Team Names

It is no secret that the civil rights establishment has become a parody of what was once a courageous battle for racial dignity and fairness. There was a time when those who claimed to fight against prejudice confronted genuinely terrible injustice: segregated public schools, the bombing of black churches, flouting of the 15th Amendment. No more. "Civil rights" leaders today are typically shakedown artists like Jesse Jackson or racial inciters like Al Sharpton. The old struggle to cleanse the law of distinctions based on color has given way to demands for permanent racial preferences.

It's time for baseball and other sports to get serious about changing team names that are considered offensive. This year we had two teams in the World Series with names - Braves and Indians - that troubled some Native Americans. So a record number of sensitive individuals went on TV to talk about their pain and anguish and wounded dignity. I have to admit that I've never understood this, because the players on these two teams were not wearing feathers, grunting "ugh" or staggering from drinking too much firewater.

Camden's minor-league baseball franchise went to the city's schoolchildren last week for help in choosing a name for the new team. Ballots distributed to about 16,000 students in kindergarten through eighth grade at the city's public and parochial schools offered seven names - Batts, Cowfish, Craze, Crickets, Rivermen, Riversharks and WaterDogs - and a blank for write-in nominations. If an informal exit poll of students at Coopers Poynt Elementary School in North Camden was any indication, Riversharks looked like the runaway favorite.

Washington may or may not get a new President next year, but it is getting a new baseball team. And like almost every major-league team that has ever worn Washington on its jersey, this one is a last-place bunch. Word yesterday was that the poor, mistreated, bumbling Expos will end their long twilight in Montreal and move to the imperial city. Let's hope this team is more successful that the District's previous two. It's not a high bar. The original Senators' penchant for losing inspired the quip, "Washington, first in war, first in peace, last in the American League.

Ronald Reagan is on TV tonight and ABC has him exclusively. But it is not the President and the show is not worth watching. EVENING HIGHLIGHTS WHATTA YEAR . . . 1986 (8 p.m., Ch. 6) - This is not to be confused with Whatta Failure: 1986, which is NBC's about-to-expire news magazine. This is more like a year-end poll with the increasingly common, and tedious, viewer call-in gimmick. There will be guests and features, but if this retrospective is remembered in a later retrospective, its only distinguishing feature will be the presence of Ron Reagan, who is co-host with Justine Bateman of NBC's Family Ties.

It was a brisk October evening at an empty ballfield in the Lawnside Recreational Park, but Ricardo Hayes could hear the crack of wood against a tiny white orb and see the swirl of dirt as a runner slid under a clear night sky. A former batboy with the Camden Travelers of the Negro League, Hayes brought Little League back into the borough this summer, after a hiatus of 17 years. Now, Hayes and his fellow Free Haven-Lawnside Little League coaches are hoping they can upgrade the field that youngsters in the league used this summer.

Some do it to meet new friends; others do it to meet old friends. There are those who play for the sport of it and those who play because, they say, there's just nothing else to do. But, whatever is sending Washington Township residents to the town's four new outdoor sand volleyball courts, the sand is flying. James McKeever, who oversees the maintenance of the courts in Washington Lake Park as director of municipal services, said the $32,000 courts were one of the new park's more popular attractions.

They exist on the fringes. A loosely knit society of workers whose lives are divided between Mexico and the United States by the seasons, they follow the harvests, often without putting down roots of their own. But here, a group of migrant farmworkers have taken a step toward building a permanent community: They have set up the Bridgeton Soccer League. The 11 teams that make up the league are made up mostly of Mexican immigrants, but players also hail from Jamaica, Italy, Chile, Puerto Rico, Colombia and Ecuador.

Tennis is a family affair at the Freitag home. Frank Freitag, tennis coach at Central Bucks West, plays mixed doubles with his wife, Barbara, on Sundays. Mark and Jennifer Freitag, their children, play for West's doubles and mixed doubles teams, respectively. So when Jennifer and Mark Freitag placed third and fourth in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association District 1 Doubles Championships Thursday and Friday at Radnor High School, dad and mom were elated. "Call it pride," said the coach.

The Business page would not be my first choice to learn about the fanaticism displayed by supporters of Philadelphia's sports teams. After all, you can see people wearing Flyers jerseys or driving cars with the Phillies' "P" on the front license plate. Team names are painted into lawns. I pass a custom minibus emblazoned with the "Eagles" logo sitting in a driveway when I take one of the younger Armstrongs to his violin lesson each week. But Philadelphia's deep identification as a rabid sports town brought about 120 businesspeople to the Four Seasons Hotel on Thursday to hear a panel of experts make the case that it's not all fun and games.

