Whoa

SANTA CLAUS TURNS UP in the strangest places - even as a crossing guard at Woodbury School Friday. But this is really Sahl Becker, a genuine crossing guard for the school. Becker, of Deptford, traditionally dresses as Santa the last day before the holiday break, to the delight of children and adults. He continued the tradition at New Street and Delaware Avenue Friday, despite his open-heart surgery a year ago.

A glorious spring day. People riding bicycles, playing Frisbee, walking dogs, lying on hammocks, washing their roofs . . . whoa! Washing their roofs? Yes, Angelo Pallon of Cherry Hill used the sunny, almost wind-free day to wash the Lucite panels on the roof of the house he built.

WHOA, WHOA, whoa, whoa. We know it's been a while since he was pacing the Eagles' sidelines, but Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden spouted off some talk yesterday that struck a nerve if you're a Philly fan. According to the Tampa Tribune , Gruden said he was happy for the Tampa Bay Rays and that he hopes they beat up on the Phillies in the World Series. Gruden: "Congratulations to the Devil Rays. We are really excited for them. Awesome job. Just hope we can beat Philadelphia.

Isn't it funny how some fast songs seem to go so slow? Or how some short songs seem to take forever to finish? That was the case when poli-sci punks Against Me! opened for blood-and-guts romantics Alkaline Trio at Friday's sold-out show at Electric Factory. Against Me! played a tight, not-a-second-over-45-minute set. Alkaline? They went on forever. How long? I think I'm still there. Like a less-Irish Dropkick Murphys touched by the anarchist spirit of folk-punk forefather Billy Bragg, Against and its gruff lead singer Tom Gabel chomped sloppily through excited social rhetoric and anthemic musicality as if chewing tobacco.

"We took a long, hard look at the cola landscape," Ken Ross, chief spokesman for Pepsi USA, tells me during the final tense hours of Tuesday's long pre-Grammy afternoon. Half the world is relieved to learn that Marcos is finally out. The other half nervously awaits the world premiere of the Don Johnson Pepsi commercial. "There are 20 different colas out there," Ross says forlornly. "It's awfully easy to get lost in the clutter of 20 different colas. " His mind drifts back to 1984, when Pepsi called upon Michael Jackson to lead them out of the cola wilderness.

The U.S. Coast Guard on Friday released recordings of radio traffic from the time the duck boat was run over by a barge on the Delaware River on July 7. The first indication of trouble comes from an unidentified voice, possibly a nearby ferry captain, who sounds as if he is witnessing the accident. "Hey! Ferry, ferry, ferry! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" the voice shouts on Channel 16, which is the emergency frequency. A short time later, person on the tugboat Freedom contacts the Coast Guard to alert them about the accident.

The U.S. Coast Guard on Friday released recordings of radio traffic from the time the duck boat was run over by a barge on the Delaware River on July 7. The first indication of trouble comes from an unidentified voice, possibly a nearby ferry captain, who sounds as if he is witnessing the accident. "Hey! Ferry, ferry, ferry! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" the voice shouts on Channel 16, which is the emergency frequency. A short time later the captain of tugboat Freedom contacts the Coast Guard to alert them about the accident.

As we all know, comedian Bernie Mac died over the weekend, way too young at age 50. For those of you who may not be totally familiar with his humor - and those of you who just feel like getting another dose - here's his intro segment on the April 5, 2003, installment of "Saturday Night Live. " Bernie Mac: Hello! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey, hey - welcome, everybody! And I hope everybody here to have a good time, because I am here to have a blast! You know? Because the whole country's tense!

LIFE IS ALL about lessons. Temple's football team found that out the hard way last week. It shouldn't happen, but it does. Now, well, there's another game to play. And the Owls' "Bloody Tuesday" practice was probably even redder than usual. First-year coach Steve Addazio didn't mince his analysis yesterday. Going from winning, 38-7, at Maryland to losing, 36-13, to Toledo will do that. "We have to learn how to handle success better," said Addazio, whose team (3-2, 1-1 MAC East)

MAYBE FOX should save time and simply pair "American Idol" with "America's Most Wanted. " Terrell and Derrell Brittenum, the Memphis twins who wowed the judges in their audition on Tuesday's episode, may be behind bars by the time the world's most popular karaoke show goes live from Hollywood. Terrell is already in the clink, having been in jail since Jan. 10 on an outstanding warrant for charges related to the illegal purchase of a car near Atlanta. He and his brother, Derrell, are accused of using another man's identity to buy a 2005 Dodge Magnum in June.

