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  • đŸŽ¶ Philly’s listening lounge scene | Morning Newsletter

    đŸŽ¶ Philly’s listening lounge scene | Morning Newsletter

    Good morning. Grab an umbrella on your way out — Saturday’s forecast calls for showers throughout the day.

    Today, I’m talking about bars swapping liquor displays for vinyl records.

    Plus, there’s news on a convenience store chain officially encroaching into Wawa territory, a secret menu sandwich that’s making a Philly restaurant TikTok-famous, and our report card for this week in Philadelphia news.

    — Paola PĂ©rez (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

    If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

    What you should know today

    Immersive music experiences

    This week, food writer Kiki Aranita put the spotlight on vinyl, hi-fi sound, and cocktails fueling a growing wave of listening bars in Philadelphia.

    Heralded as the “antidote to the loneliness,” these immersive, sonic experiences are popping off here and across the country. They are places where shelves are stacked with less liquor and more records, your DJ might also be your bartender, and you might discover music for the first time.

    Spots like 48 Record Bar in Old City and Solar Myth on South Broad are just two examples of participants of the listening room boom in Philly. They integrate music into drinking experiences beyond a run-of-the-mill playlist humming in the background of a typical bar. These lounges spin curated collections through high-fidelity sound systems, and put people onto everything from small, avant-garde artists to local musicians.

    And while Aranita notes that “thoughtful, elevated beverages still reign,” I imagine bars swapping alcohol for vinyl can be an added benefit if you’re sober-curious this Dry January.

    Is 2026 the year of the listening bar in Philly? Read on to learn how they operate here, and why Japanese “jazz kissas” cafes play an influential role.

    One viewpoint

    Councilmember Jamie Gauthier wants to produce more affordable housing. But her policy may be doing the opposite, argues Inquirer columnist Daniel Pearson.

    “When it comes to public policy, good intentions are not enough,” Pearson writes.

    In this week’s Shackamaxon, Pearson tackles what happens when City Council members try to use a bad practice to serve the public good, and explores the kickoff of the race for Pennsylvania governor.

    📍 Find the location

    Somewhere in Philly, you can see this diagram for the Super Bowl LII Philly Special — the Trey Burton-to-Nick Foles touchdown play.

    Think you know where this mural is located? Our weekly game puts your knowledge of Philly places to the test. Check your answer.

    đŸ§© Unscramble the anagram

    Hint: Northwest Philadelphia neighborhood

    FALSE SALT

    Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.

    Cheers to Mary Liz Jones who correctly guessed Friday’s answer: Petty’s Island. The 300-acre island in the Delaware River is now owned by Venezuela’s Citgo, but will soon likely belong to a major conservative donor’s firm.

    We were there

    Hundreds of fans attended the Flyers’ first-ever Phish Night at Stateside Live! on Thursday. Tribute band Rift performed a 90-minute pregame show as well as a postgame concert. Get a recap of the event from sports reporter Ariel Simpson and photographer Yong Kim.

    Somewhere on the internet in Philly

    Shoutout to Tricia for this adorable art of Snoopy in a Phillie Phanatic suit.

    Over on Facebook, Taqueria Amor patrons expressed appreciation for the Main Street restaurant. “We’re really excited for 2026 as we have an exciting announcement over the next few weeks,” chef Tim Spinner wrote on the post. We’ll be on the lookout for developments. 👀

    And a Redditor flagged something weird going on with our mobile app: “Why does the Inquirer need 12 GB?” Rest assured, our next app update should fix the space-hogging problem. Senior software engineer Joe Russell’s theory for the bug made me lol: “Because we digitally encoded Gritty and now he lives in your phone.”

    đŸ‘‹đŸœ Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day, and I’ll catch up with you again tomorrow.

    By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

  • Venezuelan politics are a ‘blood sport.’ The U.S. is entering the ring.

    Venezuelan politics are a ‘blood sport.’ The U.S. is entering the ring.

    The day after U.S. special operations forces swept into Caracas, the new Venezuelan president assembled her cabinet members around a large wooden table at the Miraflores Palace. Behind Delcy Rodríguez were large pictures of the country’s fallen leaders: Hugo Chávez, dead of cancer in 2013, and Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, now jailed in New York on drug-trafficking charges.

    Seated on either side of Rodríguez, at the head of the table, were the powers that remained. One was Vladimir Padrino López, the defense minister, dressed in military camouflage. The other was Diosdado Cabello, the interior minister. He wore a scowl and a hat that said, “To doubt is treason.”

    Both men hold far more power than their titles suggest, analysts say. Stalwarts of the Maduro regime — one U.S. investigators say is built on patronage and fueled by criminal proceeds — they control Venezuela’s expansive security state and much of its commercial activity.

    Since Maduro’s capture and arrest Saturday, public attention has focused on Rodríguez and whether she will accede to White House demands to open up Venezuela’s vast natural resources to American industry. But the newly installed president — alongside her brother Jorge, president of the Venezuelan National Assembly — represents only the political sphere.

    The country’s other power centers, according to scholars, Venezuelan researchers, and current and former U.S. officials, are commanded by Padrino López and Cabello — hard-line, old-school Chavistas who came of ideological age in the socialist movement and accrued significant power and wealth through continued loyalty to the cause.

    Using connections and intimidation, researchers say, the men have repeatedly helped Maduro survive periods of crisis and tighten his authoritarian grip. First in 2019, when much of the world united behind opposition leader Juan Guaidó’s bid to supplant Maduro. And then again in summer 2024, when electoral tallies made clear that Maduro had lost the presidential election.

    Now Padrino López and Cabello, both of whom are wanted by U.S. authorities on drug-trafficking allegations, will help to decide the future of Chavismo — and the nation. Their continued presence magnifies the complexity of the challenge faced by American negotiators as they seek to bypass war and regime change and find common ground with members of a besieged government riven by internal divisions.

    Venezuelan President NicolĂĄs Maduro (left) listens to Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino LĂłpez during a government-organized civic-military march on Nov. 25, 2025, in Caracas.

    “There are three centers of power,” said a former senior official with the U.S. State Department, who like others in this story spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. “And Delcy is going to find out pretty quickly that she can’t provide everything that the Americans want.”

    The Washington Post was unable to reach Padrino LĂłpez and Cabello for comment. The communications office of the Venezuelan government did not respond to a request for comment.

    President Donald Trump has said the United States is “in charge” of Venezuela, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has suggested a less direct role, saying the U.S. will use its ongoing oil blockade and other economic measures to make Caracas do its bidding.

    Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello attends the arrival of migrants deported from the United States at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, on Feb. 10, 2025.

    Analysts expressed concern that Washington doesn’t fully understand the factional, internecine political system it now seeks to control — a maze of overlapping loyalties, family ties and competing interests. Several pointed to Cabello — a feared figure who hosts a weekly talk show called Bringing the Hammer — as the wild card.

    One Venezuelan adviser close to Rodríguez’s government said he was central to maintaining unity. “In times of crisis, his role is not conciliatory, but rather one of maintaining order,” the adviser said. “Delcy governs; Diosdado ensures that power does not slip away.”

    But others worry about what he was capable of. At his disposal, according to researchers and U.S. officials, were not only the police and intelligence services, but also the “colectivos,” a pro-government militia embedded throughout society, whose members speed around the streets on motorcycles, armed and masked.

    “Cabello is a brutal, repressive figure in the regime, but he’s not stupid,” said Geoff Ramsey of the Atlantic Council. “He knows his survival depends on threatening to burn down the country, unless his interests are taken care of.”

    “Politics in Venezuela,” he added, “is a ruthless blood sport.”

    Power at all costs

    How the state built by Chávez went from a hierarchal system built around a single charismatic leader to a hotbed of competing factions is, to some degree, a story of Maduro’s own political failings.

    “Chávez was a leftist military man and very charismatic and happened to rule Venezuela during an oil boom, so he had a lot of resources to do a lot of things,” said David Smilde, a sociologist at Tulane University who researches Chavismo. “And with the exception of being a leftist, Maduro is none of those things — not charismatic, not a military man, and he has no oil boom.”

    After narrowly winning the presidential election to succeed Chávez in 2013, Maduro appeared to recognize what he lacked and set out to defend his hold on power not through political persuasion, but by restricting freedoms and empowering — and enriching — the armed forces.

    In February 2016, he put the mining sector in the hands of the military. A few months later, he gave it control over the distribution of basic goods. Another decree shortly afterward put the nation’s ports under its purview. Padrino López, who rose to defense minister in October 2014, became more powerful with each move, researchers said, pioneering new kickback schemes that kept the military loyal to him and indebted to the regime.

