Philly Is Coming Back With Its Own Mind Games

Steve Young, a freelance writer who bills himself as “the other Steve Young,” is from Philadelphia but now lives in Chatsworth.

In an article published in the Opinion section of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Young, in response to a column by The Times’ T.J. Simers on Philadelphia, wrote: “Why must L.A., a land rich in . . . riches feel it has to hit so low?

“Philadelphia psychologist Howard Dansky says there’s a reason L.A. is like this: ‘It’s the narcissism. The preoccupation with celebrity. The superficiality of the empty spaces behind the sunny faces. The lack of passion. And, of course, there’s the smog.

“ ‘The superior attitude toward Philadelphia actually goes hand-in-hand with an envy of the realness and history of a truly cool place like Philly. Their very use of the world Philly gives them the air of hipness that a place with personality, with jazz, with statues and parks and trees, can lend to the inhabitants of a relative cultural desert like L.A.’ ”

*

Trivia time: Who is the only pitcher to have faced Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Roger Maris?

*

Mama’s boy: Jay Leno sidekick and Philadelphia 76er fan Kevin Eubanks attended Sunday’s game at Philadelphia. Leno, on his show Monday, said: “The NBA Finals, the hottest ticket--women are dying, women will do anything to get a ticket to this game. Who did you bring?”

Eubanks: “I took my mother to the game.”

Leno: “You took your mother because it was the only date you could get.”

*

Other targets: Leno, noting that President Clinton and Jesse Jackson were also at Sunday’s game, said: “So you had Clinton, Jesse Jackson and a bunch of NBA players all in the same building. Whew! You can bet the women were handed out birth control there the whole night.”

*

Another shot: This from Jim Rome on Fox Sports Net’s “The Last Word”: “How on earth did Clinton make it to the French Open, the Belmont Stakes and the NBA Finals all in one week? I guess he had nothing better to do. I guess spending time with Hillary is totally out of the question.”

Actually, they were together at the Belmont.

*

And this: From Jerry Greene of the Orlando Sentinel: “Did you see President Bush eagerly shaking hands with all those clean-cut baseball players at the College World Series? My guess is the president was asking the same question of each player: ‘Do you drink? No? Want to meet my daughters?’ ”

*

L.A. invasion: Channel 7 has hired an airplane to fly a banner over First Union Center in Philadelphia for two hours before tonight’s game that reads: “ABC7 in Los Angeles says Go Lakers!”

Let’s hope the plane doesn’t get shot down.

*

Flogging the flags: KROQ sports personality Money, real name Matt Smith, was a guest on Fox Sports Net’s “Sports Roundtable” show and said he is annoyed by the Laker flags.

“Just another dumb gimmick somebody’s capitalizing on,” he said. “Just put a sticker on your car or wear a jersey and you’ll be fine. Leave the flags to people in Tennessee and Alabama.”

*

Looking back: On this day in 1973, the Dodger infield of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Ron Cey played together for the first time in a 16-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. The quartet would set a major league record for longevity by playing 8 1/2 seasons together.

*

Trivia answer: Nolan Ryan.

*

And finally: You may have heard about two men, Kenneth Reeves, 41, of Canoga Park and Dwayne Kellum, 37, of Long Beach, being arrested recently on charges of mail fraud after trying to open an account with a brokerage firm with a state tax refund check of $161,171.32 made out to Jerry Buss.

Here’s the rub: Reeves pretended to be a Laker executive and Kellum claimed to be Buss’ son “Jerry.” The brokerage firm contacted authorities after determining that Buss did not have a son named Jerry.