Calling himself Secret Santa, an anonymous businessman doled out scores of $100 bills Tuesday in Reading, one of America's poorest cities. In all, about $20,000 was given out by the light-haired, clean-shaven man, who sported a red shirt and a red cap with the word Elf on the back as he was accompanied by police at a bus station and other locations. The generosity brought at least two people to tears, as seen on a Reading Eagle video. "There's a lot of happiness that comes of this," he says in the footage.

Many soap fans - at least the ones with fast Internet hookups - are mourning the news that All My Children and One Life to Live will not enjoy second lives online after all. Personally, as much as I love both shows, I never thought transplanting them to the Web was a viable solution. If daytime dramas had grown too cumbersome and expensive for broadcast, how could the financials work in the cable-access atmosphere of the Web? In fact, with all the cost-cutting measures that Prospect Park, the new owner of AMC and OLTL, was exploring, fans should consider themselves lucky things didn't work out. They might not have been able to recognize their old favorites online.

LIFE IS ALL about lessons. Temple's football team found that out the hard way last week. It shouldn't happen, but it does. Now, well, there's another game to play. And the Owls' "Bloody Tuesday" practice was probably even redder than usual. First-year coach Steve Addazio didn't mince his analysis yesterday. Going from winning, 38-7, at Maryland to losing, 36-13, to Toledo will do that. "We have to learn how to handle success better," said Addazio, whose team (3-2, 1-1 MAC East)

The U.S. Coast Guard on Friday released recordings of radio traffic from the time the duck boat was run over by a barge on the Delaware River on July 7. The first indication of trouble comes from an unidentified voice, possibly a nearby ferry captain, who sounds as if he is witnessing the accident. "Hey! Ferry, ferry, ferry! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" the voice shouts on Channel 16, which is the emergency frequency. A short time later, person on the tugboat Freedom contacts the Coast Guard to alert them about the accident.

The U.S. Coast Guard on Friday released recordings of radio traffic from the time the duck boat was run over by a barge on the Delaware River on July 7. The first indication of trouble comes from an unidentified voice, possibly a nearby ferry captain, who sounds as if he is witnessing the accident. "Hey! Ferry, ferry, ferry! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" the voice shouts on Channel 16, which is the emergency frequency. A short time later the captain of tugboat Freedom contacts the Coast Guard to alert them about the accident.

When a restaurant closes for eight months, two things are generally true. The first is that it's toast, a goner, fini . The second is that it reopens, but, oops, too late: Its crowd has moved on; there are plenty of other fish in the sea. This is what makes Hunan, the Main Line fixture since 1973, particularly triumphant. Not only has it opened again after its eight-month hiatus (caused by a Peking duck that overheated the oven, drawing the attention of fire officials to the need for a host of fire-code updates)

WHOA, WHOA, whoa, whoa. We know it's been a while since he was pacing the Eagles' sidelines, but Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden spouted off some talk yesterday that struck a nerve if you're a Philly fan. According to the Tampa Tribune , Gruden said he was happy for the Tampa Bay Rays and that he hopes they beat up on the Phillies in the World Series. Gruden: "Congratulations to the Devil Rays. We are really excited for them. Awesome job. Just hope we can beat Philadelphia.

As we all know, comedian Bernie Mac died over the weekend, way too young at age 50. For those of you who may not be totally familiar with his humor - and those of you who just feel like getting another dose - here's his intro segment on the April 5, 2003, installment of "Saturday Night Live. " Bernie Mac: Hello! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey, hey - welcome, everybody! And I hope everybody here to have a good time, because I am here to have a blast! You know? Because the whole country's tense!

Isn't it funny how some fast songs seem to go so slow? Or how some short songs seem to take forever to finish? That was the case when poli-sci punks Against Me! opened for blood-and-guts romantics Alkaline Trio at Friday's sold-out show at Electric Factory. Against Me! played a tight, not-a-second-over-45-minute set. Alkaline? They went on forever. How long? I think I'm still there. Like a less-Irish Dropkick Murphys touched by the anarchist spirit of folk-punk forefather Billy Bragg, Against and its gruff lead singer Tom Gabel chomped sloppily through excited social rhetoric and anthemic musicality as if chewing tobacco.