Smart Guy

SMART GUY. 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Channel 17. Next week, the WB's usually cute-beyond-description "Smart Guy" takes a detour from the benign to tackle a difficult and unsettling subject: sexual predators on the Internet. It all starts innocently enough when T.J. (Tahj Mowry) and his friend Karen (Cerita Bickleman) strike up a conversation with "Marky-412" in a kids' chat room. Having been told earlier by his father that he'd have to use his own money to purchase a $55 CD-ROM game, T.J.'s psyched to find out that his new cyber buddy is selling bootleg versions of a number of popular games at less than half the retail price.

David Malatesta's father loved the race track. The son tagged along and "it got in my blood. " Stewart Taub said that, until a couple of years ago, he didn't know the difference between "a filly and a gelding. " The two friends from Delaware decided they wanted to buy a horse together. They called themselves Goodfellas Stable. Two years ago, trainer Tim Ritchey was dispatched to the sales at Timonium, Md., with instuctions to spend "up to $50,000. " Near the end of the sale, Ritchey spotted a tiny yearling colt that he liked.

With the major three-year-olds having competed in the Travers and other lucrative races in recent weeks, today's field in the $300,000 Pennsylvania Derby is not among the strongest in the race's 21-year history. But the Grade III event at Philadelphia Park could prove to be one of the more competitive runnings of the state's richest race, because trying to pick the winner or even the post-time favorite seems difficult. Pineaff, who upset Menifee in the Tampa Bay Derby in March, is listed as the program favorite, but the stretch-runner ran a dismal ninth in his last start, the Belmont Stakes on June 5. There's a strong probability of an off-track, and Pineaff has failed both times he competed on wet surfaces.

Smart Guy emulated his sire, Smarten - the first Pennsylvania Derby winner - when he captured the 21st running of the state's richest race in a thrilling finish yesterday at Philadelphia Park. Ghost Ring, the tepid 5-2 favorite in the $300,000 Grade III event, captured the lead briefly in the stretch, but Smart Guy charged along the inside under Bobby Colton to post a head victory in the 11/8-mile test for 3-year-olds. Pineaff, 7-2 in the wagering, rallied from last in the field of 10 to finish third, five lengths behind the runner-up and 21/2 lengths before Dancin Rahy.

Few horses rally from as far off the pace as Pineaff, but his upset of Menifee in the Tampa Bay Derby in March has earned him the favorite's role in Monday's $300,000 Pennsylvania Derby at Philadelphia Park. Pineaff is the 122-pound highweight and will break from the rail in a field of 11 drawn yesterday for the 21st running of Pennsylvania's richest race, over 11/8 miles. Marlon St. Julien will ride the son of 1992 Preakness winner Pine Bluff for trainer Ken McPeek. Pineaff has not started since finishing ninth in the Belmont Stakes on June 5 but has been training at Churchill Downs.

Morris Thompson, a newspaperman with a wide background, has been appointed editorial-page editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, editor Zack Stalberg announced yesterday. Thompson, 42, twice a Pulitzer Prize finalist - once for editorial writing - replaces Rich Aregood, who in 1985 won the Daily News' first Pulitzer Prize. Aregood resigned in February to take a similar position with the Newark Star-Ledger. "Morris has a varied and distinguished journalistic background, a value system which is in harmony with the newspaper's, a desire to help effect change in Philadelphia and a personal style which will make him a real figure in town," Stalberg said.

Mike McCarthy told anyone who would listen that he would win aboard Stellar Brush in yesterday's $200,000 Leonard Richards Stakes at Delaware Park. He said that after he rode Stellar Brush in the horse's first race at Monmouth Park on July 3, he was impressed and told trainer Richard Small "that he had a really nice horse, that he was in for a lot of fun. Sometimes you get on a horse and you can just tell that he's going to be good. " Stellar Brush finished a fast-closing second that day, and McCarthy was prophetic.

RE THE letter from Brian F. Hathaway about the rec-center deaths: I was very upset. He says that Tyree Wallace shouldn't be included with the other two because basically he caused his own death by getting involved in a violent lifestyle. I happen to have had the pleasure of being friends with Ty. We attended the same college. He was an awesome basketball player and an overall sweet, nice, smart guy, with a smile that I can see by simply closing my eyes. Just because he made a stupid mistake that unfortunately cost him his life does not mean it was his fault.

There's triple the chills to go around tomorrow when "Ultimate Goosebumps" (10 a.m., Channel 29) kicks off its first-ever "Chillogy" with the first episode - "Squeal of Fortune. " - and continues on May 2 and May 9. What's different about the "chillogy" is that the three main characters appear throughout the series in three different but inter-related adventures. In usual Goosebumps style, there are more than a few twists and turns before you get to the conclusion of this creepy compilation.

It's hard to tell, based on the last few days, whether our next president is actually mildly brilliant or the press has just gone into its quadrennial honeymoon swoon. The other night on MacNeil/Lehrer, one of those bald economics reporters (Why are they all bald? Must be the Irving R. Levine influence) replied to a question about President-elect Bill Clinton's performance at the economic summit by saying, "I was wowed!" Hardly the sort of sober analysis we expect from bald guys on MacNeil/ Lehrer.