    “The military became its own branch of power,” said Carolina JimĂ©nez Sandoval, the Venezuelan president of the Washington Office on Latin America. “I don’t think the United States understands the extent to which the military is ingrained into the politics and economy, both formally and informally.”

    The military also began to profit from illicit revenue streams, American authorities contend. In March 2020, federal prosecutors in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Florida filed charges against Padrino López and Cabello for using their roles to facilitate and abet Venezuelan drug trafficking and “flood” the United States with cocaine.

    The U.S. government announced significant bounties for both men — $15 million for Padrino López and $25 million for Cabello.

    Over time, Maduro came to be seen less as the ultimate authority in the country and more as an arbiter between competing powers that had little in common, said Roberto Deniz, a Venezuelan investigative journalist.

    “It’s not just an authoritarian regime,” he said. “It’s an authoritarian regime with a kleptocratic structure in which there are numerous heads, and each one acts as its own fiefdom.”

    “It doesn’t matter if the economy is good or bad, if human rights are respected or not,” he added. “The goal is to preserve power.”

    ‘The black sheep’

    Cabello, who describes himself online as a “revolutionary” and “radical Chavista,” is seen by observers as a particularly unpredictable figure. He participated in Chávez’s failed coup attempt in 1992 and spent the next two years in prison. After Chávez won the presidency through the ballot box, Cabello served as vice president, helping him stave off an attempted coup in 2002, and then as interior minister, a role where he developed deeper ties with the internal security and intelligence forces.

    At the time of Chávez’s cancer diagnosis, he was seen as the second most important revolutionary and a direct rival to Maduro, then the vice president, in the line of succession. After Chávez selected Maduro as his heir, he moved to sideline Cabello, only bringing him back into his cabinet shortly after his apparent electoral loss in 2024.

    “Cabello has been the black sheep in the ruling party,” Ramsey said. “But Maduro found it impossible to rule without his knack for repression and his proximity to the intelligence apparatus.”

    His family’s influence spans the nation. Alexis RodrĂ­guez Cabello, a first cousin, is in charge of the Venezuelan intelligence service and posts frequent homages to Cabello on social media. His brother, JosĂ© David Cabello, is in charge of the powerful customs and taxation ministry, granting him control over duties at borders and ports. His wife Marleny Contreras, a current member of the national assembly, has been the minister of both tourism and public works.

    The Post was unable to reach Cabello’s family members for comment.

    “Diosdado never stopped being a powerful actor, even when he seemed demoted,” Deniz said.

    And he has “ascended rapidly” since his formal return to government, added Rafael Uzcátegui, the former director of Provea, a prominent Caracas nongovernmental organization — “at the cost of Rodríguez.”

    Uzcátegui saw a narrow path forward for brokering an agreement between Venezuela’s rival power centers that would enable cooperation with U.S. officials and avert a wider conflict.

    “It’s much easier to negotiate with a malandro than a religious fanatic,” he said, using a word that most closely translates to “hustler.” “And the Diosdado Cabello and Padrino López factions are most motivated by material incentive.”

    But there have been worrying early signs, most notably from the informal militias that answer to Cabello.

    The colectivos have fanned out across Caracas. Ordinarily, they carry small arms to intimidate dissenters, but they have been seen with larger weapons in recent days, including assault rifles. They have set up checkpoints, forcing residents to turn over their phones and searching them for messages that could be seen as supportive of the U.S.

    Security forces also have arrested civilians and detained members of the media.

    “Diosdado Cabello could be the spoiler,” said the former senior U.S. diplomat. “It’s a pretty rough start for what is the same regime, but a different management.”

  • Do I risk my stress-free run club for a relationship that might not work out?

    Do I risk my stress-free run club for a relationship that might not work out?

    Is it worth it to risk part of your community for love? I invited two Inquirer staffers — one runner, and a running hater who likes drama —to help answer the question.

    Have a question of your own? Or an opinion? Email me.

    Evan Weiss, Deputy Features Editor

    This week’s question is


    I’m in a run club, which I love because it’s chill. But, there’s another runner I want to date. Do I risk my stress-free run club for a relationship that might not work out?

    Bedatri D. Choudhury, Arts & Entertainment Editor (hobby runner)

    I am a hobby runner but was in a run club once, let’s go!

    Beatrice Forman, Food and Dining Reporter (running hater)

    Did you ever hit on anyone in your run club, Bedatri? Or get hit on?

    Bedatri D. Choudhury

    I joined a run club because I was new to the country and read somewhere that it’s a great place to socialize. That or Equinox. I couldn’t afford Equinox.

    It’s a group of fit people sweating together. I don’t think it graduated to hitting on, but there was definitely some scoping out.

    Beatrice Forman

    I actually went to one of those run clubs for singles last year for a story that never saw the light of day and got hit on twice! And even then, it felt a little out of place to me given that it’s hard to banter while jogging.

    Bedatri D. Choudhury

    Take it outside the club. Get their number, text, etc.

    Should someone do it? I’d lean toward yes, go ahead and date.

    Beatrice Forman

    That makes sense, though I guess I wonder what happens after.

    If you make a move and it doesn’t work out, or you date and it also doesn’t work out, do you keep showing up? Who gets custody of the run club?

    Bedatri D. Choudhury

    A run club is low stakes. I know a couple that are not breaking up formally because they share a couples-only rate for a Life Time gym membership.

    Beatrice Forman

    I would tolerate so much for a discounted Life Time membership.

    I did have a friend who hooked up with too many people in her run club that she was asked to leave, actually. And another who broke up with a fellow runner and then left because she had to watch them flirt with other runners.

    So your mileage literally does vary.

    Bedatri D. Choudhury

    I just think it’s about not dragging others into your drama. If it’s not working out makes you incapable of seeing this person again, just opt out of the run club. Better still, start one of your own.

    But hey, if it works out then it’s a whole world of possibilities.

    Beatrice Forman

    I’m definitely in the shoot-your-shot camp, but she needs to be mindful of how she makes her move.

    I know a lot of people are turned off by the idea of mixing running and romance (source: I read an article about this), so I would hate for her to put herself out there — which is good — and then get shunned because she didn’t respect the vibes of the club.

    Bedatri D. Choudhury

    I am totally in the shoot-your-shot tent too, but if this club is very important to her, she should also be mindful if the date doesn’t go well.

    Beatrice Forman

    Yes! I personally would never risk having to give up a space or hobby that matters to me over a partnership gone south. There’s more to life than literally running toward a relationship, so it’s really up to her if she likes the person enough to see it through.

    Bedatri D. Choudhury

    Yeah my parents met at work and kept working together for 40-something years. Go get an acai bowl and talk about your favorite color. Like a wise man once said, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your [running] shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”

    Beatrice Forman

    Is that wise man Dr. Seuss?

    Bedatri D. Choudhury

    Yes.

    Beatrice Forman

    I vote that she discreetly asks for their number while they do quad stretches or whatever it is that you’re supposed to do to warm up.

    Bedatri D. Choudhury

    Then if the club throws you out, you can run together.

  • Three best friends from childhood decided to commit — by buying a communal house together

    Three best friends from childhood decided to commit — by buying a communal house together

    The Rachels met each other when they were 5 and 6 years old, and they met Lizzy Seitel — who would come to be known as one of the Rachels despite her name — in middle school.

    They all lived in the D.C. area, and one weekend they took part in a retreat with Cheder, a progressive Jewish community in the area. In Seitel’s recollection, they listened to Ani DiFranco, went skinny-dipping, and talked about their fears.

    “It was just a really crazy, beautiful, life-affirming teenage moment,” Seitel, now 38, said.

    It also marked the beginning of a very long friendship.

    Soon after, Rachel (Luban), Rachel (Neuschatz), and Seitel began celebrating winter solstice together with a witchy ritual drawn from a pagan book. In the quarter-century since, they’ve never missed the solstice.

    Rachel Luban (from left), Lizzy Seitel, and Rachel Neuschatz, pictured in college in 2009.

    The Rachels went to the same college; Lizzy went elsewhere. Then, after living apart for some years in their 20s, they decided to settle down, together. By that point, Seitel had married Serge Levin (he grew up in a communal house in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, and was game for an alternative arrangement) and was pregnant with their first child.

