Triple Threat

It was breakfast time, and Iowa Hawkeyes defensive coordinator Norm Parker sat at a table trying to explain the challenge of stopping Georgia Tech's triple option. Parker waved his cup of morning coffee. "This is the quarterback," he said. He grabbed a jug of orange juice. "That's the fullback," he said. An empty glass became a defensive end, and a water bottle became a linebacker. Soon Parker was pushing the containers around, trying to contain the Yellow Jackets.

Melissa Kelly certainly doesn't look threatening. She's barely 5-foot-4, so it might be easy to take her lightly as a softball player. But then the game begins, and Kelly becomes a threat. A threat at the plate, a threat on defense, and an unbelievable threat on the base paths. A sophomore, Kelly did not have a spot on the Norristown varsity when the season began. The Eagles opened at the Perkiomen Valley tournament March 18. That day, Kelly was one of three players who had been on the junior varsity last season who were brought along so coach Jim McCarthy could see them in game situations.

Training discipline for throwing the shot, the javelin or the discus? How about appearing in Swan Lake? Oxford senior Irish McGhee - the Hornets' triple threat in track and field's throwing events - credits her training in ballet and gymnastics with her success in the throws. "The technique is comparable to ballet and gymnastics," she said. "Balance is everything. You have to stay under control. Your agility is very important. You have to be tight with your body and move gracefully.

WHENEVER HE WANTED John Mellencamp. Mercury. It's a shame John Cougar Mellencamp isn't an idiot. At his disposal is everything he would have needed to sustain a career as a likeable dunce. He can blam out scores of catchy, re-tread Stones riffs, scribble lots of cheeky lyrics about the joys of pounding the Posturepedic. Unfortunately, Mellencamp has a brain. So for the last eight years (and four albums) he has forsaken his possible career path as another Bryan Adams, and opted to pitch himself as a serious-minded triple threat: World Observer, Life Chronicler and Hayseed Advocate Extraordinaire.

As a stablemate of Ray Mercer with the Triple Threat boxing team, Charles "The Natural" Murray was well aware of the dangers of looking past an opponent. Mercer is the heavyweight who was penciled in to meet Riddick Bowe, but suffered a surprising loss to North Philadelphia journeyman Jesse Ferguson. Murray wasn't thinking about future opponent "Rockin' " Rodney Moore when he scored a 10-round, unanimous decision over Germantown's Tony Martin last night at Merv Griffin's Resorts.

Marc Roberts perhaps can be excused for letting his imagination run wild. It's easy to get carried away when you manage a fighter as gifted as Charles "The Natural" Murray. "A year from now, Charles will be ready to fight (Julio Cesar) Chavez and (Hector) Camacho," Roberts said after Murray defended his United States Boxing Association junior welterweight championship with a 12-round, unanimous decision over David Taylor last night at the Trump Taj Mahal. "And you know what? He will be the favorite against either one. That's how much Charles is going to improve between now and then.

As expected, hundreds of Daily News readers sent e-mails yesterday with alternative names for the Eagles' "Wildcat" formation. Among the most popular - "Screaming Eagle," "Talon," "Thunderbird," "Wild Bird," "Bird of Prey" and "Vicktory Formation. " Here are some others that caught our attention: Triple Threat, "because Vick can hand off, run or pass," Rashawn Prewitt, Glassboro VickNabb, Rob Dell'Elmo, Reading 3-D Offense, due to the "three dimensional" threat that Michael Vick presents, Fred Letterio, Philadelphia The Most Overblown Gadgetry Since Using A Midget in the World Series, Kerry Reinhart, Lehighton Vildcat, Bruce Middlebrook, Williamstown, N.J. The "Vick 6," Jim Landau, White Plains, N.Y. WildBACK formation, since Vick taking the snap is a true quarterBACK, Vic Patalano, Willow Grove The McVick formation, Joe Schrier, Bensalem Green Light, Jeffrey Wolford Jr., Frankford All-In Offense.

The cutoff for making the NJSIAA softball playoffs is today, and home-field advantage is coveted by every team that qualifies. But having home turf, like sudden-found treasure, is not always what it seems. Therefore, Pennsville softball coach Herb Bacon is having second thoughts. "I always thought that it [home field] was valuable, but after the last two years I have to question my thinking," said Bacon, who had his teams seeded No. 1 in Group 1 each of the last two seasons only to see both upset in first-round games.

Mike Potter was a triple threat. Yesterday, he was a triple executioner to host Cherokee. The Shawnee senior made big plays on offense, defense and special teams to lead the Renegades to a 21-8 win in a Burlington County League Liberty Division football game. Potter had a 58-yard punt return that set up one score, ran for two touchdowns, and intercepted two passes as Shawnee won for the third time in four years in the series. "This is equal to a Group 4 state playoff game," Potter said.

