The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 22

FOURTH Nhffi Jankovic continues inues I r-v I Lehigh announces wrestling schedule INDEX College Football C23 Pro Baseball Local Roundups C6 Scoreboard C7 NHL Digest C8 improbable streak lV PAGE C8 VARSITY, CJ Charles Barkley vwas and is always Charles SECOND JHIBD Comment I I GORDIE i JONES 1 PORT SECTION THE MORNING CALL WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2006 Raoim waste calling him up to start tonight's game against the Houston Astros. Mazone arrived at Citizens Bank Park on tuft V3 starter, the start tonight. Wolf (3-0, 5.30 ERA) will face Astros left-hander Andy Pettit-te (13-13, 4.44), who was also originally scheduled to pitch Tuesday. "It's very unfortunate for him," assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said of Mazone.

"It's just been a long road for him." Added manager Charlie Manuel: "This kid, he's had a big season. I'm sure it's disappointing to him. He'll eventually get a shot. He'll eventually get to pitch a game." Mazone handled the gut-punch of hearing he wouldn't be starting today as well as could be expected. He planned to drive to Rochester with his The 30-year-old lefty heads back to pitch in playoffs for Red Barons.

By Stephen Miller Of The Morning Call PHILADELPHIA It took less than 24 hours for left-hander Brian Mazone to go from elation to deflation Tuesday. Mazone, a 30-year-old still waiting for his first crack at the majors, was preparing to start for Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre at Rochester in today's International League playoff opener when he received a phone call Monday. The message: the Phillies were Tuesday to prepare for his major league debut. By the early evening, he was packing for Rochester. Mazone lost his chance to Mazone start tonight when rain postponed Tuesday's game.

Rather than start Mazone today, the Phillies will keep their normal rotation intact by giving Randy Wolf, Tuesday's scheduled 7 t. i It's hard to remember the year. Maybe it was 1990, maybe '9L Doesn't much matter, because the circumstances were the same: The Chicago Bulls the Bulls of Michael Jordan and Co. had put the Sixers in a 3-1 straightjacket in a best-of-seven playoff series, and were poised to tie the final knot Which they ultimately did, winning both series in five games. Anyway, Charles Barkley was rehashing a Game 4 loss in the Spectrum locker room one of those years.

Doing it in his usual blunt, earthy fashion, while reminding the reporters clustered around him that he had done his job that is, get one win in the series, thus ensuring that they would be able to make a return trip to their favorite Chicago watering holes. He went on for a while, as he often did. All his teammates had departed; the locker-room attendants had tidied the place up. My notebook full, I turned to go. "Yeah, Gordie," he said, "go on back to the boonies." Meaning Lancaster, where I worked at the time.

And where the Sixers held training camp. Were I a bit quicker or were I not laughing I might have recalled that Charles is from the metropolis of Leeds, and come up with a clever rejoinder. But that's not really the point here. The point is that Barkley, unlike so many of his contemporaries, never has been one to keep his distance. Not from the public.

Not even from reporters from the rinky-dinkiest papers. He was always the most accessible superstar, a guy who was seen and definitely heard. He will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend because there has never been a player quite like him. Because nobody standing a shade under 6-5 combined his rebounding ability with a knack for making hell-bent, end-to-end rushes, like some over-inflated, African-American version of Bobby Orr. But more than that, he was one of the most unique personalities.

A guy who never hid behind publicists and posses, who never settled for room service and service elevators. Even when he probably should have. He was and is far from perfect, but every blemish was- and is out in the opea There are no spinmeisters orbiting him, trying to explain away every misstep (which would be a big job). He is who he is. You take him or leave him.

There's something very appealing about that. Especially when you consider how often we see an athlete cultivate a certain image, and how often the person fails to live up to that image. Jordan had his gambling. Julius Erving had his ladies. Larry Bird has a daughter he refuses to acknowledge.

Barkley? There has never been any question about his wife and two children, who had just arrived in Philadelphia from Rochester, to prepare for the League playoffs. He didn't know the fate of his family NL WILD CARD Team WL GB Padres 71 66 -Phillies 70 68 V'i Marlins 69 69 2'2 Reds 69 70 3 Mathieson may need Tommy John surgery. C5 and friends who were flying from California to Philadelphia to watch him pitch. "This is the least of the obstacles I've had to overcome," Mazone said. "I'll just Carolyn Kaster Associated Press Saturday when he and the take it in siride and go do my thing today in Game 1.