    In 2022 the four bought a giant old stone house in Mount Airy, where they now live communally. They have a shared bank account for the mortgage, house maintenance, and utilities, along with a shared backyard, basement, porch, and Google calendar.

    The Rachels, who both have romantic partners living elsewhere, coparent a dog. Seitel and Levin’s two young children call the Rachels Aunt Lu and Aunt Nu.

    The following, as told to Zoe Greenberg in separate interviews, has been edited for length and clarity and combined.

    On meeting each other as kids

    Rachel Neuschatz: I consider myself a red diaper baby [a term to describe the kids of radical/Communist parents]. We lived in a single family home, but we were always involved with the Jewish community Cheder. Rachel Luban and I were in it starting from age 5.

    Lizzy Seitel: I grew up in a pretty typical nuclear family, in most ways. But my parents always had an extra room, and they were always having people come stay with us. There was this feeling of people coming in and out, and I really loved that — just the idea of family being expansive.

    It was always my fantasy to live in a boarding house.

    Rachel Luban and Rachel Neuschatz at house dinner.

    Rachel Luban: I feel like we raised each other, and those relationships have always felt as central to me as romantic relationships. Romantic partnership was part of my vision, but as a kid I would never dream about getting married.

    On the ‘palace of dreams’

    Lizzy Seitel: The Rachels and I always talked about creating a palace of dreams.

    Rachel Neuschatz: We’d always talked very vaguely about living together. Of course, people loved to tell us it wouldn’t work, which is a very funny, ubiquitous response.

    Rachel Luban: We had been talking for many years about wanting a more communal living situation, some kind of cohousing. We didn’t know exactly what that would look like.

    Lizzy was very rooted in Philly. She’d been here for maybe 10 years, she was married, she was pregnant.

    So both Rachel and I decided to move to Philly in 2019. We moved within a month of each other, and we were all living in separate apartments in South Philly.

    On choosing to buy a house together

    Lizzy Seitel: Having a kid, and then it being the pandemic, it was like, “Oh yeah, the nuclear family is bulls—. This is not how anyone should raise kids.”

    Rachel Luban: Even though we were all living in South Philly, less than a half hour walk from each other, it felt like seeing each other had to be this big planned thing and you had to clear your night for it.

    We wanted lower barriers to spending time together, and more incidental interactions.

    On searching for the right place

    Rachel Luban: There was really no road map, and that was very challenging. We didn’t have many people to talk to. There are all of these logistics to figure out: Should we become an LLC? We decided not to do that, because then we would need a commercial mortgage.

    We wanted a single structure that had separate units. So everyone has their own door, everyone has their own kitchen, but there are some common spaces, and we’re all really close together.

    We made our own basic boundaries about what percentage of the property each person would own and therefore, what percentage of the finances they would be responsible for.

    Our runner-up was this former nunnery that was three huge conjoined West Philly rowhomes. It had one giant kitchen, 13 bathrooms, and a lot of institutional carpeting. It was kind of cool, but also just an insane space.

    The place we eventually found felt like it fell from heaven, because nothing else came close.

    Rachel Luban, house friend Fadi Awadalla, and Serge Levin share a moment in the kitchen.

    On committing

    Lizzy Seitel: I knew that these are the people that are the most committed to me, besides Serge. I know we can fight and that we’re always gonna want to come back together. There’s no question of, is this friendship gonna last? We’re gonna make it last.

    Rachel Luban: A lot of people, including lawyers, told us not to do this. They were like, “You intertwine your lives, and then somebody has a falling out, or somebody wants to move, and then you’re in a mess.”

    In a certain way, I think it required the kind of psychological commitment that people make when they get married, where they’re throwing their chips in together. Knowing that if something happens, it could be really messy.

    We decided we trust each other enough to think that if something changes, everyone will act with good faith.

    On their friendships now

    Rachel Luban: You get to know people in a different way, and your fates are more tied together. We had to replace our entire heating system, which is actually three different heating systems. There’s a range of different feelings about spending money and what kind of upkeep the house needs. Even whether we should mow the lawn was a discussion that we had to have.

    Lizzy Seitel: We might not live in this house or in this arrangement for every year until we die, but we’re thinking that far ahead — about aging and wanting to be together in this life. That feels like a commitment to each other’s future.

    Rachel Neuschatz: Probably I will not formally parent. Maybe it’ll still happen, but that’s not on my bucket list. Lizzy’s kids are like my niblings — nieces and nephews.

    On telling other people:

    Rachel Luban: Most people are like, “I’m jealous. I want to do that.” Then a minority of people are like, “That’s my personal hell.”

    Lizzy Seitel: I feel like there’s this thing of people not knowing that they’re allowed to commit to their friends, or have their friends commit to them.

    Rachel Neuschatz: I cap myself from gushing too much, because I don’t want to be a jerk. But yeah, it’s a goddamn paradise that we’ve made ourselves.

    This is part of an occasional series about life partners across the Philadelphia area. If you want to share your story about who you’re navigating life with romantically or otherwise, write to lifepartners@inquirer.com. We won’t publish anything without speaking to you first.

  • When I switched from film to digital

    When I switched from film to digital

    I stepped into a real live, working — smells and all — black and white darkroom this week, for the first time in decades.

    I watched Charlotte Astor, a junior at Cherry Hill High School East, develop her B&W photographs in the school’s darkroom.

    For a few years after The Inquirer went digital I kept the small enlarger and other personal equipment that I’d used in my crude basement darkroom from when I was starting out. I had little use for it after I got my first staff job with bigger and better facilities. It all stayed boxed up, through multiple moves, long after I’d stopped exposing any film — even for family photos.

    I finally gave it all away when young people first started using analog formats like typewriters, vinyl records, “dumb phones,” and film cameras as a move away from digital overload. (A few years ago our photo staff did a group project where we each took a turn with the same 35 mm mechanical camera using just one roll of black-and-white film.)

    Like many digital natives who grew up with smartphones and the internet and are now “detoxing,” Astor has totally embraced B&W 35 mm, photographing at hardcore shows around the area for a zine she self-publishes, “Through Our Eyes.”

    “So often,” she says of the music scene, “you’ll see these people taking a million photos a second, and to me it’s just waste. When I shoot film, I only have 36 shots before I gotta risk reloading in the middle of the pit, so every shot I have to make count. It keeps me in that moment, with this kind of clarity. When you get the shot, even though you can’t see it, you just know that you got that moment perfect. That moment means everything to me. I wouldn’t trade it for the world, and digital will never come close.”

    Photo by Charlotte Astor, from a show by “I Promised the World” at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia Nov. 22, 2025. Taken with a Nikon FE and Tmax 3200 film.

    But that’s not why I was taking her picture. Our story, published next week, is about Astor’s four year search for a demo tape — yes, an analog cassette — from her mother’s teenage band.

    I enjoyed talking with her about photography, and I couldn’t stop thinking about what digital photography has brought us.

    Film demanded patience and technical precision. Digital offered instant feedback and greater flexibility in lighting conditions.

    Photojournalists delivered images faster, adapted to the demands of online media and met tighter and more frequent deadlines.

    The transition hasn’t changed the way I see, and interpret. I still emphasize composition, context, or complexity. However, I have adapted and adjusted. I see the value in making the kinds of thumbnails that online platforms prioritize to generate algorithmic attention.

    Between photographing for stories on assignment I still wander whatever neighborhood I am in looking for “standalones.”

    But I am also always on the lookout for “stock” photos that can be used as thumbnails with future stories. Think images of police tape or flashing lights, city street scenes, and skylines, educational, civic, and medical institutions.

    Made while riding in a parking garage elevator, this photo had been been published with over a dozen stories in the past year.

    After an assignment at the Philadelphia Art Museum, I loitered outside.

    Ahead of Sunday’s wildcard playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers, the museum put up giant cutouts of four Eagles players on its iconic front steps. The cutouts first appeared in 2014 (before the Birds’ wild-card loss to the New Orleans Saints) and again a few times over the years, including before both Super Bowl wins in 2018 and last year.

    Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter (and wide receiver A.J. Brown, lower left).

    The newspaper already has lots of photos from the steps, including many of that movie prop, but I knew the city’s Art Commission is voting next week to see if it stays, or not.

    So what’s one — or two — more? (There are currently two versions at the museum!)

    That famous movie prop seen out-of-focus – and captured – between changing f-stops for different depths-of-field. Did you know (spoiler alert, there is math involved) that an f-stop is the numerical value of the ratio of the focal length of the lens to the diameter of its aperture.