Aaron McKie was the icy calm in a sea of controversy. All he had to do was spend the night defending the Detroit Pistons' Grant Hill. Remember these numbers: Hill scored 32 points, but hitting all nine of his shots in the first half, finished 13-for-22, missing seven of his last eight. And remember this: The 76ers, at the end of a long, hard day, beat the Pistons, 122-121, in overtime on Eric Snow's 16-foot jumper from the left side that dropped through as the buzzer sounded.

ELKTON, Md. — Sometime around 10 a.m. Sunday, a horse van carrying Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another north on I-95 to Belmont Park, passed about 10 miles east of the Fair Hill (Md.) Training Center. The horse that will be going for the Triple Crown on June 9 in the Belmont Stakes was on his way to get familiar with the surface they call "Big Sandy. " Meanwhile, the horse whose trainer thought might be going for the Triple Crown was hanging in his Fair Hill stall.

IT WAS GREAT WHILE it lasted . . . After storming to an 11-4 record in the first round of the PIAA playoffs, and winning all five second-round games played on Tuesday (in Class A/AAA), District 12 absorbed a punch to the gut - or even lower - in the AA/AAAA games played Wednesday. The AA squads went 2-2 while the AAAAs staggered to 0-2. Don't fret. Lots of teams are still alive. There will be five games tonight and another tomorrow and the latter will be an all-12 affair.

Tommy Jakubowski never heard of Chip Hilton. Hilton was the fictional star of Claire Bee's popular series of novels, set in the 1950s, about a three-sport athlete who excelled on the football field, basketball court, and baseball diamond. They don't write books like that anymore. They don't make many athletes like Jakubowski, either. "I love all three," Jakubowski said of football, basketball, and baseball. Jakubowski is an old-fashioned, three-sport star - a football player in the fall, a basketball player in the winter, and a baseball player in the spring.

Tommy Jakubowski never heard of Chip Hilton. Hilton was the fictional star of Claire Bee's popular series of novels, set in the 1950s, about a three-sport athlete who excelled on the football field, basketball court, and baseball diamond. They don't write books like that anymore. They don't make many athletes like Jakubowski, either. "I love all three," Jakubowski said of football, basketball, and baseball. Jakubowski is an old-fashioned, three-sport star - a football player in the fall, a basketball player in the winter, and a baseball player in the spring.

There are a lot of years between Roxie Hart and Casey Anthony, but the more things change, the more they stay the same. Chicago , that musical vaudeville starring sex, murder, sexy murderesses and publicity, captivating audiences in one form or another since 1926, arrives at Media Theatre in 2011. It was topical in 1975, with director/choreographer Bob Fosse, composer John Kander, and lyricist Fred Ebb at its helm, and again when director Walter Bobbie and choreographer Ann Reinking revived it in 1996.

It appears to be easy to find a consensus when selecting the No. 1 team in college basketball before a single game has tipped off. What can be difficult is for that consensus eventually to be correct. In 2008-09, North Carolina was the overwhelming selection as No. 1 and finished up as the national champion. Kansas ruled the roost the following season, holding the No. 1 ranking for all but four weeks. But the Jayhawks were shocked by Northern Iowa in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Three proved to be the magic number for Dobbins in a Public League Class AAA game Friday. Mustangs players surpassed 100 yards in rushing, receiving and passing, and Dobbins routed Martin Luther King, 42-8, at 29th Street Stadium. Terrance Stafford rushed 21 times for 120 yards and scored on a 3-yard run, Jamil Williams caught six passes for 111 yards, and Kevin Butler completed nine of 18 passes for 155 yards. Stafford also scored on defense, taking a fumble 45 yards for a touchdown.

One plays the role of mother hen, who watches over his younger siblings with a keen eagle eye. The other plays the motivator, never afraid to say something and let his brothers know how he feels and what's going on. Finally, there is the youngest, a budding talent who is getting better each day. Together, the Robinson brothers - Laquan, Kareem and Darius - are making history this season, the only three brothers to play for the storied Chester High...

It was breakfast time, and Iowa Hawkeyes defensive coordinator Norm Parker sat at a table trying to explain the challenge of stopping Georgia Tech's triple option. Parker waved his cup of morning coffee. "This is the quarterback," he said. He grabbed a jug of orange juice. "That's the fullback," he said. An empty glass became a defensive end, and a water bottle became a linebacker. Soon Parker was pushing the containers around, trying to contain the Yellow Jackets.

WHEN John Heisman coached football at Franklin Field in the 1920s (yes, the namesake of the Heisman Trophy played and coached at Penn), it was a single-tier stadium. By 1960, when the Eagles' Chuck Bednarik stopped the Packers' Jim Taylor in the waning moments of the NFL championship game and sat on him till the clock ran, preserving a 17-13 victory, it had been rebuilt as the nation's first double-tier stadium. Next season, the arena will have another tier, but it'll be underground, a creative reuse of ancient assets that's a key challenge for our historic crumbling city.