Socks

The high sock, once so esteemed that teams were named for it, has largely vanished from view in American baseball - covered, smothered, by what Phillies chairman Bill Giles uncharitably terms "pajama pants. " A handful of players have resisted this assault on American hosiery, this onslaught of the falling cuff. The most notable in Philadelphia, of late, is 6-foot-4 rightfielder Hunter Pence, who joined the team a month ago. Pence is all leg and energy. His high socks are a feast of red as he digs in at the plate, a whirling blur of rojo as he rounds the bases.

City Councilman Thacher Longstreth drops two pair of his trademark argyle socks into a collection box yesterday, kicking off Mellon Bank's shoes-and- socks drive for the Salvation Army. Collection boxes will be in every Mellon Bank office until Feb. 3 as part of the "From Our Hearts to Their Soles" campaign. With Longstreth is army Capt. Frederick Hagglund.

The Sox Lady's Daughter on York Road in Furlong is a factory outlet in the best sense of that often-abused phrase. All the socks sold there are made a few hundred feet down the road in what can best be described as a boutique knitting mill. SL & W Knitting has nine specially designed knitting machines in a building the size of a one-car garage. SL & W stands for Sox Lady and Walt, according to their daughter, Kathleen Barden. Walt Rehm, a knitting-machine mechanic, started producing socks 15 years ago on two machines and his wife, Helen, went from flea market to flea market selling them under the Sox Lady banner.

When it comes to selecting athletic equipment, many people tend to overlook their socks as one of the most important pieces of equipment they own. Yes, socks. "Most people don't realize it, but the sock offers very good protection for the feet," says Wayne Axman, a sports podiatrist from New York. Axman, who is on the medical committee of the U.S. Triathlon Association and regularly competes in the three-sport competition, is amazed at how little attention people pay to the socks they wear.

To attend the recent Country Music Association TV show on which she was named winner of the Horizon Award for best young talent, Holly Dunn bought some new boots to go with her new outfit. When she started to put them on backstage, however, she realized she'd forgotten to bring socks. Knowing that she soon would be called on to perform her song "Daddy's Hands," she tried wearing the boots without any socks, but found that too painful. So she appealed to her fellow performers in a Grand Ole Opry House dressing room, borrowed a pair of socks from singer K.T. Oslin and was ready to go on stage before the audience in Nashville.

It wasn't his fingerprints that led West Chester police to arrest George H. Boggs this time, it was a black gym bag packed with evidence, including his photo and a six-pack of sweat socks, minus one pair. Boggs, 48, of Allentown, was held for trial yesterday, accused of breaking into R. Evan Schoettle's apartment April 1 and robbing, assaulting and kidnapping him. Schoettle, 29, testified at a preliminary hearing in front of Magisterial District Judge Mark A. Bruno that he did not remember much after he was struck in the head three times with a brick, only that his assailant had white athletic socks covering each hand.

Wall Street follows the Dow Jones average. The Japanese watch the Nikkei. Economists study the Consumer Confidence Index. Commodity traders monitor hog futures. At Strawbridge & Clothier, employees rely on the Christmas Party Sock Indicator (CPSI). Here's how it works: At the Center City store's employee Christmas party, held before the retailer opens for the day, top-ranking Strawbridge family members skip their usual conservative business black socks and deck their feet with socks of green or red. Astute observers of the CPSI can analyze the socks and figure out how the important Christmas selling season has gone.

I've always wanted to pair thigh-high socks with a shift dress and tie it all together with Mary Janes. But no matter how fit my physique gets, my legs are still thick. So, basically, I've been denying myself this little piece of fashion nirvana since I was 12. Maybe I'll have my chance this spring. While longer skirts are definitely the trend of the year, shorter ones are not a faux pas, and this season, when it comes to the sheath, socks will replace opaque tights, leaving more room for skin - and for mistakes, too, if you aren't careful.

NEWARK, N.J. - Ever since Matt Cooke's errant skate tore through 70 percent of Ottawa star Erik Karlsson's Achilles' tendon on Wednesday night on national television, there has been a buzz in the Flyers' locker room. No, there isn't any chatter about Cooke's intent or culpability in the hockey play, since almost every player agrees that even if he wanted to, Cooke would have a hard driving driving his skate blade into Karlsson's boot. Instead, the Flyers are looking to do anything they can to prevent a similar crippling injury.

We've just solved our problem with white socks. I now wear a brand with a W on the side; Fran wears Brand C. Now we know whose socks are whose. Such are the tiny dilemmas of a lesbian couple that has spent 13 years together. Thirteen years. Actually, the 13th anniversary of when we first met won't be until Dec. 28, but four years ago this month, we got married. So we celebrate our anniversary in August. Gay marriages make a lot of folks squeamish. Some try to salve their unease and maintain alliances with the gay community by saying they support "domestic partnerships" or legal contracts or commitment ceremonies or some other euphemism that they are certain is just like a marriage without having to soil the sacred term.

