Tough Love

His closest confidant asked the basketball world to pray for Allen Iverson, as if no one has all these years while seeing this train wreck coming. He acted as if the former 76ers star hadn't needed a significant dose of prayer, luck, and divine intervention until now. And as the rest of us are forced to bear witness to a disintegration, the rapid decline of a career clearly lacking nurturing, the time has arrived for Iverson's inner circle to stand up and be counted, to provide some semblance of tough love - by any means necessary.

JUVENILE ENFORCEMENT teams have existed in other cities for years. Now Philadelphia finally has its own JET program in the 17th Police District in South Philadelphia. JET is designed to keep juvenile offenders from becoming repeat offenders. The 17th Police District has a reputation for being home to many a bad juvenile. Juvenile crime was so bad there that in 2006, the 17th and the neighboring 1st District became home of the city's first teen curfew center. Police saw shootings drop markedly - 83 percent in the 17th District.

The fatal stabbing of a homeless woman in broad daylight in Center City's JFK Plaza on Tuesday raised the stakes exponentially in the city's efforts to wrest control of its prized downtown squares. In a setting nicknamed LOVE Park, the irony of a killing arising from a supposed lovers' quarrel made headlines that underscore the city's homeless problem. Before LOVE Park hit the news, the city got another black eye over homeless people in Rittenhouse Square - where they camped overnight, bathed in a fountain, and even engaged in park-bench sex. The Nutter administration's initial reaction to Rittenhouse activities was underwhelming, with police officials downplaying any crackdown.

An attractive married woman on the brink of middle age visits a priest in his study. The woman, Mary, opens the consultation with an admission that she is neither a parishioner of his church, St. Theresa's, nor, in fact, even a Roman Catholic. She says she attends an occasional mass at St. Theresa's purely for theatrical recreation and the opportunity to think in tranquility. "I miss the Latin liturgy," she says. "Latin is my favorite 'white noise.' " The priest, Father Michael, a man of about the same age as she, is new to the parish; he has yet to fully unpack his belongings.

TV's perfect father, Bill Cosby, and true-life daughter, Erinn, are not communicating, and he says he's turned to "tough love" in dealing with her. "It's going to take her hitting rock bottom where she's totally exhausted and at that point where she can't fight anymore," the comedian said in a Sunday Los Angeles Times interview. "Right now we're estranged. She can't come here. She's not a person you can trust. " Erinn, 23, checked out of a drug rehab facility in September after acknowledging drug and alcohol abuse.

Kale is about as unlikely a food star as you can imagine. It's tough and fibrous. Bite a piece of raw kale and you'll practically end up with splinters between your teeth. Nevertheless, kale has become a green of the moment because, given a little special care, it's not only edible but delicious. You can cook it, of course, the lower and slower the better. But surprisingly, one of the most popular ways to use kale these days is in salads. Though kale leaves have always been found on almost every salad bar, it wasn't for reasons of edibility - it was for decoration, because this was one green so tough it would last forever without wilting.

The 76ers call it "tough love. " Their definition: Making rookie Marreese Speights carry the bags, having him bring two dozen Dunkin' Donuts - glazed is the favorite - for game-day breakfasts, and ensuring that he always does things the right way. "He's a really good kid," center Samuel Dalembert said. "He can't stop smiling. He's just enjoying being here. And we're all looking over his shoulder, making sure things go well for him. Everything we do is to better him. " A grin crept across Dalembert's face as he added, "We can't make it too easy for him, though.

Matt Brown thought his career at Temple was over. Never mind the team-leading 830 rushing yards he had last season. Disregard that the 5-foot-5, 170-pounder earned second-team all-Mid-American Conference honors. At home in Baltimore this past summer, Brown believed that his tenure with the Owls was finished. The never-back-down bravado that enables him to excel on the field despite his small stature had ended his college career on North Broad Street . . . or so he thought.

Proposing tiny carrots but a big stick, GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush came to the Philadelphia region for the first time in 2000 to say that American schools need to be whipped into shape - with tough love. The Texas governor, who won yesterday's uncontested Pennsylvania primary and will return here in late July to accept the Republican nomination, did propose tripling - to a modest $25 million - the amount that Washington gives schools for building character. But the gist of Bush's message to a small gaggle of educators and reporters crowded into the library of Abington High School - especially for fiscally troubled urban schools like Philadelphia - was to improve quickly, or lose federal dollars.

In fairness, the little incident concerning the inhospitable vitriol dumped on a young couple from Pottstown who were wearing New York Rangers jerseys to a Philadelphia Flyers game should not be held against a city trying out its new slogan. You remember the one unveiled last week? "Philadelphia: The Place That Loves You Back"? Flyers fans just haven't gotten with the program. Yet. To recap: A Pottstown couple attending the Flyers-Rangers game on Feb. 23 dressed in their red-and-blue best were the target of so much foul language that, by the end of the third period, they were escorted out of the CoreStates Center by security guards who feared for their safety.