    If it stays, the “original” version of the statue from 1982’s Rocky III that now sits at street level would be moved inside the museum for an exhibit this summer, then go back outside and installed at the top of the steps “permanently.” And the “second casting” statue there now “temporarily” would be returned to Sylvester Stallone.

    (If it sounds like I have more than a passing interest in this, I do. Reporter Mike Vitez and I spent an entire year on the steps to produce the locally best-selling book Rocky Stories: Tales of Love, Hope, and Happiness at America’s Most Famous Steps.)

    It was that really nice, warm sprint-like day we had on Wednesday, following those bitterly cold first days of 2026, so I didn’t mind being outside making “stock” photos.

    And THAT’S when I spotted a real moment — the kind photographers live for — of the family taking selfies on the steps, and how I ended up making the photo at the very top of this column.

    Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:

    January 5, 2026: Parade marshals trail behind the musicians of the Greater Kensington String Band heading to their #9 position start in the Mummers Parade. Spray paint by comic wenches earlier in the day left “Oh, Dem Golden Slippers” shadows on the pavement of Market Street. This year marked the 125th anniversary of Philly’s iconic New Year’s Day celebration.
    Dec. 29, 2025: Canada geese at sunrise in Evans Pond in Haddonfield, during the week of the Winter Solstice for the Northern Hemisphere.
    December 22, 2025: SEPTA trolley operator Victoria Daniels approaches the end of the Center City Tunnel, heading toward the 40th Street trolley portal after a tour to update the news media on overhead wire repairs in the closed tunnel due to unexpected issues from new slider parts.
    December 15, 2025: A historical interpreter waits at the parking garage elevators headed not to a December crossing of the Delaware River, but an event at the National Constitution Center. General George Washington was on his way to an unveiling of the U.S. Mint’s new 2026 coins for the Semiquincentennial,
    December 8, 2025: The Benjamin Franklin Bridge and pedestrians on the Delaware River Trail are reflected in mirrored spheres of the “Weaver’s Knot: Sheet Bend” public artwork on Columbus Boulevard. The site-specific stainless steel piece located between the Cherry Street and Race Street Piers was commissioned by the City’s Public Art Office and the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation and created and installed in 2022 by the design and fabrication group Ball-Nogues Studio. The name recalls a history that dominated the region for hundreds of years. “Weaver’s knot” derives from use in textile mills and the “Sheet bend” or “sheet knot” was used on sailing vessels for bending ropes to sails.
    November 29, 2025: t’s ginkgo time in our region again when the distinctive fan-shaped leaves turn yellow and then, on one day, lose all their leaves at the same time laying a carpet on city streets and sidewalks. A squirrel leaps over leaves in the 18th Century Garden in Independence National Historical Park Nov. 25, 2025. The ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) is considered a living fossil as it’s the only surviving species of a group of trees that existed before dinosaurs. Genetically, it has remained unchanged over the past 200 million years. William Hamilton, owner the Woodlands in SW Phila (no relation to Alexander Hamilton) brought the first ginkgo trees to North America in 1785.
    November 24, 2025: The old waiting room at 30th Street Station that most people only pass through on their way to the restrooms has been spiffed up with benches – and a Christmas tree. It was placed there this year in front of the 30-foot frieze, “The Spirit of Transportation” while the lobby of Amtrak’s $550 million station restoration is underway. The 1895 relief sculpture by Karl Bitter was originally hung in the Broad Street Station by City Hall, but was moved in 1933. It depicts travel from ancient to modern and even futuristic times.
    November 17, 2025: Students on a field trip from the Christian Academy in Brookhaven, Delaware County, pose for a group photo in front of the Liberty Bell in Independence National Historical Park on Thursday. The trip was planned weeks earlier, before they knew it would be on the day park buildings were reopening after the government shutdown ended. “We got so lucky,” a teacher said. Then corrected herself. “It’s because we prayed for it.”
    November 8, 2025: Multitasking during the Festival de DĂ­a de Muertos – Day of the Dead – in South Philadelphia.
    November 1, 2025: Marcy Boroff is at City Hall dressed as a Coke can, along with preschoolers and their caregivers, in support of former Mayor Jim Kenney’s 2017 tax on sweetened beverages. City Council is considering repealing the tax, which funds the city’s pre-K programs.
    October 25, 2025: Austin Gabauer, paint and production assistant at the Johnson Atelier, in Hamilton Twp, N.J. as the finished “O” letter awaits the return to Philadelphia. The “Y” part of the OY/YO sculpture is inside the painting booth. The well-known sculpture outside the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History was removed in May while construction continues on Market Street and has been undergoing refurbishment at the Atelier at the Grounds for Sculpture outside of Trenton.
    October 20, 2025:The yellow shipping container next to City Hall attracted a line of over 300 people that stretched around a corner of Dilworth Park. Bystanders wondered as they watched devotees reaching the front take their selfies inside a retro Philly diner-esque booth tableau. Followers on social media had been invited to “Climb on to immerse yourself in the worlds of Pleasing Fragrance, Big Lip, and exclusive treasures,” including a spin of the “Freebie Wheel,” for products of the unisex lifestyle brand Pleasing, created by former One Direction singer Harry Styles.
    October 11, 2025: Can you find the Phillie Phanatic, as he leaves a “Rally for Red October Bus Tour” stop in downtown Westmont, N.J. just before the start of the NLDS? There’s always next year and he’ll be back. The 2026 Spring Training schedule has yet to be announced by Major League Baseball, but Phillies pitchers and catchers generally first report to Clearwater, Florida in mid-February.
    October 6. 2025: Fluorescent orange safety cone, 28 in, Poly Ethylene. Right: Paint Torch (detail) Claes Oldenburg, 2011, Steel, Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic, Gelcoat and Polyurethane. (Gob of paint, 6 ft. Main sculpture, 51 ft.). Lenfest Plaza at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts on North Broad Street, across from the Convention Center.

    » SEE MORE: Archived columns and Twenty years of a photo column.

  • Eagles vs. 49ers: Predictions, odds, injuries, playoff schedule, and what everyone is talking about

    Eagles vs. 49ers: Predictions, odds, injuries, playoff schedule, and what everyone is talking about

    The playoffs are finally here. The Eagles officially kick off their quest to repeat as Super Bowl champions on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field against the San Francisco 49ers.

    Here’s everything you need to know ahead of their wild-card matchup.

    How to watch Eagles vs. Niners

    Eagles vs. Niners will kick off on Fox at 4:30 p.m. ET. Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady will call the game from the booth, and Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi will be on the sidelines.

    If you’d rather listen to Merrill Reese and Mike Quick call the game, the radio broadcast can be found on 94.1 WIP, and if you’re not heading to the Linc, but want to watch the game with your fellow Birds fans, here are a few spots to check out.

    Eagles’ postseason adjustments, concerns with the offense, breakout players, and other AMA highlights

    Playoff bracket and wild-card schedule

    There will be six games played over the next three days. Here’s the full playoff schedule for the wild-card round 


    NFC

    • (4) Rams vs. (5) Panthers | Saturday, 4:30 p.m., Fox
    • (7) Packers vs. (2) Bears | Saturday, 8 p.m., Prime Video
    • (6) Niners vs. (3) Eagles | Sunday, 4:30 p.m., Fox
    • Bye: (1) Seahawks

    AFC

    • (6) Bills vs. (3) Jaguars | Sunday, 1 p.m., CBS
    • (7) Chargers vs. (2) Patriots | Sunday, 8:15 p.m., NBC
    • (5) Texans vs. (4) Steelers | Monday, 8:15 p.m., ESPN
    • Bye: (1) Broncos

    Who could the Eagles face in the divisional round?

    First, the Birds need to take care of business on Sunday, but if they do, they could face one of three potential remaining NFC teams: the Los Angeles Rams, the Carolina Panthers, or the Chicago Bears. They could not, however, face the Seattle Seahawks or Green Bay Packers.

    The lowest advancing seed will play the top-seeded Seahawks in Seattle. And because the Panthers and Rams — the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, respectively — play one another, a team with a lower seed than the Eagles is guaranteed to advance. The Packers (or Niners, if they beat the Eagles) could also be in that spot.

    If the Packers beat the Bears, Green Bay would be the lowest remaining seed and would face Seattle. The Eagles would then play the winner of the Panthers-Ram game, and would get to host that team in the divisional round. However, if the Bears win, the Eagles would travel to Chicago for the divisional round, with the Panthers-Rams winner heading to Seattle.