TO UNDERSTAND Tom Hanks' career, you have to understand that thing he did in "That Thing You Do. " This was Hanks' first writing and directing project, and a deeply personal movie despite the innocuous surface story of a band forming and breaking up in the 1960s. Toward the end, there's a telling scene of a showbiz vet, played by Hanks himself, giving advice to Guy, a young man who's just learned, firsthand, how quickly fortunes rise and fall in Tinseltown. Guy is played by Tom Everett Howard, a dead-ringer for a twenty-something Hanks.

NEWS ITEM: Evan Turner, the No. 2 overall pick in the NBA draft, taken by the 76ers, signs a multiyear shoe contract with Chinese company Li Ning. Turner will have his own signature shoe and apparel, which will be available globally in his second season. The money apparently is significant. Rod Thorn, the Sixers' new president, comes from a different era. He played eight NBA seasons, starting in 1963, and - like a lot of us - wore Converse low cuts. "A new company came along in Baltimore, Bata Bullets," Thorn recalled, laughing.

When the Eagles used the 37th pick in April's draft to grab South Florida safety Nate Allen, it was clear they thought highly of his future in the NFL. They probably didn't expect it to arrive so fast. Allen, a 22-year-old from South Florida, was running with the Eagles' first team defense Wednesday, a day after veteran Marlin Jackson was lost likely for the season because of injury. Allen's fellow defenders praised his physical skills but stressed the importance of honing his mental game - learning the defense, handling pressure, and being prepared to cope with the ups and downs of a long season.

ARE WE THERE YET? 9 and 9:30 p.m. tomorrow, TBS. SOME OF THE LAUGHS may be cheap, but there's nothing inexpensive about the typical TV sitcom, where actors, writers and crews work under a system that, except for rising salaries, hasn't changed all that much since the days when most of us had only three channels to choose from. Audiences, and the advertising revenue they attracted, may have been large enough then to keep the money machine going, but in the age of cable and DVRs, we've seen scripted jokes squeezed out by shows where the joke's literally on us, if only because focusing on so-called "real people" costs so much less.

AFTER THREE possessions Sunday, the stat sheet for the Kansas City Chiefs read as follows: Fourteen plays, 0 yards gained, one 10-yard penalty, one 5-yard penalty. The Chiefs needed a spark. Something, anything to move them away from their own end zone and open up all the pages of their playbook. Something that would allow new head coach Todd Haley to take a shot, to pick from his own set of trick plays. Across the field stood Andy Reid and that big menu of his. Everything on it seemed to be working: the Wildcat formation, passes to the wide receiver, passes to the tight end, runs.

Chris Whitney is eager to start the season. There are all those experiences from the past two seasons to help the Villanova quarterback's confidence. There's the off-season conditioning program that added strength and stamina. And there's the fresh memory of last season's heartbreaking 31-27 loss to James Madison in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoff quarterfinal. "We, of course, have a bitter taste after last year that is driving us," Whitney said at yesterday's media day. "I'm pushing myself, because I want to help lead the team to a national championship.

In hockey, tough guys are an archetype. They have traits and a persona all to themselves. Matt Clackson, a rookie forward on the Phantoms, is living that character on the ice. Off the ice, however, is another story. When he left Western Michigan University after 3 years to turn pro, he had a 3.96 grade-point average. He might throw punches for a living, but Clackson is a bright guy. Just ask his roommates, Andreas Nodl and Jonathon Kalinski, who are currently with the Flyers. "He is a very smart guy," Nodl said.

The son of a Kentucky tobacco sharecropper, Ragan A. Henry went on to become a Harvard-educated lawyer, a pioneering media mogul, an active participant in Philadelphia's civic life, and one of the region's richest African Americans. Still, he maintained a modest public profile, and when he died July 26 at the age of 74 after a long illness, his passing went unannounced, just as he wanted. Mr. Henry, of Merion, also directed that there be no funeral, memorial service or obituary after his death, the cause of which has not been disclosed.

The Sopranos' success opened TV to many stories about families living on society's fringes. Sadly, for the broadcast networks, all the successful ones were on cable. Tony and cronies eased pitches for such shows as Six Feet Under, Deadwood and Carnivale on HBO. Showtime grabbed Brotherhood and Dexter. The show functions as the basic template for the FX Network: The Shield, Rescue Me, Thief, The Riches, even Nip/Tuck all deal to some extent with family issues in warped worlds.

Among the old guard of NHL executives, Bob Clarke had a connection with Cliff Fletcher in Phoenix, which facilitated many trades with the Coyotes in recent seasons. It appears that Clarke's successor, Paul Holmgren, has a Garth Snow pipeline to Long Island. For the second time in less than a week, the Holmgren-Snow connection has led to a trade. This time, the Flyers sent Randy Robitaille and a fifth-round draft pick in 2008 to the New York Islanders for Mike York yesterday.