The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 25

Kobe Bryant still has his share of critics. Page 6. Baseball College Basketball Golf High Schools 1 Horse Racing 15 NBA NHL Outdoors 15 Obituaries, C18. Sunday Temple crushes cold-shooting St. Bonaventure, 63-43.

Page 3. Villanova trips Virginia Tech, 85-83. Page 5. SECTION SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 2001 www.philly.com 1 Yesterday's Games I Minnesota 34, New Orleans 16 (Coverage, C13.) Oakland 27, Miami 0 Coverage, C14.) The NFL Playoffs Today's Games Baltimore at Tennessee, 12:30 p.m., Channel 3. I Eagles at New York Giants, 4:15 p.m., Channel 29.

WYSP-FM (94.1). Me JPfiilaMpfna Inquirer IV 1 A sports I itjlLJ Li Giants' job is to baffle McNabb I TJW4 -l fe. Q3iMsfan: xJfii He will find himself in one of those carnival fun houses, looking into those mirrors that distort everything one moment you have no legs, the next your legs come up to your ears. In the most important game the Eagles have played in almost a generation, their fate will pretty much pivot on how well a fledgling quarterback is able to decode mirages. If the Birds' giddy, implausible run is to continue, and it says nere tnat it will, men Donovan McNabb, j3 sl wuu la aucauy approaching folk hero status in a tough, tough town, will have to separate what the Giants' defense looks like it is going to do from what it actually Bill Lyon VICKI VALERIO Inquirer Staff Photographer Eagles Charlie Johnson (left) and Claude Humphrey hoist head coach Dick Vermeil after the Birds beat the Vikings, 31-16, in an NFC divisional playoff game.

The victory on Jan. 3, 1981, set up the NFC title game against Dallas the next week. The Eagles won that contest and made their only Super Bowl appearance. They lost to Oakland. Sports Illustrated The Eagles' Chuck Bednarik stands over an unconscious Frank Gifford after tackling the Giants halfback hard at Yankee Stadium.

Gifford fumbled and suffered a concussion on the play in the Nov. 20, 1960, game. Some questioned Bednarik's gesture, but he said emotion overtook him when he realized the Eagles would win. iy iy TT, rn For Birds, good things happen every 20 years rr C3 1 Jt. intends to do.

To learn the magician's trick, you must not watch the hand that he wants you to watch. Oh, yes, to make this determination McNabb will be allotted about the amount of time it takes to smack your lips over that first sip of morning coffee. And then he will have less than three seconds, or about the time of one good yawn, to execute it. And did we mention that all the while it will be colder than an Eskimo's swimming pool? And windier than the end of a runway at a 747's takeoff? Yet for all that, the Eagles strike you as a team unmistakably on the ascent, swelling with a tempered confidence, See EAGLES on C12 Offensive line a giant reason N.Y. is winning Frank Fitzpatrick INQUIRER STAFF WRITER EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.

A darkened patch of Giants Stadium's parking lot figures to morph into a South Philly-like street corner tonight, should the New York Giants defeat the Eagles in their NFC divisional playoff game. It seems that the By Phil Sheridan INQUIRER STAFF WRITER They're back, right on schedule. You can set your oak tree by the Philadelphia Eagles. In 1960, they won the NFL championship. In 1980, they won the NFC championship and went to the Super Bowl.

In 2000, well '() "It's our turn again," said Jim Gallagher, the one man who worked for the Eagles during both of those historic seasons, as the personnel director in 1960 and the public relations man in 1980. Sure, the Eagles have lost eight straight games to the New York Giants, their opponent in today's NFC playoff game. But that's a trend that goes back a mere four years. We're talking about 40 years here. That's gravitas.

That's history. "It's a year with a zero at the end," Hall of Famer Tommy McDonald, a member of the 1960 team, said. "I like our chances." Is there an explanation for this phenomenon? When coach Andy Reid Eagles Preview Five pages inside Chris Warren has made the best of several setbacks. C9. Jim Fassel's guarantee got his team back on track.

C9. The Eagles go to the videotape to solve Giants' curse. Mike Brnton, C10. Scouting report, rosters, statistics, Cll. Reviewing the Eagles' eight consecutive losses to the Giants.

C12. This could be the game you long remember when thinking about these Eagles. C13. Jim Fassel's trench warriors have formed a powerful bond. Giants' offensive linemen prefer the open air and asphalt to the shrimp-laden post-game parties the team conducts in the practice bubble adjacent to their stadium.

So on several Sunday nights this season, these blocking behemoths have con 1 ducted their peculiar bonding ritual amid the litter of earlier tailgaters. With Manhattan's skyline providing a wall of light to the east, they have ignited a fire, thrown on some burgers and steaks, and consumed considerable amounts of cold beer in their quest for camaraderie. Give them attitudes and sleeveless T-shirts and they'd no doubt erupt in a doo-wop version of "Touchdown," the Giants' fight song. See GIANTS on C13 RON CORTES Inquirer Staff Photographer Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, celebrating with fans at the end of a game this season, is leading a team similar to the 1 960 squad. That team, with star quarterback Norm Van Brocklin at the helm, was considered full of overachievers who meshed well.

said a couple of 1 weeks ago that "the stars lined up" to make this a special season, he might have been closer than he realized. According to Amanda Owen, president of See TWENTY YEARS on C13 Iverson gets 54 points for a career high Flyers rally from 2-0 deficit to gain a tie with Thrashers The guard topped his previous NBA best of 50 points as the Sixers outlasted the Cavaliers. against the Cavs at Gund Arena, then duplicated on Feb. 6, 2000, against the Sacramento Kings. "When I come here, it's always something special," said Iverson, who has been hounded on numerous visits to Gund Arena, particularly during the rookie all-star game of 1997.

"I remember when I came into this building and won the NiVP of the rookie game, and all I heard was boos. I didn't understand it, and I didn't know why. See 76ERS on C6 Iverson's heroics improved the Sixers to a league-best 24-8. It extended their winning streak to six games, their longest since a franchise-record-setting 10-0 start. It raised their record in games in which they've scored more than 100 points to 12-0.

They are 17-0 in games in which they've shot better than 45 percent from the field. Iverson's explosion eclipsed his season high of 46 points, registered exactly one wee5' earliei in Sacramento. It betterea career high-f 50 points registered first on April 12, 1997, football on the brain, and the Flyers, with their dysfunctional power play at work, did not provide fans many reasons to applaud the play of their favorite hockey team during its 2-2 tie with the Atlanta Thrashers. One moment to cheer came late in the third period with one flick of Keith Primeau's wrists. WUJi his team trailing by a goal and rustrated by Damian Rhodes' See FLYERS on C6 By Bob Brookover INQUIRER STAFF WRITER The crowd that crammed into the First Union Center last night spent most of the evening spelling rather than cheering for Thrashers 2 the team in or-Flyers 2 ange and black.

E-AG-L-E-S was their word of choice on the eve of the team's playoff game against t'ie New York Giants Yes, these Philadelphia fans had By Stephen A. Smith INQUIRER STAFF WRITER CLEVELAND He was so quick, it appeared that there were no double teams. He was so deft at shooting, it ap-Sixers 107 peared that Cavaliers 103 there were no defenders. And before the final buzzer sounded, a packed house in Cleveland was awestruck. The same could be said of a veteran coach who's been around for 18 seasons to see it all.

In a game that started off as the Allen Iverson show, it finished that way, too. "The Answer" erupted for a career-high 54 points to lift the Sixers to a thrilling 107-103 win over the Cavaliers in front of sellout crowd of 20,562 at Gund Arena last night..