    Because the Eagles-Niners game is the final NFC wild-card matchup, the winner won’t have to wait to find out its opponent.

    The Eagles could get offensive tackle Lane Johnson, left, back for Sunday’s wild-card game.

    Final injury report

    It sounds like the Eagles won’t know until Sunday whether or not right tackle Lane Johnson, who has been out since Week 11 with a Lisfranc (foot) injury, will make his return to the offensive line. Johnson, interior lineman Brett Toth (concussion), and outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari (hamstring) are all listed as questionable for the Birds’ wild-card game. Ojulari was the only of the three who practiced fully on Friday. Johnson and Toth were limited all week.

    On the flip side, the Eagles will be getting several banged-up players back in time for the playoffs. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter (hip), linebacker Nakobe Dean (hamstring), edge rusher Jaelan Phillips (ankle), tight end Dallas Goedert (knee), and safety Marcus Epps (concussion) were all full participants in Friday’s practice and are expected to play.

    Eagles officially list Lane Johnson as questionable for wild-card round

    Meanwhile the 49ers have quite a few injuries, including to several starters. Veteran tackle Trent Williams, linebackers Dee Winters and Luke Gifford — after the team put LB Tatum Bethune on IR earlier this week — and cornerback Renardo Green are among those listed on the injury report for Sunday’s game. The following players are all questionable:

    • WR Jacob Cowing (hamstring)
    • LB Luke Gifford (quadricep)
    • CB Renardo Green (ankle)
    • WR Ricky Pearsall (knee, ankle)
    • DL Keion White (groin, hamstring)
    • T Trent Williams (hamstring)
    • LB Dee Winters (ankle)

    Eagles-Niners odds

    The Birds are a 5.5-point favorite at DraftKings and a 4.5-point favorite at FanDuel as of Friday afternoon. The over/under on both sites is set at 44.5.

    As for the Super Bowl, the Seahawks are the betting favorite to win it all. At FanDuel, the Eagles have the fourth-best odds, at +800, behind Seattle, the Rams, and the Broncos. At DraftKings, the Eagles have the fifth-best odds, at +950, also behind the Patriots.

    For more betting lines, click here.

    Kevin Patullo is in his first year as the Eagles offensive coordinator.

    Storylines to watch

    What is the state of the Eagles’ offense? With Johnson potentially set to make his first start since Nov. 16 against the Detroit Lions, the banged-up offensive line could get a big boost.

    In the starting offense’s final game of the year in Buffalo, they played one of their best first halves and worst second halves of the year. Which version will show up at the Linc on Sunday? And what will that mean for the future of offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo?

    More storylines to watch:

    • Saquon Barkley is extra excited for this weekend’s showdown with Niners running back Christian McCaffrey, whom he calls “one of the best to ever do it.”
    • Linebacker Nakobe Dean’s return from injury could be critical against 49ers ground attack. After his last playoff game ended in injury, he’s “elated” to be back.
    • The Eagles are entering the playoffs relatively healthy, while the 49ers have a few key injuries.
    • Could the weather be a factor? Wind gusts are expected to reach 40 mph Sunday.
    • Will Jalen Hurts’ “clutch gene” be the difference against the Niners?

    One number to know

    5 — The total number of No. 3 seeds who have reached the Super Bowl since seeding was introduced in 1975.

    Eagles vs. 49ers: These numbers and trends could impact Sunday’s result
    Jalen Hurts and the Eagles last faced the 49ers in Dec. 2023.

    Our Eagles-Niners predictions

    Here’s how our writers are predicting Sunday’s game 


    Jeff McLane: “There’s a push when it comes to the Eagles’ underperforming offense vs. the 49ers’ subpar defense; but I give the edge to a great Eagles defense over a very good, but not great 49ers offense.” | Eagles 23, Niners 17.

    Jeff Neiburg: “It hasn’t been an encouraging season from the Eagles’ offense, to put it mildly, but the 49ers are down multiple linebackers and don’t have an abundance of talent in the secondary. If the Eagles don’t beat themselves, which you can’t rule out, they should be able to establish a running game that gets the offense back on track.” | Eagles 24, Niners 20.

    Olivia Reiner: “Maybe the Eagles can finish what the Seahawks started last week and continue to punish the 49ers on the ground. Maybe Jalen Hurts and the passing attack can exploit the 49ers’ thin inside linebacker corps with passes over the middle of the field. Neither have been characteristic of the offense this season, though. Or, maybe, the defense will stifle Shanahan’s offense while Nick Sirianni, Kevin Patullo, and the Eagles offense do just enough to get by. It wouldn’t be the first time.” | Eagles 24, Niners 20.

    Matt Breen: “The Niners had a great finish to the season before their dud against the Seahawks, but they just seem too banged up to hang with the Eagles.” | Eagles 24, Niners 13.

    Jeff McLane’s keys to Eagles vs. 49ers in the wild-card round

    National media predictions

    The national media is divided over this one, but there’s a definitely lean toward the home team. Here’s a look at how they are predicting Sunday’s game 


    Nick Sirianni opted to rest his starters in Week 18 despite a chance to get the No. 2 seed in the NFC.

    What we’re saying about the Eagles

    Our columnists had plenty to say about the Eagles this week, including Mike Sielski, who believes their toughest opponent is not any team in the bracket, but themselves.

    “From Eagles fans to the players themselves, there has seemed to be an ever-present blanket of expectations weighing on them. It’s as if the only thing that would make anyone happy and relieved at any moment this season would be another Super Bowl victory — a benchmark so lofty that it virtually guarantees people will be worried at best and miserable at worst unless the Eagles win every game 49-0.”

    Here’s more from our columnists 


    David Murphy: “The pertinent question for Kevin Patullo and the Eagles now is what the offense will look like moving forward. This is a weird time of year. Sunday’s wild-card game against the 49ers could be the start of a month of football that leaves us memory-holing our four months of angst. Or, it could be the start of the offseason, and a litany of questions that sound way closer to January 2024 than January 2025.”

    What we know (and don’t) about the Eagles entering the wild-card round vs. the 49ers

    Marcus Hayes: “It was Zack Baun. The best linebacker in football over the last two seasons. The man tasked Sunday with covering and tackling Christian McCaffrey, the best offensive player in football, and George Kittle, the league’s best tight end. In a city that still worships linebackers like Chuck Bednarik, Seth Joyner, and Bill Bergey, Baun somehow remains largely anonymous.”

    Mike Sielski: “There’s more than one way to be an excellent head coach, even if one of those ways gets a little more attention, a little more scrutiny, a little more credit these days. The film can tell you how good a coach Kyle Shanahan is. What Nick Sirianni does well sometimes isn’t so easy to see. Come Sunday, may the best savant win.”

    San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is a big Vic Fangio fan.

    What the Niners are saying

    Kyle Shanahan is one of Vic Fangio’s biggest fans. Shanahan is such a big fan, that he’s tried to hire Fangio in San Francisco “all the times that there’s been an opportunity.”

    “I mean, Vic schematically, he has always been the best to me,” Shanahan said. “As good as anyone there is. Has a very sound scheme that he doesn’t need to change up very much. It just naturally changes with how he does his coverages, how he does his fronts, the personnel groupings he does. He’s very good at getting a bead on what you’re trying to do and making you adjust.”

    49ers coach Kyle Shanahan has ‘always respected’ Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio

    Sunday should be an extremely hostile environment for the Niners. Tight end George Kittle recalled a few of his craziest stories on Thursday.

    “I just thoroughly enjoy it because it’s so unique every single time,” Kittle said. “I’ll never forget my rookie season, the year they won the Super Bowl, it was my first time playing in the Linc. There were like four 10-year-old kids holding a seven-foot tall papier-mĂąchĂ© middle finger that had a rotating thing on it that made the middle finger come up. That was the coolest thing, I’ll never forget it. That was my rookie year and I was like this is excellent.”

    Kittle isn’t the only member of the 49ers offense looking forward to playing in the Linc. Kyle Juszczyk is also ready to take on Eagles fans.

    “It’s more difficult [going into a hostile environment] but the payoff is better,” Juszczyk told reporters. “There’s nothing like that feeling of going into a hostile territory and getting a win. Yeah, it’s a little bit more difficult, but it’ll be worth it in the end.”