HARRISBURG - He is being picketed almost daily by demonstrators in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh - a tin man without a heart, they call him. His Facebook page teems with complaints from angry Pennsylvanians. And his poll numbers have started to sag. Enough, say top political advisers, supporters, and fund-raisers to Gov. Corbett. Though they have anxiously watched for months as Corbett has fielded political hits on everything from policy to personality, they are now encouraging the governor to shake things up in hopes of shaking off what they think is turning into a growing image problem.

Question: This is a pretty painful question. Over the last two years (since graduating from law school) my love life has been a mess; I've had about 10 pseudo-relationships that burned out quickly and have had to recognize I'm the common denominator. I discussed this with friends and they gave me the "tough love" talk: I move too quickly. Specifically, I jump into bed too quickly and wind up coming off as easy. This was exceedingly difficult to hear, but corroborates comments a few boyfriends have made.

They are young and he is not. That shouldn't matter, but eventually, inevitably, it does. If you have ever been a parent who survived those wonderful teen years, then you can relate. Doug Collins has been there, done that. Not only as a father, but as a grandfather. There is, on average, roughly 40 years distance between them, the children of the 76ers and their baby-sitter, the coach. They may find it difficult to fathom, but he knows more basketball than they do. Tons more.

Kale is about as unlikely a food star as you can imagine. It's tough and fibrous. Bite a piece of raw kale and you'll practically end up with splinters between your teeth. Nevertheless, kale has become a green of the moment because, given a little special care, it's not only edible but delicious. You can cook it, of course, the lower and slower the better. But surprisingly, one of the most popular ways to use kale these days is in salads. Though kale leaves have always been found on almost every salad bar, it wasn't for reasons of edibility - it was for decoration, because this was one green so tough it would last forever without wilting.

Phyllis F. Hirsh York, 74, formerly of Doylestown, a family therapist who cofounded the self-help program for parents called ToughLove, died of respiratory failure Wednesday, March 14, at a daughter's home in Northeast Philadelphia. In the 1970s, Mrs. York and her husband, David, developed ToughLove, based on their experiences dealing with their own out-of-control teenagers. "The essence of our philosophy is that parents must 'take a stand' with their children," David York said in a 1980 interview in the Inquirer Magazine.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Everyone, from front-office types to members of the media to the guy collecting towels, calls the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies by his first name. To some he's Charlie and to others he's Chuck, but no one around here uses Manuel when referring to the skipper. The pitching coach? That's another story. No one, from front-office types to members of the media to the guy collecting towels, calls Rich Dubee by his first name. Unless, said Cole Hamels, you need to jab him the way he likes to jab everyone else.

'IT'S HALFTIME in America," the Super Bowl commercial featuring Clint Eastwood, was the latest in a long tradition of emotional appeals to patriotism routinely used to sell any number of products - in this case, Chryslers. In fact, the car company invoked the same theme last year, with homeboy Eminem praising Detroit as a city that had "been to hell and back. " So it says something important that Republican strategist Karl Rove assumed that the ad was meant to sell not cars, but a second term for Barack Obama, giving the president credit for the auto industry's remarkable turnaround and its boost to the U.S. to psyche.

There's no telling how different the Wizards would be if they had drafted Ricky Rubio when they had the chance. Surely they couldn't be any worse than what they are now: a winless team that might make a run at the 1972-73 Sixers' 9-73 record. Kevin Love and Rubio (a No. 5 overall pick Minnesota acquired from the Wizards in 2009) controlled the game in the 93-72 win for the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday, while the Wizards were showered with boos during a 12-point fourth quarter as they dropped to 0-8. "There's really not much to say," Washington coach Flip Saunders said.

Question: I don't know how to deal with my mom and her recent irresponsible decisions. She is in love again with her on-again-off-again boyfriend. To mark this new development, he recently gave her a very expensive "commitment ring," or, as I like to call it, an "I cheated on you, so here's a blinding diamond to forget about that" ring. I've witnessed two-plus years of the emotional roller coaster this man has put her on. I am 27; she is 57. I would define our relationship as more of a best-friend relationship rather than a traditional mother-daughter relationship.

BEVERLY HILLS - Think you're too opinionated? That may not be a bad thing. In fact, for fashion guru Joe Zee it led to success in the high-powered, fiercely competitive field of fashion design. Zee is the creative director for Elle magazine and the host of Sundance Channel's All on the Line , which begins its second season Friday.   Zee helps designers who've lost their way and tries to resuscitate their business. Part fashionista, part therapist, and part drill-sergeant, he harangues and cajoles them into fulfilling their stagnating potential.