Soul

A BYE IN the first week of the regular season is no way to begin the year. But, as Moses first said high atop Mount Sinai, it is what it is. There's no sense griping over last week's early bye, Soul players insist. The ramifications won't be felt until the middle of the season when the collective aches and pains sure could use a week off. The Soul's schedule is unfriendly in that regard, too. The AFL plays 18 games over 20 weeks, so each team has 2 weeks off. The Soul's second bye isn't until Week 19. When the Soul take on New Orleans on Sunday, they will start a run of 17 games in 17 weeks.

THE SOUL'S 2013 schedule isn't particularly friendly, but it is sprinkled with some early intrigue. Philadelphia opens the season on the road with a rematch against Arizona, the team that rolled the Soul in the most recent AFL Championship Game. The March 23 game in Phoenix is followed by a bye and then games in 17 consecutive weeks as the AFL again will play an 18-game schedule. "The task of making a return to the ArenaBowl is always a difficult one, but one that we will be prepared to tackle," Soul coach Clint Dolezel said in a release.

IT WAS A LITTLE noisier at Soul practice on Wednesday morning and the coaches couldn't have been happier. Wide receiver Donovan Morgan was back for his first day of on-field work since fracturing his left wrist on April 1. "Sitting out was very difficult," said Morgan, who chatted up and encouraged teammates as usual during Wednesday's preparations. "It was like seeing your troops go to battle and you're not able to go out on the front lines and be there with them. I'm one of those guys that wants to be on the front lines with my troops and lead the way. Sitting on the sidelines was killing me. " Morgan, a team captain, had 23 catches and eight TDs in two-plus games before getting injured.

As soon as Derrick Ross fell into the end zone with 1 minute, 18 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, he pushed himself up and sprinted to the 25-yard line. He squatted and pulled his arm back as if he were starting an imaginary lawn mower. Ross did that three times before topping off his celebration dance with a shoulder shimmy. The fullback has become accustomed to polishing off touchdowns with his dances - he's done it 31 times this season - but this one was celebrating another score as much as it was celebrating another win for his red-hot Soul team.

Retro-soul music's been in fashion for the last decade on both sides of the Atlantic. But while there is no shortage of Stax-style soul-shouters and postmodern Motown acolytes out and about, there has been a dearth of acoustic soul revivalists bringing back the earthy 1970s vibes of such natural-born soul men as Bill Withers, Terry Callier, and Van Morrison. That's where Michael Kiwanuka comes in. The 24-year-old jazz-schooled singer and guitarist of Ugandan parentage hails from the Muswell Hill section of North London, where the Davies brothers of the Kinks grew up. Kiwanuka possesses a rich, grainy voice that communicates extraordinary calm.

A raid of two clubhouses under the Market-Frankford El this morning was part of a federal crackdown today on a motorcycle gang whose "Mother Chapter" is alleged to be based in Philadelphia. About 6 a.m., agents of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms entered two Wheels of Soul buildings that sit across from each other in the 6100 block of Market Street. A federal indictment unsealed in St Louis this morning alleged that 18 Wheels of Soul associates from seven states - Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Colorado, Wisconsin and Kentucky - are suspected of involvement in murder, kidnapping, drug distribution and racketeering.

DOUG PLANK has resigned after one very successful season as the Soul's head coach. "I would like to thank the entire organization and the city of Philadelphia for how they embraced me and this team. It was an incredible run," Plank said in a statement. "I was blessed to have so many players, coaches, individuals within the organization, and most importantly - the fans - that made my job easy. "In the last few days, my job description has changed. Coach Plank has now become Doug, Dad and Grandpa.

It takes focus right now to actually hear Amy Winehouse's voice amid all the chatter, to appreciate the breath and hum that created Back to Black , her devastating second, and final, album. After all, the lurid, sad craziness of her addiction, to which she apparently succumbed over the weekend at her home in London, was her story line - as was failure - and her honesty and openness in tackling the subjects, coupled with her charisma and vocal swagger, was her allure. Had she sung about her family trying to make her go to a barbecue instead of rehab, or had she titled her breakout album Back to Pink , well, you wouldn't be reading this right now. Her story was her trouble.

Quarterback Dan Raudabaugh completed 22 of 24 passes for six touchdowns to lead the Soul over the host Rush, 72-41, in AFL action in Chicago. The Soul opened a 38-21 halftime lead, then turned it on in the second half in their first meeting between the two since a 62-28 Rush blowout in 2011.  

FORMER EAGLES defensive tackle Hollis Thomas will be an assistant coach for the Soul this season. Thomas, 39, will work with the Soul's defensive line in a part-time capacity that also will allow him to continue as an occasional host for 94WIP radio. "I think it's going to be fun," said Thomas, who played for the Eagles from 1996-2005. "I had a lot of good D-line coaches and it's my duty to try to pass along some of that knowledge. " Thomas made the Eagles as an undrafted free agent out of Northern Illinois and was a key member of some of those great Jim Johnson-led defenses in the early 2000s.