St. Joseph's senior Chatilla van Grinsven was named the Big Five women's basketball player of the year, and the Hawks' Cindy Griffin received coaching honors Tuesday. Joining van Grinsven on the first team were Villanova's Laura Sweeney (Cherokee), Penn's Alyssa Baron, Temple's Victoria Macaulay, and La Salle's Brittany Wilson. Penn's Keiera Ray was the rookie of the year. Baseball. In his second career start, freshman John Ryan (Paul VI) allowed just one run on three hits in eight innings for Immaculata (12-15)

The Business page would not be my first choice to learn about the fanaticism displayed by supporters of Philadelphia's sports teams. After all, you can see people wearing Flyers jerseys or driving cars with the Phillies' "P" on the front license plate. Team names are painted into lawns. I pass a custom minibus emblazoned with the "Eagles" logo sitting in a driveway when I take one of the younger Armstrongs to his violin lesson each week. But Philadelphia's deep identification as a rabid sports town brought about 120 businesspeople to the Four Seasons Hotel on Thursday to hear a panel of experts make the case that it's not all fun and games.

The Eagles officially passed the title of defensive coordinator from Jim Johnson to Sean McDermott yesterday. With Johnson still battling the metastatic melanoma that was discovered by doctors during the Eagles' playoff run in January, the decision was mutually agreed upon that it was time for McDermott to take control of the defense. McDermott, a 35-year-old graduate of La Salle High School and a member of the Eagles' organization since 1998, will speak about his new role for the first time today at a 1 p.m. news conference.

Some people see a bridge. In fact, they see a very specific bridge, the Commodore Barry, deftly tucked into the logo of the region's new pro soccer team, the Union, which formally announced its name and colors yesterday. A rollicking news conference at Philadelphia City Hall drew hundreds of fans along with dignitaries from Mayor Nutter to Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber, gathered to celebrate what team co-owner Jay Sugarman grinningly called "the world's worst-kept secret.

The new Philadelphia soccer team has chosen its nickname: The IronPigs. Just kidding, soccer fans. Don't have a stroke. Besides, that name is already taken, picked for a new Phillies farm club in Allentown through an online vote of baseball fans. Which explains why, when Philadelphia was formally awarded a Major League Soccer team and Gov. Rendell announced that fans would choose the name, you could see members of the ownership group squirm. Actually, fans will only help select the name.

The Eagles yesterday signed a cornerback you've never heard of even though he's a veteran and former division rival. Yes, William James is now a member of the Eagles. Before yesterday, James was known as Will Peterson, but after agreeing to a one-year deal at the prorated veteran minimum of $585,000, the Eagles announced his name change as well as his addition to the roster. To make room for Peterson - sorry, James - the Eagles released cornerback Dexter Wynn, who had returned to the team after a Week 1 injury to Lito Sheppard.

Washington may or may not get a new President next year, but it is getting a new baseball team. And like almost every major-league team that has ever worn Washington on its jersey, this one is a last-place bunch. Word yesterday was that the poor, mistreated, bumbling Expos will end their long twilight in Montreal and move to the imperial city. Let's hope this team is more successful that the District's previous two. It's not a high bar. The original Senators' penchant for losing inspired the quip, "Washington, first in war, first in peace, last in the American League.

The 76ers' No. 1 draft choice, Andre Iguodala, several current Sixers, and three area players will begin workouts tomorrow in preparation for the NBA summer league. Sixers Samuel Dalembert, Kyle Korver, John Salmons and Willie Green will be on the 15-man roster, along with Tyrone Barley from St. Joseph's, Marques Green of St. Bonaventure and Norristown High, and Anthony Frazier, a West Philadelphia High product who attended Cheyney University. The team will hold four practices in Philadelphia this week before beginning play in the summer league in Minneapolis on Tuesday.

Jon Bon Jovi says it was definitely his idea - calling Philadelphia's new Arena Football League team the Soul. The rock star and team co-owner said the name came to him on thinking about the "Philadelphia Sound," created here in the 1970s by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The name is meant, he said, to link music, football and the community. "I was very passionate about it," Bon Jovi, a self-described football fanatic, said yesterday. "You had to have a catchy name. It had to have something to do with the city.

No one will have any doubt about the sponsor of the new Please Touch Museum that's scheduled to open at Penn's Landing in 2003. It'll be right on the building: Please Touch Museum Presented by McDonald's Kids Charities. The expanded name is the result of a hefty, $5 million donation from the fast-food icon. Following the example of stadiums and entertainment centers, a growing number of nonprofit institutions - from the Mattel Children's Hospital in Los Angeles to the General Motors Center for African American Art in Detroit - are embracing corporate sponsors in exchange for big donations.