    The 49ers know the Eagles — and their fans — but downplay history in Philly: ‘They hate all of us equally’

    What else we’re reading (and watching)

    • đŸ‘šâ€âš–ïž A rowdy game against the 49ers game led to Eagles Court inside Veterans Stadium, where the hardest part was “keeping a straight face.”
    • 🚒 Philly bar Ladder 15 turned away 49ers fans who were planning a playoff takeover. “We were backing our city,” the managers said.
    • ⚟ To the Eagles, Vic Fangio is a savvy defensive mind. To his native Dunmore, he’s a former umpire, bartender, and “Hector.”
    • đŸŽžïž Eagles-49ers film review: Christian McCaffrey’s touches, dangerous George Kittle, and where Brock Purdy struggles
    • đŸ–Šïž Dallas Goedert tried to keep things light amid a trying offseason. He ended up having an unlikely career year.
    • đŸ“ș NBC’s Cris Collinsworth says Eagles fans haven’t changed.
  • Lindsey Heaps is a natural in the Champions League. But will other USWNT stars fit well in Europe?

    Lindsey Heaps is a natural in the Champions League. But will other USWNT stars fit well in Europe?

    Although some of Lindsey Heaps’ games in Europe aren’t easy for American fans to watch, the chances that do come along show why she’s so comfortable there.

    The 31-year-old midfielder plays for her club, France’s OL Lyonnes, as more of a facilitator than the do-it-all general she’s often been cast as with the United States — not just by fans, but by coaches over the years.

    It’s easy to focus on Heaps not scoring, especially given that she started her career as a forward before moving into midfield. But her last game for OL, against Spain’s AtlĂ©tico Madrid in the Champions League, showed a different side of Heaps.

    She completed 42 of 44 passes that night, continuing a pace of a 90% pass completion rate in Champions League games this season, and had eight defensive recoveries. The players around her did most of the creating, especially midfielder Melchie Dumornay and wingers Tabitha Chawinga and Kadidiatou Diani.

    Any team would dream of having OL’s squad of superstars. The club was the standard-bearer in Europe long before American businesswoman Michelle Kang bought it in 2023 (she also owns the NWSL’s Washington Spirit and England’s London City Lionesses), and it has remained at that level.

    No team in France comes close to OL’s 18 league titles, all won in the last 19 years — as in, every season except one. Nor is any team in Europe close to OL’s eight Champions League triumphs from 2011-22, even though Barcelona is the continent’s top team right now.

    The USWNT will return to north Jersey in March to play Colombia

    Heaps has three league winners’ medals and one from the European Cup, and could add to both totals this season. OL is running away with the French league, and earned a round-of-16 bye in the Champions League thanks to an unbeaten group stage run.

    “It’s unbelievable, I think this year especially,” she told The Inquirer. “New coach, new culture a bit, standards, competitiveness. The training is unbelievable in everything that we’re doing, and obviously you see it on the pitch as well. But we take each game at a time, and we just keep rolling.”

    Lindsey Heaps (left) on the ball during last month’s OL Lyonnes-AtlĂ©tico Madrid game in the UEFA women’s Champions League.

    A high value on high standards

    That new coach is a familiar name: Jonatan GirĂĄldez, who joined OL from the Washington Spirit in the summer. It was a controversial move, since Kang was accused of taking from one of her teams to boost another.

    But that claim is above Heaps’ pay grade.

    “Honestly, I think I speak for everyone on the team: he is such a quality coach,” Heaps said. “You just learn so much, and even for me, I want to continue learning, or looking at the game in a different way, or tactical adjustments, or things like that. 
 He wants us to win so badly, and he wants us to do so well as players, and he cares about us — he cares about how we do and how we perform, but also us as people.”

    A look back at JonatĂĄn GirĂĄldez’s time with the Washington Spirit

    GirĂĄldez returned the praise.

    “A very, very important player,” he said of Heaps. “Her role on the field is beyond the tactical, because she’s able to understand a lot of situations on the field — when the team has the ball, when the team doesn’t have the ball. 
 I’m very happy to have her in the team.”

    Jonatan GirĂĄldez on the sideline at Subaru Park when the Washington Spirit played a game there in 2024.

    Heaps mentioned the team’s “training environment” a few times in the interview, praising the high standards there. That counts for a lot, especially among U.S. national team stalwarts.

    For lack of a better way to put it, the top American players have long relished getting their butts kicked on a daily basis, whether by the NWSL’s competitive balance or the famed ferocity of U.S. practices.

    The USMNT, USWNT, and your kid’s youth team are all different. U.S. Soccer is fine with that.

    Heaps is the latest in a lineage from Mia Hamm through Abby Wambach, Heather O’Reilly, Julie Ertz, and Carli Lloyd, all of whom spoke just as bluntly (and sometimes more so). Now Heaps wants to pass it on to a new era.

    She gets to do that in Lyon, not just with the national team. The club’s squad includes 22-year-old American midfielder Korbin Shrader and 18-year-old Lily Yohannes, the latter of whom is starting to meet the hype as a generational talent.

    Lily Yohannes (center) at work with the U.S. women’s soccer team in Chester in October.

    ‘The best midfielder in the world soon’

    Unfortunately, Yohannes hasn’t gotten to play much in the Champions League this season. She didn’t play at all against AtlĂ©tico Madrid, where the tactical matchup would have been a great lesson.

    Heaps also wanted that, but she preached patience.

    “We all need to remember that she’s 18 years old,” she said. “At the end of the day, she needs to keep doing her thing, because she’s been playing so well — she’s been playing well with the national team, she’s training well here. And like I said before, it is just such a competitive environment.”

    Lily Yohannes and Alyssa Thompson have arrived at their star turns with the USWNT

    But Heaps is not immune to the buzz around Yohannes, and didn’t mind indulging in some.

    “I know these games mean a lot for her, but her ceiling is so, so high,” she said. “I just said to her that no matter what, in a few years from now, you’re going to remember games like this that maybe you don’t come into. But you’re going to be a starting player and a non-stop player, and I believe the best midfielder in the world soon to come.”

    Yohannes has played her entire career in Europe, and Heaps has played eight of her 14 professional years there. The American contingent across the Atlantic keeps growing, with Penn State product Sam Coffey soon to join it at England’s Manchester City.

    Will playing overseas fit other Americans as well as it does Heaps? The question is always on the table, but it’s in bright lights above Trinity Rodman’s head right now. Her standoff with the NWSL over getting paid what she’s worth — with Kang on her side, trying to structure a contract within the league’s salary rules — has naturally led to European suitors chasing her.

    Trinity Rodman returns to the USWNT for January camp even though she isn’t with a club right now

    It might also reveal a truth that Europe’s chattering class doesn’t like admitting. Very few European clubs are truly at a high enough level to be right for elite U.S. talents.

    Lyon is one for sure, but there would be an even bigger uproar if Rodman moves there. Barcelona is another, but the Spanish giants don’t sign Americans. Manchester City, Arsenal, and Chelsea measure up in England, but Chelsea’s roster looks too loaded to have room for Rodman right now.

    Trinity Rodman’s uncertain future is the biggest story in the women’s soccer world right now.

    ‘Do what’s best for her’

    Beyond them? Paris Saint-Germain was in that class, but has fallen hard this year. Germany’s Wolfsburg is far from its past glories, and Bayern Munich still has a ways to rise. Real Madrid and Manchester United have stars, but their ownerships aren’t trusted to build truly top programs.

    The highest tier is really just the first five clubs you read above, and that’s not much.

    Then add in Rodman’s huge commercial impact, which would be diminished going abroad — less so in England, but still notably.

    The U.S. launches a continent-wide bid for the 2031 women’s World Cup, and Philadelphia wants in

    Many clubs outside England also have poor attendances. OL averages just over 5,000 in a 59,000-seat stadium despite all its stars. PSG plays almost all its French league games at a 1,500-seat field within the bigger club’s practice facilities, far out in the Paris suburbs. Both are a far cry from the 15,259 that Washington averaged this year, or the even bigger crowds in Los Angeles and Portland.

    Not for nothing, then, did U.S. legend Tobin Heath — who played for PSG, Manchester United and Arsenal amid many years in American leagues — recently say Rodman should stay in the NWSL.

    Tobin heath during her playing days with Manchester United in 2020.

    “I advise a lot on players going or staying, and 95% of the time, I will usually say go,” she said in an interview on fellow former superstar Megan Rapinoe’s podcast. “I think that her game will be 1000% louder here. I think she can be the face of the league.”

    At the time Heaps was asked, the NWSL was still putting together its new High Impact Player rule. She had heard about it, but the details hadn’t all been published yet — including the controversial rules on how players qualify. So Heaps chose her words carefully, but she had plenty of them.