Hopefully when the Red Barons' season is over they'll call me back up and we can have the positive interviews. "In this game, you've just got to roll with the punches. This is a big one. But I'll be back." Mazone, who spent most of his career pitching in independent leagues, earned a chance to start today with a strong season at ScrantonWilkes-Barre. He finished 13-3 with a 2.03 ERA in 20 starts for the Red Barons.

Mazone's first full season in affiliated baseball came in PHILLIES PAGE C5 Eagles corns up with Cole line stance The 6-0, 350-pound rookie lineman has a new job: blocking back By Larry 0'Rourke Of The Morning Call PHILADELPHIA Right guard Shawn Andrews half-jokingly campaigned this past offseason for the Philadelphia Eagles to use his 6-4, 340-pound body as an eligible pass target. But instead of unveiling Andrews in such a role, the Eagles have turned to another unlikely player to serve as blocking back and maybe more in short-yardage situations. Nick Cole, a 6-0, 350-pound undrafted rookie lineman from New Mexico State, lined up at a pretty explosive guy and he's not too far off the ground ANDY REID Eagles coach on rookie lineman Nick Coles fullback Friday for a first-and-goal and helped clear the way for Thomas Tapeh's 1-yard touchdown plunge in the Eagles' preseason finale, a 20-17 loss to the New York Jets. Coach Andy Reid said he had talked with offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg about "something like that" before the Eagles even reported to Lehigh University for their July 20-Aug. 16 training camp.

'To be honest with you, I hesitated putting him in there during a live practice period with him because I didn't want one of our guys getting smacked up like what happened to a Jets defender the other night," Reid said. "So, we held off on the live periods with him back there, but he's a pretty explosive guy and he's not too far off the ground and he can run a little bit." Cole's occasional appear- EAGLES PAGE C8 SEASON OPENER Who: Eagles at Texans When: Sunday, 1 p.m. TV: FOX Radio: WCT0 96.1-FM Inside: Ex-Eagle Reed finds a home In St. Louis, C8 1 I ill 1 ff Lf to PENN STATE QUARTERBACK ANTHONY M0RELLI looked good against Akron, but will face a stiffer test rest of the No. 19-ranked Nittany Lions play the No.

4-ranked Fighting Irish in South Bend, Ind. fU ard avoid tine hyps flaws. Every brush with the law, lapse in judgment or slip of the tongue has been there for all to see, whether we're talking about the spitting incident years ago in the Meadow-lands (which he said he regretted), the time he threw a guy through the plate-glass window of an Orlando bar (leading Charles to say that he only regretted they weren't on the second floor), or the $10 million in gambling debts he claims to have run up. Among other things. At least you know he's genuine, that he's not trying to pull one over on you.

And you also may be assured that not-so-deep down, he's a good guy. Another story: A Sixers beat writer wandered into the bar of the team hotel after a game in. Cleveland one night. The members of a wedding party were also celebrating there, and he fell into conversation with one of the bridesmaids. Barkley walked in, surveyed the scene and sidled over to the two of them.

"You can do better than him," he told the woman. Then he walked away, laughing. That's Charles. Seen and heard. Always within reach.

And really, one of a kind. gordon.jones a mcall.com 610-820-6628 SATURDAY'S GAME Who: Penn State at Notre Dame. When: 3:30 p.m. Where: Notre Dame Stadium. TVRadio: NBCWAEB AM-790.

Inside: Paterno said he has to 'come to a decision' about playing Austin Scott. C2 While PSU-Notre Dame ticket is hot, JoePa takes his usually turn at playing it cool. By Beth Hudson Of The Morning Call Joe Paterno can't remember a time when Notre Dame wasn't a big deal and, that's saying something. When asked if he had ever been a fan of the Fighting Irish, the 79-year-old Perm State coach reminisced about being a kid and listening to one of their games. It was 1936, and Notre Dame had a halfback named William Shakespeare.

No, seriously. "None of you would remember that," Paterno said Tuesday. "Notre Dame was behind, and Shakespeare took them back and they won a big game. I went to Catholic schools, parochial school, went through Catholic high school and the whole bit have to get ready for it. Notre Dame is a fine football team, one of the better football teams in the country, and it is a challenge.

Hype is hype. "Somebody would have to describe hype to me. I am not even sure I could spell it correctly." So, here it is: If not for a No. 1 versus No. 2 tilt between Ohio State and Texas on Pat UttU Associated Press JOE PATERNO told the media Tuesday, 'You guys are going to rank the and Notre Dame was something special." Even so, Paterno didn't even try to put this week's game at Notre Dame into perspective.

That, he said, is someone else's job. "You guys are going to rank the hype," Paterno said. "We have a good, tough football game to play, and we PSU PAGE C2.