Press Box

THEY BUILT a press box at Ashburn Field in FDR Park. Built it in 3 weeks. The architecture is early-Alcatraz, but it is air-conditioned to ward off summer's heat, and heated against autumn's chill. For who, for what? "Every penny spent is well worth it," said Rob Holiday, the Phillies' assistant director of scouting, "to build this first-class facility for these kids. " The press box was Holiday's idea, part of an Urban Youth Academy master plan. He would not say how many pennies it cost, or how many dollars.

ERIK GUSTAFSSON had his head buried in a program during the first intermission on Sunday night, sitting in the press box at the Wells Fargo Center among the popcorn, soda, former Flyers and other healthy scratches. For any hockey player, the press box is the last place you want to be seen. It's where careers go to die. For Gustafsson, though, seeing the game seven levels above the ice surface provided a unique perspective. His only other trips to the press box were as an injured player, with little need to focus on the details of the game.

THERE IS NO statue cast in Charlie Abel's image, but the man whose bronzed likeness sits on the Spectrum steps knows who is the arena's true soul. Julius Erving said so himself. "If anybody here should be looked up to, it's you," he told Charlie Abel. "You're always here, doing your job. " "Press Box" Abel - so named because, as the press-box guard, that's how he answered the phone there; no comma, no pause - will be among the Sixers' esteemed guests at tonight's farewell to the Wachovia Spectrum.

James van Riemsdyk bit the bullet for two games in the Stanley Cup finals. Last night, van Riemsdyk spit out that bullet and returned to the lineup for Game 4, retaking his spot as the youngest player in the series. Flyers coach Peter Laviolette swapped van Riemsdyk with Dan Carcillo, the player who replaced him for Game 2. Van Riemsdyk, 21, was forced to watch Games 2 and 3 from the press box - the first games he had ever missed as a healthy scratch. "It was tough," van Riemsdyk said.

The Eagles quelled an unexpected stir at Veterans Stadium yesterday. Football operations director Tom Modrak made a quick reassuring phone call to Andy Reid and made an impromptu appearance at the head coach's press conference, all of which made for an interesting day after the Eagles dropped to 0-3 with Sunday's 26-0 loss at Buffalo. Modrak rebutted a Trenton Times report that depicted Modrak's and pro personnel director Mike McCartney's reactions in the press box at various plays.

Terry Murray is back in the coaching fraternity - with the Flyers. In a surprising move yesterday, general manager Bob Clarke added the former Flyers head coach to Ken Hitchcock's staff as an assistant coach. Murray will work primarily in the press box for the remainder of the season. His assignment will be spotting opponents' line matchups against the Flyers and the opposition's tendencies during games. The hiring was "strictly Hitch's idea," Clarke said yesterday. Murray, 52, will act as "an eye in the sky," Hitchcock said, feeding the staff two or three nuggets of information per period and preparing a postgame report.

For a guy whose health supposedly will keep him from coaching the Flyers again this spring, Roger Neilson looked fairly vigorous, pedaling his bicycle out of the parking lot at the practice facility in Voorhees, N.J., without addressing reporters. Neilson, wearing shorts and a warmup jacket, took off a little after 11 a.m., about an hour after he arrived to meet with team president and general manager Bob Clarke. Clarke told Neilson interim coach Craig Ramsay would remain in charge of the team for the remainder of the playoffs.

Five years had passed since Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier, and Sam Lacy found himself stuck outside a stadium gate. As a reporter for the Washington Tribune, Chicago Defender and Baltimore Afro American, Lacy had traveled to places like Montreal, Toledo, Ohio, even Cuba, to chronicle Robinson's ascent to the majors and his early trials there. He had been placed in the same hotels, banned in the same restaurants, jeered by many of the same racists. He had attended and reported on the World Series of 1947, '48, '49, '51, as Larry Doby, Don Newcombe, Monte Irvin and other former Negro League players established themselves as major leaguers in Robinson's wake.

Up or down? That's what Chichester football coach Ted Woolery must decide when his Eagles host Academy Park on Friday night. In Chichester's 7-3 loss to Chester on Oct. 13, Woolery decided to go up. The veteran coach spent the game on top of the press box, calling down plays over his headset to receivers coach Don Morgan. That marked the first time Woolery had not been on the sideline, which is the usual position for head coaches. At other schools, an assistant coach or two stay high in the stands or in the press box and communicate with the head coach.

Beaver Stadium's tiny coach's booth, normally crowded with the three Penn State assistants who occupy it during games, is going to have to accommodate one more person tomorrow. Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno said he will watch the Michigan State game from that lofty vantage point. He'll be joined by offensive coaches Galen Hall, Dick Anderson and Jay Paterno, his son. "I'm going to be there," Joe Paterno said last night as he took fans' questions on his weekly radio show for the first time since suffering a broken leg and torn knee ligaments on Nov. 4. "I'm going to be in the press box watching.