    “I don’t think it’s a bad idea,” she said, tying in what she has seen over the years from MLS’s Designated Player rule. (Her husband Tyler is San Diego FC’s sporting director.). “If you want some of the best players in the world to come and play in the NWSL, some things do have to change. 
 We want to continue growing the league. So, what’s the best way of doing that? We’ve got to get the best players there.”

    USWNT star Tierna Davidson visits Kensington to inspire a new generation of young soccer players

    It was also easy to think Rodman’s situation would be settled by now. Heaps wondered if it might not just come down to salary, but she encouraged Rodman to do what she feels is right.

    “Trinity needs to do what’s best for her,” Heaps said. “The money is kind of on the side of it — obviously, that’s a big thing for us professionals. But Trinity, she’s going to make the decision that’s best for her, and I think that’s the most important.”

  • What if everything isn’t Kevin Patullo’s fault? What if the Eagles’ aging, exhausted offense just stinks?

    What if everything isn’t Kevin Patullo’s fault? What if the Eagles’ aging, exhausted offense just stinks?

    It’s become fashionable to pile on first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. He’s the target of local and national self-styled experts, none of whom, you might note, works for an NFL or college team.

    Certainly, no matter how close his friendship with Nick Sirianni, Patullo won’t survive next week if the offense again struggles and the Eagles don’t beat the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. The offense averaged 22.3 points, down 4.9 points from the Super Bowl team of 2024, and 311.2 yards, down 56 yards from last year.

    If you know anything about the Eagles front office, without a deep postseason run, that sort of performance simply will not stand.

    Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman have standards that are not being met.

    Howie Roseman spent $128 million of Jeffrey Lurie’s money on that side of the ball, more than twice what they spent on defense. No matter how badly the players have executed, a quick playoff exit will spell the end for at least Patullo, and probably quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler as well. No player on the team has regressed as much as Jalen Hurts.

    But if the day after the wild-card game turns out to be Black Monday for Patullo, his defenders, if they exist, should have some ammunition. Because regardless of the plays called, the real problem lies with the players running them. These are not failures of scheme or sequence. These are failures of execution, focus, and maybe even heart.

    Is it age? Right tackle Lane Johnson is 35, but A.J. Brown and Saquon Barkley are just 28. Then again, in the NFL, high-usage receivers and backs age in dog years.

    Is it fatigue? Maybe. The Eagles enter Sunday having played 38 games in the past two seasons, more than any other team. Including playoffs, Barkley had 482 total touches last season, second-most in NFL history.

    Is it injury? Maybe. Offensive linemen Cam Jurgens, Landon Dickerson, and Johnson, who have 11 Pro Bowls among them, have been limited or absent all season. Brown battled a hamstring issue in training camp and through at least the first eight games, and he managed the lowest yardage total of his four-year tenure in Philly — but just 76 yards lower than last year.

    In fact, as much as folks want to criticize the Eagles’ passing game, it actually averaged 6.4 more yards per game this season (194.3) than it did in 2024 (187.9).

    Jason Kelce isn’t walking through that door, and it’s fair to ask how much the Eagles have really overcome his absence.

    The brutal truth is the passing offense hasn’t been the same since center Jason Kelce retired after 2023, despite Jurgens making the last two Pro Bowls.

    Are there other factors at work?

    Was last year’s passing offense a casualty of Barkley’s 2,504 rushing yards, which is an NFL record, playoffs-inclusive? Or was it because the passing game wasn’t sharp in 2024, either? After all, Hurts threw for seven more touchdowns and 321 more yards in 2025.

    Two things appear to have happened in 2025.

    First, the line got banged up and older.

    Murphy: With Mike McDaniel and Kliff Kingsbury looming, Kevin Patullo needs to have himself a big postseason

    Second, opposing defenses more steadfastly forced Hurts — and, of course, Patullo — to beat them through the air.

    You can’t blame Patullo for the stagnation of Hurts’ game. His processing remains slow, his footwork remains clunky, his arm strength no better than average.

    But what Patullo will be blamed for, fairly or not, is that he did not make more of Lurie’s $255 million man. It won’t matter that Patullo’s predecessor didn’t, either.

    Kellen Moore was hired to maximize Hurts’ abilities the way he’d allegedly done with Dak Prescott as the Dallas Cowboys’ quarterbacks coach or offensive coordinator from 2018 to 2022 — emphasis on allegedly.

    History has been kind to Kellen Moore … perhaps too kind.

    Prescott’s passer rating during Moore’s five seasons was 98.8. His quarterback rating was 55.2. Since Moore left, it’s 99.4 and 73.4. Justin Herbert’s passer rating of 93.2 in 2023, Moore’s single season as the Chargers’ OC, matched Herbert’s career-low.

    Just saying: Maybe Moore wasn’t the reason the Eagles shined as brightly as they did. After all, four healthy potential Hall of Famers on any offensive line can cover up lots of shortcomings.

    Nobody likes watching Patullo call passing plays that give Hurts limited options and require too long to throw. Nobody likes watching running plays that, given the defensive alignment, appear doomed on conception. Those are on Patullo — but those also are infrequent. Besides, no OC nails every call.

    Nobody likes watching Hurts deal with pressure in his face from up the middle on every third dropback because his center and guards get blown off the ball. Nobody likes seeing tight end Dallas Goedert rounding off his routes.

    We’ve also seen Brown give up on routes and short-arm passes, seen Barkley hit holes soft, misread blocks, and run out of bounds when he didn’t have to, and we’ve seen Hurts miss wide-open receivers, sometimes two on the same play. He clearly has no interest in running the football much anymore; he ran 105 times this season, one-third less than his average over the last four seasons.

    Sure, some of that is Patullo.

    But a lot of it is a worn-down Hurts and his quickly aging cast.

  • How to have a Perfect Philly Day, according to novelist Adam Cesare

    How to have a Perfect Philly Day, according to novelist Adam Cesare

    Adam Cesare knew by the third date that if he and his future wife were going to end up together, he was going to have to start calling sub sandwiches hoagies. “She’s a Philly lifer,” the New York-born, USA Today best-selling author said. Sure enough, after graduating from college in Boston, the couple relocated to Philadelphia, where Cesare threw himself into the city’s film and literary scenes. “I took to Philly like a fish to water,” Cesare said. That was 15 years ago.

    Fast forward to today, and the former high school English teacher is an acclaimed local author with more than a dozen horror novels under his belt, including the popular Clown in a Cornfield series, the first of which was adapted for the big screen and released in theaters this past summer. Now, Cesare is gearing up to release Clown in a Cornfield 4: Lights! Camera! Frendo!

    When he’s not busy editing his manuscript, Cesare still loves to explore Philly’s extensive film and lit scenes, roaming through used bookstores or catching a flick at PhilaMOCA.

    Here’s how Adam Cesare would spend a perfect day in Philadelphia.

    9 a.m.

    First, I would make sure it’s not a Sunday because I want to go to Beiler’s Doughnuts in Reading Terminal, and it’s closed on Sundays.

    11 a.m.

    After Beiler’s, I’d pop over to Old City to go to The Book Trader. I could name-drop all the current new bookstores, but there’s something about used bookstores that I really like. I’d swing by the comics shop, Brave New Worlds, because it’s right next door, then I’d head to Mostly Books on Bainbridge. I love that place. It’s great because they have a pretty decent VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray selection too, so I’ll get a few movies.

    I might also pop into the Philly AIDS Thrift. It’s fun to walk around. They have a good book section. It’s mostly general fiction. I like their physical media section too. You can get the DVD or VHS of every television series that’s been kicked off Netflix.

    1 p.m.

    For lunch, I’m definitely going to Monster Vegan. It is what it sounds like. It is a really good vegan restaurant themed on monsters. They play clips from Count Yorga and stuff on the walls. They do events, too. I once saw Lloyd Kaufman present Class of Nuke ‘Em High.

    3 p.m.

    After lunch, I might drive over to Manayunk to check out Thrillerdelphia. It’s a new bookstore that exclusively sells horror and thrillers. They just opened two months ago, and I did one of their first events. They’re really nice people, and they have a great selection.

    5 p.m.

    It’s time to beam back down to South Street for dinner and a movie. On a perfect day, I’m going to Royal Izakaya, a Japanese restaurant I like to go to on my birthday. Since money is no object on my perfect day, I’ll order the omakase. Let the chef decide.

    7 p.m.