MAYBE HAVING all the toys isn't the best idea. As my buddy Chuck Darrow wrote about in these pages Wednesday, NBC 10 recently debuted a new helicopter called SKYFORCE 10 (all caps!) But on a Tuesday broadcast, reporter Christine Maddela and her crew got more than they bargained for: some doggy porn. Maddela was reporting on an alleged dogfighting ring in Germantown when the camera zoomed in on the backyard only to catch one dog mounting another. Bow chick-a wow wow . "You can see that one dog is . . . uh . . . chained up . . . , " Maddela said, trying to draw focus away from the copulating pooches.

Q: I am a worried dad. My 16-year-old son is a good kid. Very much into sports and an honor student. My wife has gotten sick of telling him to clean up his bedroom. He ignored my wife's pleas as well as mine. Several days ago, I decided to clean it myself and put all his soiled clothes in a trash bag. As I was working, I discovered over 40 pairs of socks under his bed that were obviously used to clean himself up after masturbating. I think my son has some type of fetish and do not know how to approach him. I have not told my wife.

NEWARK, N.J. - Ever since Matt Cooke's errant skate tore through 70 percent of Ottawa star Erik Karlsson's Achilles' tendon on Wednesday night on national television, there has been a buzz in the Flyers' locker room. No, there isn't any chatter about Cooke's intent or culpability in the hockey play, since almost every player agrees that even if he wanted to, Cooke would have a hard driving driving his skate blade into Karlsson's boot. Instead, the Flyers are looking to do anything they can to prevent a similar crippling injury.

NEW YORK - Small additions - a slouchy sock here, an unexpected slit there - can give yesterday's silhouette a funky tomorrow. Just ask designers showing at New York Fall Fashion Week, the majority of whom are keeping autumn looks long and lean, but are playing with proportion using accessories and details. That means strangely short sleeve lengths, wider and higher peplums, even slightly dropped waists, all hinting that something is just a bit - off. Socks were key in their bag of fashion tricks.

The bloodstained sock worn by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling during the 2004 World Series will be put up for sale next month and may bring in at least $100,000, auction organizers said. Schilling pitched with stitches in his right ankle to stabilize an injured tendon and helped lead Boston to its first World Series championship in 86 years. Blood from the wound seeped into his white sock, which has been on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame since 2004. Schilling, 46, is putting the piece of Boston sports history up for auction eight months after his video-game company, 38 Studios L.L.C., went bankrupt and left Rhode Island taxpayers responsible for a $75 million state loan.

Look around the gymnasiums of local high schools next week and you are sure to see a lot of pink. It's Coaches Vs. Cancer Pink Sock Week. Coaches Vs. Cancer is a nationwide collaborative project between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Fund-raising events raise awareness throughout the season, including boys' and girls' tournaments. The Philadelphia-area organization raised $234,000 in the last fiscal year, the most in the local initiative's history.

One of the most painful moments a small-business owner can face is realizing it's just not working. Maybe it's a product that's not succeeding. Or business taken away by a competitor. When something goes awry and sales take a hit, big changes are needed, sometimes quickly, to turn things around. Socked by competition. Cabot Hosiery Mills had great success in its first 20 years, making private-label socks for retailers like JCPenney and Gap. But in 2000, sales began falling as stores began buying cheaper socks from Chinese vendors, said Ric Cabot, co-owner and son of the company's founder.

David Griesing blogs about bringing values into your work at www.davidgriesing.com If your readers on Amazon aren't writing enough glowing reviews about your books, what's an enterprising author to do? Well if you're British crime writer R.J. Ellory, you start anonymously writing and posting those glowing reviews yourself. And why stop there? While he was busily embellishing his own critical commentary, he also was posting anonymous slash-and-burn lines about authors and books he viewed as competitors - for more than 10 years, apparently - until he was outed recently by a fellow author.

IT'S NO SECRET that former Phillies ace Curt Schilling is hurting for cash. You don't get featured in ESPN Film's latest 30-for-30 documentary, "Broke," unless you're . . . well . . . broke. Schilling has said he personally lost almost $50 million when 38 Studios, his video game company, filed for bankruptcy. On Thursday, he said he may also lose some of his most cherished sports mementos, including the bloody sock he wore while pitching for the Red Sox in Game 2 of the 2004 World Series.

Question: We have been lucky to have open communication with our boys about sex over the years. Now they are 16 and 17 and have girlfriends. The 16-year-old has opted for "everything but" because that makes him feel safest. The 17-year-old is having sex and wants me to allow his 18-year-old girlfriend to spend the night. I have persuaded them to get on the pill, but I feel like they should be having sex in the backseats of cars like the rest of us had to. (Ha, just a little humor there!