ERIK GUSTAFSSON had his head buried in a program during the first intermission on Sunday night, sitting in the press box at the Wells Fargo Center among the popcorn, soda, former Flyers and other healthy scratches. For any hockey player, the press box is the last place you want to be seen. It's where careers go to die. For Gustafsson, though, seeing the game seven levels above the ice surface provided a unique perspective. His only other trips to the press box were as an injured player, with little need to focus on the details of the game.

This is a post by Frank Seravalli on the Daily News' Frequent Flyers blog.   IT HAS BEEN 481 days since Chris Pronger last appeared in a Flyers uniform, though it feels much longer since his in-your-face personality has bellowed through the halls of the Flyers' practice facility. Pronger, 38, has not played since Nov. 11, 2011. He has understandably not addressed the media or the public about his ultimate career-ending eye injury until now. There isn't much he's allowed to say. He gave his first interview to close family friend, Rogers Sportsnet analyst Dan Murphy, in a two-part series that aired beginning Wednesday night in Canada.

AFTER THOSE first two ridiculous first-quarter Carolina touchdowns Monday night, on which receivers were left uncovered by flummoxed Eagles defenders, I bumped into a fellow I know in the press box. Don't want to say who, because we weren't talking for the record, but it was a man who knows a lot about the Eagles and playing in the NFL, first-hand. We talked for a bit about how every Eagles zone coverage is an adventure, 11 games into the season, how every blitz is a disaster, because the quarterback doesn't get sacked and the coverage on the back end invariably gets blown.

The last time Eagles defensive coordinator Todd Bowles called a defense, he was a coordinator at Grambling State in 1999 trying to stop Southern University on Thanksgiving weekend. That's a bit different than devising a game plan to defend the undefeated Atlanta Falcons, which Bowles is tasked with doing during his first week in charge of the Eagles defense. Falcons head coach Mike Smith said that he expects "unscouted" looks from the Eagles defense on Sunday because the Falcons have no familiarity with how Bowles calls a game.

In Kensington taverns and Center City restaurants that final afternoon of September 1947, business was unusually brisk. For the first time, the World Series, America's preeminent sporting event, was being televised, and Philadelphians, as curious about the new technology as the baseball, bunched around 7- and 10-inch screens for a peek. Not that there was much to see. Sunlight and shadows obscured the NBC cameras' view. The vantage point was poor, a tiny cage suspended from Yankee Stadium's first-base stands.

The NCAA has declared receiver Jalen Saunders eligible to play for No. 13 Oklahoma this season, just in time for the Sooners' game Saturday against No. 15 Texas. Coach Bob Stoops announced Wednesday that Saunders' eligibility appeal had been approved by the NCAA. He transferred from Fresno State during the offseason and initially was ruled ineligible this season under NCAA transfer guidelines. Saunders caught 50 passes for 1,065 yards last season and led the Western Athletic Conference with 12 touchdown catches.

OFFICIALLY, Jamie Kuntz was kicked off the football team for lying. However, the 18-year-old, who played linebacker for North Dakota State College of Sciences, claims he was booted because he is gay. Kuntz, who couldn't play in the season opener over Labor Day weekend because of a concussion, was in the press box filming the game. At one point, he and his 65-year-old boyfriend kissed. A teammate saw the smooch and told head coach Chuck Parsons. On the bus ride back to Wahpeton, N.D., Parsons asked Kuntz about the incident.

More good news for the Dodgers, even better than their days-old acquisition of Adrian Gonzalez and two other all-stars from the Red Sox. Beloved broadcaster Vin Scully is sticking around for another year. The 84-year-old Hall of Famer, who began his career in 1950 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, will return for a record 64th season in 2013. "I was so impressed by the new ownership," Scully said Sunday morning in the Dodgers' press box. "I was here for the press conference, and I heard some big talk.

THEY BUILT a press box at Ashburn Field in FDR Park. Built it in 3 weeks. The architecture is early-Alcatraz, but it is air-conditioned to ward off summer's heat, and heated against autumn's chill. For who, for what? "Every penny spent is well worth it," said Rob Holiday, the Phillies' assistant director of scouting, "to build this first-class facility for these kids. " The press box was Holiday's idea, part of an Urban Youth Academy master plan. He would not say how many pennies it cost, or how many dollars.

BASEBALL IS FINISHED for 2012 at Ss. Neumann-Goretti High, and now it's time, in all likelihood, for repercussions. During a 2-1 loss to Lampeter-Strasburg in a PIAA Class AAA state semifinal, played Monday at Spring-Ford High, the actions of some N-G supporters caused S-F officials to summon local police. Later, coach Mike Zolk told the Daily News that the umpires had "cheated" his team. Now, Brad Cashman, the PIAA's outgoing executive director, wants N-G's principal, Patricia Sticco, to investigate all that took place and provide her findings by Friday.