    There are so many good places to see a movie in Philly. There’s the Philadelphia Film Society. There’s also PhilaMOCA. It’s probably my favorite place to go. They work closely with Exhumed Films, which is a group of film fans who screen 35mm and 16mm films from their private collection in local theaters. They do a lot of work with The Colonial in Phoenixville as well.

    The last time I went to PhilaMOCA, I saw Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and John Cameron Mitchell was there doing a live commentary, which was sick. They do really cool stuff like that all the time.

    9 p.m.

    That was a full day. I’m good for bed now.

  • Jeff McLane’s keys to Eagles vs. 49ers in the wild-card round: What you need to know and a prediction

    Jeff McLane’s keys to Eagles vs. 49ers in the wild-card round: What you need to know and a prediction

    The Eagles host the San Francisco 49ers in a wild-card playoff matchup at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. Here’s what you need to know about the game:

    When the Eagles have the ball

    The 49ers don’t have a good defense. Season-ending injuries to their two best players — linebacker Fred Warner and defensive end Nick Bosa — were a prominent reason why coordinator Robert Saleh’s unit struggled most of the season. But there also isn’t much talent elsewhere on that side of the ball. The 49ers ranked 25th in expected points added per play and 29th in success rate. Saleh has been forced to play a bend-but-try-not-to-break defense, which has meant more two-high safety shells than he’s accustomed to employing and hoping that opposing offenses eventually will make mistakes on grind-it-out drives. The 49ers have done a good job of limiting explosive plays as a result and rank ninth in allowing 20-plus-yard plays in EPA. They’ve also buckled down in the red zone, where they rank 12th overall and fourth in goal-to-go situations.

    The Eagles’ offense, conversely, has been at its best inside the 20 and ranked first in the league. Getting there on a consistent basis has been a season-long problem. The chess match here could center on which unit is willing to get out of its comfort zone. Will the 49ers play more aggressively and stack the box — only the Eagles and New England Patriots had a higher rate of light boxes — knowing the Eagles have struggled in the run game when numbers haven’t been in their favor? Or will the Eagles come out firing, looking for explosives through the air, knowing that Saleh likely will make Jalen Hurts and the pass game beat his defense?

    Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo have several directions they can go that should favor the Eagles, even if the 49ers match heavy personnel with their base front. It would be foolish not to test San Fran’s run defense, especially an off-ball linebacker unit that could be down to its fourth and fifth options on the depth chart. Warner’s replacement, Tatum Bethune, went down for the season last week, which means the aging Eric Kendricks, the younger brother of former Eagle Mychal Kendricks, will be at middle linebacker. Outside linebackers Dee Winters and Luke Gifford also are questionable. The Eagles offensive line, with right tackle Lane Johnson expected to return, likely will need to adapt to a slanting front if they want to carry out their combo zone blocking schemes. But if even all doesn’t go according to plan, Saquon Barkley should have opportunities to do it on his own against a run defense that missed 11 tackles against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 18.

    Eagles vs. 49ers predictions: Our writers pick a winner for the wild-card round

    I think more of Hurts on designed runs, and a sprinkling in of the more north-to-south Tank Bigsby, could further buoy a run offense that has shown marginal improvement over the last month. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Patullo open with a fair amount of empty sets. Hurts has operated well out of that formation. It forces defenses to have to account for his legs on draws or scrambles if they’re going to match in man coverage.

    Saleh still favors Cover 3 more than any zone, but he’s going to have to pick his poison with Eagles receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith having skill and size edges over cornerbacks Deommodore Lenoir, Renardo Green, and Upton Stout. Logic would suggest that tight end Dallas Goedert should get a healthy dose of pass plays as the first read with the 49ers’ linebacker corps battered. The same could be said for getting Barkley more involved in the pass game. Hurts should have time in the pocket. San Fran’s pass rush has been deficient without Bosa. Former Eagle Bryce Huff may be the 49ers’ best edge rusher. I watched enough of Johnson and Jordan Mailata dominating him in training camp a year ago to think they’ll keep him under wraps on Sunday. The Eagles’ offensive line must be prepared, though, for a high rate of stunts that Saleh calls to offset his rushers’ inability to win one-on-one.

    San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) runs against Indianapolis Colts outside linebacker and Philly native Zaire Franklin (44) on Dec. 22.

    When the 49ers have the ball

    This is where the more intriguing matchup lies with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, two of the best play-callers in the business. While Fangio’s defense has jelled into a unit comparable to last year’s, Shanahan’s offense hasn’t been as explosive as it was in previous seasons when the 49ers reached the playoffs. He still has one of the more sophisticated run schemes in the NFL, but the production just hasn’t been there for various reasons. Like the Eagles, San Fran has faced a high rate of stacked boxes. That often is by design. No team utilizes two-back personnel more than the 49ers, who have fullback Kyle Juszczyk. At 34, he isn’t as dynamic, but Shanahan lines him up all over, increasingly in an unorthodox offset position in which he can be a blocker in a variety of ways.

    Christian McCaffrey remains the workhorse running back, often from under center. He finished second in the league in carries (311), but had the lowest rushing yards over expected per attempt (-0.5) of his career. The 49ers’ scheme has long majored in wide zone runs, but McCaffrey has had more success running in between the tackles this season. Shanahan’s offense often needs to establish its ground game to utilize play action. His two-back personnel will force Fangio to decide between using his base five-man front to stop the run or his preferred nickel four-man front to protect the back. It will likely be based on the situation, but Fangio doesn’t want to leave his secondary susceptible to throws off play-action. The 49ers’ run game had two strong showings vs. the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears, but it regressed last week against an athletic Seahawks defense.

    Saquon Barkley is extra excited for a showdown with Christian McCaffrey, ‘one of the best to ever do it’

    The possible return of Hall of Fame-bound left tackle Trent Williams (listed as questionable) would help San Fran, but if the Eagles contain McCaffrey, it could be a long day for Shanahan’s unit. He’ll scheme up pre-snap motions to manipulate a defense, and he’ll dial up naked bootlegs and screens to compensate for struggles on the ground. But his offense has been lacking in the dropback game without a top receiver who can consistently get separation downfield for quarterback Brock Purdy. Ricky Pearsall would be the best candidate, but he’s questionable after not practicing all week. That has left most of the heavy lifting to tight end George Kittle and McCaffrey, who led the team with 102 catches. Kittle can do it all. Shanahan will use him like a chess piece. He can win vs. linebackers, safeties, and cornerbacks. The Eagles’ Zack Baun, Reed Blankenship, and Cooper DeJean will be most responsible for keeping him in check.

    Purdy isn’t just some byproduct of Shanahan’s genius. He’s quick through his progressions, has good pocket movements, and can extend plays as well as most quarterbacks. He’s not necessarily a scrambler, but he can run to the sticks. If you can collapse the pocket, the throws get harder for him because he’s only 6-foot-1. Purdy’s excellent when “hot,” so it makes little sense to blitz him much — not that Fangio would be inclined to send extra rushers a lot. Shanahan likely will go after cornerback Adoree’ Jackson with Quinyon Mitchell on the opposite side. Fangio has found ways to cover for Jackson with split-field zones. I also could see Purdy targeting safety Marcus Epps or returning linebacker Nakobe Dean on middle-field throws.

    Extra point

    The 49ers have a lot of success throwing over the middle. But there’s a risk. Eight of Purdy’s 10 interceptions have come between the numbers. That’s part of the reason Hurts doesn’t throw over the middle as often as other quarterbacks. Sirianni has hammered winning the turnover battle into his team. The Eagles finished the season plus-6 in turnover differential, while the 49ers finished minus-6. I also give Sirianni the nod in game management and fourth-down decision-making. He has been more conservative this season, partly because the Tush Push is no longer close to automatic.

    Eagles’ postseason adjustments, concerns with the offense, breakout players, and other AMA highlights

    Shanahan has lacked the gumption in key spots over his career. He’s a master game-planner and play-caller. But if his teams get behind, they often struggle to rally because his offense isn’t as strong in the dropback world. The same could be said for Sirianni’s system, as well. I think the first team to 20 points wins this game. The Eagles of old could salt away a second-half lead, but Sirianni and Patullo have been unable to find a formula when ahead. It’s been ugly at times and that should be worrisome. But this is how I see the matchup: There’s a push when it comes to the Eagles’ underperforming offense vs. the 49ers’ subpar defense; but I give the edge to a great Eagles defense over a very good, but not great 49ers offense.

    Prediction: Eagles, 23-17.