Towels

T.O. was not in the building, the Eagles weren't talking, and censorship was used on the team quote sheets. Yes, the Eagles want this sexy scandal involving Terrell Owens to disappear faster than an Edie Britt towel in a pregame locker room. Extra media were in attendance yesterday at the NovaCare Complex in the hope of getting some reaction from Owens about his controversial Monday Night Football catch of a seemingly naked Nicollette Sheridan, but the Eagles wide receiver was excused from practice for personal reasons.

ABC says it went out of bounds with Terrell Owens and Nicollette Sheridan. The network's sports division apologized yesterday for its steamy Monday Night Football pregame teaser featuring Eagles star Owens and Sheridan, a resident vixen on ABC's hot new hit Desperate Housewives. The NFL labeled the skit "unsuitable. " The Eagles (but not Owens) said they wished it hadn't aired. The Federal Communications Commission is reviewing complaints. "We have heard from many of our viewers . . . and we agree that the placement was inappropriate.

Terrell Owens showed he could catch a football - and a naked Nicollette Sheridan - during last night's Monday Night Football telecast on ABC. The MNF teaser, featuring Owens and Sheridan, may have been more stimulating than the game. Sheridan, who plays serial divorcee Edie Britt on the ABC Sunday night hit Desperate Housewives, is clad in only a white towel as she confronts Owens in the Eagles locker room. After a few exchanges, Sheridan drops the towel and leaps into Owens' arms.

You're headed to the beach and want some sensible, yet slightly elegant, food with minimal fuss. Take life easy. Concentrate on no-cook or cook-ahead dishes to serve chilled or at room temperature. Think cheese, fruits, cured meats. Pasta salad. Cold chicken or turkey, poached salmon or lobster - all are tempting options. Your menu depends, of course, on whether you're day-tripping with a long drive ahead or just toting a blanket and basket of food a half-block from your Shore cottage.

You're at a party and doing the usual juggle: plate of food in one hand, drink in the other - standing, sampling, sipping, and schmoozing at the same time. If only you could grow another hand . . . Consider the Buffet Genius, from Wilmington-area housewares juggernaut Debbie Meyer. The Genius is a kidney-shaped footed tray that will secure a plate and a drink; its vertical column for silverware extends underneath to form a handle. Three thousand sets were snapped up in a matter of minutes when it debuted on QVC last month.

August. It's the month when my senses go into low gear. Everything that was once serious seems to become trivial. I don't question why, after 31 years, I am again singing "Bye, bye, Miss American Pie. " It's August, so why inquire about odd behavior? I've even committed larceny in my doctor's waiting room. It was a recipe for apricot-glazed chicken in one of his magazines. I had to have that recipe. I actually tore it out! No self-recrimination, though. It's August, and I am numb.

Two Eastern University seniors, waging a peace mission to Iraq's civilians, made a perilous 15-hour journey yesterday from Jordan across the Iraqi desert, passing through the invading American military's front lines, and arriving before dark in Baghdad - just before U.S. forces began another nighttime aerial bombardment. Jonathan and Leah Wilson-Hartgrove, both 22, who attend the university in St. Davids, made the trip in a two-car caravan with eight other members of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)

Welcome to the glamorous world of network television. Out in West Philadelphia, CBS is shooting Hack on Aug. 14, a day when a fry cook would need only a spatula to open up business right on the sidewalk. It is sweltering. And director Harry Winer has appropriated the only shade on 42d Street just south of Girard Avenue, sitting under a portable canopy and watching on a pair of monitors as stars David Morse and Andre Braugher rehearse and shoot the same scene over and over. Makeup artists hover near the actors like remora fish around sharks, running up every few seconds with paper towels to blot sweat off their faces.

As if a season of brutal basketball wasn't bad enough for the New York Knicks, now they're being humiliated, too. In their most-lopsided home loss ever, the Knicks fell to the Charlotte Hornets, 111-68, yesterday for their eighth consecutive defeat. "It's an embarrassment," point guard Mark Jackson said. By the end of the game, which saddled the Knicks with their longest losing streak in 15 years, several players on the bench had towels covering their heads. "I thought they threw in the towel," coach Don Chaney said.

They have not been the biggest crowds at Veterans Stadium this season. They have been the best. During the first three games of their showdown series with the Atlanta Braves, the Phillies felt energized by their fans' enthusiasm. "I think it has helped a lot," reliever Ricky Bottalico said. "That first night, they were very enthusiastic. I think a lot of them just wanted to be out among people. But since then, they've shown a lot of support. This place has been going nuts.