggesting, while campaigning, that donors would get favorable treatment, and later outdid this behavior by allegedly showing iPhone pictures of his genitals to a female colleague. (Singletary, who also resigned by iPhone, might want to consider trading it in for a Nokia.)

He always did have a craving for ice and rarely hesitated to indulge it. That ice is melting now. So diamonds, it turns out, really are not forever. A Georgia judge has ordered Allen Ezail Iverson to pay a jeweler about $860,000. But apparently he can't, so his bank account has been commandeered, and his earnings, whatever of them may be left, are to be garnisheed. The King of Bling, it would seem, is about to become the Prince of Pawn. The man who is the best small scorer in the history of the NBA, who lit up Philadelphia nights with his pyrotechnic play, is said to have worked his way through the better part of - big inhale here - $150 million.

Harrisburg - the city - is broke. It's spending more money than it brings in. The mayor and council don't agree on what to do. So the state has stepped in - as it has with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and Chester and other cities in years past - to prevent Harrisburg from stiffing its bankers and bondholders and others who live off the money they lend to elected officials. The state wants to ensure that the various lenders are still being repaid with interest, by taxpayers, for years to come.

Before Saturday's win over Vancouver in their home opener, the Union were actually fit to be tied. That's because the day before the game, goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon bought the entire team and front-office personnel blue ties. The Union wear suits and ties to games, and Mondragon wanted to make sure they were professionally attired. When asked about it, the 39-year-old keeper brushed away questions. He didn't do it for the publicity, conceding that it was a gesture to help bond the team together.

RE DAVID TISCHMAN'S Nov. 4 "Poster Child" movie review: Who are you to try to put Tyler Perry and his movie "For Colored Girls" down? I realize that your opinion is just that. . . yours. However, are you upset that Tyler Perry (despite his unpleasant childhood) has been so blessed to "make it," and become super rich? He also "gives back. " If he wants to use Janet Jackson in his movies, what's it to you? Everyone I know loves Tyler Perry's movies and plays. What's your problem - other than being a hater?

By the time Pat Burrell left his city by the bay earlier this month, it was clear the glory that was Philadelphia was of another day. After a spectacularly unsuccessful stay in Tampa Bay - during which time he failed to hit a single home run off a lefthanded pitcher - Burrell, 33, was designated for assignment by the first-place Rays. Remember how Burrell had exited Philadelphia? He and his dog, Elvis, riding like parade marshals in a wagon at the front of the Phillies' 2008 victory march, delightedly sopping up all that post-World Series goodwill?

The recent resignation of the vice chairman of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission after two drunken-driving convictions makes it more urgent to blow up the troubled agency. Timothy J. Carson resigned last week after it was revealed that he failed to report two drunken-driving accidents in 2003 and 2006, as required by commission rules. The public-finance attorney at Saul Ewing sent a resignation letter to Gov. Rendell saying he has an "alcohol dependency problem. " Good luck to Carson in battling that disease.

SCHNECKSVILLE, Pa. - Darryl Dawkins excuses himself from the conversation and accepts the glowing cell phone from an approaching player. "It's Muhammad," the player says. "He called to say him and Tommy broke down and they might not make it on time. " It's Friday afternoon, 20 minutes before Lehigh Carbon Community College officially starts practice. Every other player is accounted for, except Muhammad, the backup center, and Tommy, a two-guard gunner. To summarize, said the emissary: Muhammad is with Tommy because Muhammad had to pick up Tommy from the hospital, where Tommy spent the previous night, missing a game, because he contracted an infection after attending an indoor water park.

Thank you for the hearts, but we get it - women get turned on up there; for men, it's down below. It's the formula of every romantic comedy, but is that truth "ugly"? Or is this just the worst title ever? Kathryn Heigl wears heels, but she's (too) sensible; a bad girl would flash us the stiletto heel of her peep-toe pump. Gerard Butler is a rapscallion - we know this, because he wears jeans with a jacket, and he's so lazy, he has to lean. (The four-day stubble is mandatory.) It's "27 Dresses" vs. "300," and L-O-V-E is a numbers game.