A PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER editorial calls for better
attendance at Phillies games: "Folks, the Phils are a good,
young team on the rise. Judging by the acres of empty blue
seats at Veterans Stadium, a lot of you haven't noticed. ...
The crowds that used to rock the Vet are AWOL. ... It might
be time to include the Phils on that list of Things It's OK
for Philadelphia to Feel Good About" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER,
7/30)....The Single A Lowell (MA) Spinners held their much-
reported "Birth Night," during which "forty mothers, each at
least eight months pregnant, were sitting behind home plate"
in a "race" to see who could "coax her child out first."
The winner would receive free diapers for a year. None of
the mothers gave birth, although the game drew a sellout of
5,000 fans (USA TODAY, 7/30)....Richard, Kyle and Adam Petty
will throw out the first pitches at Sunday's Phillies-Braves
game. The three are being honored by the Braves, Turner
Sports and TBS (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 7/30).
PEACE OFFERING? NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said he
will attend a Rams game this year in St. Louis, marking his
first visit to the Trans World Dome since the Rams relocated
there in '95. Tagliabue, on whether "ill will" stemming
from the Rams' antitrust suit against the league "is over":
"I think so. I think it was always limited to the
courtroom" (POST-DISPATCH, 7/30)....Jaguars Owner Wayne
Weaver, on his team's revenue flow: "You can look at it a
couple of ways. If you look at values and the way clubs
have sold, on paper we look pretty good, [but] on cash flow
we don't look so good." Weaver, on Jacksonville bidding for
a Super Bowl: "Whether its 2005, 2006 or 2007, we're in the
cue now and we think that we can host a unique Super Bowl
experience. What we're trying to do is think out of the
box. We're the second smallest market, so we don't have the
hotel rooms. We want to put Disney ships out in the [St.
Johns River] ... to house these hotel rooms" (CNNfn, 7/29).
