The Phillies embrace their fans, with Ruben Amaro Jr. out there regularly, on Daily News Live, visiting the TV booth, wherever. And he doesn’t behave like an arrogant, entitled jackass. The Eagles, with Banner, Reid & Co., don’t care what anybody thinks.

The Phillies brought our city a championship. The Eagles are competitive, yes, but have consistently and stubbornly disappointed in the end.

The Phillies are the gold standard. The Eagles just tell us they are.

Yet, as the Phillies make their run this fall at a second straight world title, stealing headlines will be Vick. What a disgrace.

I have my issues with Brett Myers. I’ve ripped him many times on this site. The difference is he was already on the team; the Phillies didn’t seek him out to sign him after he allegedly abused his wife. Also, his wife could choose to leave him at any time, press charges, put him in jail. And if she had, or if the police had more evidence to go on and his crimes were proven in court, the pressure would be on the Phils to cut him loose.

And Myers isn’t the face of the Phillies. Vick will now be inextricably linked with the Eagles and Philadelphia, thank you very much.

For years this was a football town, partly because of a love of football, and partly because we thought the Eagles were our best shot at a title. But they didn’t deliver. Now they’re desperate, and Reid is desperate. So the current regime took it upon itself, without any sense of accountability to the community or to a large segment of its loyally paying fanbase, to bring in the most hated athlete in America and put him in Eagles green.

If you don’t like it, too bad. The Eagles brass, Donovan McNabb, Roger Goodell and Tony Dungy think you should just get over it. Suck it up, accept it, keep investing your time as a fan, keep buying tickets at the predominantly publicly funded stadium, keep paying for parking and jerseys and $11 beers. The Birds are the only big-time football in town, so put up or shut up. To the Eagles, your concerns are nothing more than a measured risk.

I bleed red, not green. Red for the Phillies, and red because I’m a human being before I’m a football fan.
 

Going Deep: Plain Old Mike

Dungy, a Promise Keeper who writes a blog on AllProDad.com, tragically lost his 18-year-old son James to suicide 3½ years ago. Dungy wasn’t there for his own son but now he’s there for Michael Vick.

The former Colts coach was busy pursuing his career and saving the world, yet his own house was in disrepair. So Vick is his personal project, his crusade, through which he hopes to somehow cleanse, somehow make up for, somehow resolve… something.

Vick, we’re being told, deserves a second chance. Even though his second chance, a second chance at freedom, was his release from prison. He even could have played pro football. The upstart United Football League, which carries neither the prominence nor the ties to a community that an NFL franchise does, was willing to pay him the same millions. But apparently that option, even in the short term, wasn’t good enough.

The truth is that nothing, not even saving Michael Vick, will bring Tony’s son back. And nothing will make up for the fact Dad was so emotionally removed from his own flesh and blood that he wasn’t aware of James’s despair.

That guilt is there to stay. Forever.

Do I blame Dungy for his son’s death? No. I empathize with him and his emotional torment.

But what about the people who can’t run fast, who can’t out-juke a linebacker? Do they get the same kind of accountability-free “second chance” Vick is getting after such a hideous offense? Of course not. And they shouldn’t, just like Vick shouldn’t. That’s the only reason Vick stepped out of prison and into a $1.6 million contract with your Philadelphia Eagles. Not because of any so-called deserved second chance, but because he can run fast.

And with the revered Dungy by his side as he tried to fake and spin his way back into the NFL, you know Vick was thinking, “Man, I’m in there now!” Paydirt.

Dungy wants to purify his own soul by softly urging others to betray theirs, because the Eagles sold their soul when they signed Vick. Deep down and maybe even subconsciously, like many people who’ve experienced a paralyzing loss, Dungy needs others to somehow understand the pain he feels. Even if it’s in some vague, roundabout, invisible way.

Let’s be clear. Lots of NFL players have gotten into trouble, been reckless, been dumb. Sometimes their actions have even had heartrending, fatal consequences, such as in the case of Donte’ Stallworth’s DUI manslaughter case. There is no denying that. But the difference between what Stallworth and others did and what Michael Vick did was their intent.

Michael Vick held dogs’ heads under water while they writhed in terror as he drowned them, derived pleasure as he felt their lives slip away between his hands. He took helpless dogs out into the woods behind his house and shot them, hung them, electrocuted them, because they didn’t perform to his satisfaction in deadly matches with other dogs.

And this went on for years.

There is no doubt about Vick’s intent. There is no doubt about his depravity.

Did he serve his time? Yes, he served as much time as Plaxico Burress might serve after stupidly shooting himself in the leg. Now Vick is a free man, free to live life and not abuse animals again. Why does that mean he should be allowed back in the NFL — on my team and representing my hometown?

It’s not about whether or not he screws up again; it’s about him being associated with Philadelphia and its football franchise. And it’s not about animal rights groups; it’s about having a conscience. I can’t cheer for Michael Vick. If he scores a touchdown in an Eagles uniform, I’ll feel nauseous.

Even though I’d be cheering for the logo and not the name on the back of the jersey, I can’t cheer for the logo as long as Vick is wearing it. I can’t cheer for it as long as Jeffrey Lurie owns it, as long as Andy Reid and Joe Banner are running it, and as long as Donovan McNabb, who lobbied for Vick to come here, represents it on the field.

Michael Vick is a sociopath who’s not capable of real remorse. If you don’t see that, you’re uninformed or you’re just a sucker.

Perhaps you have your own guilt about mistakes you’ve made in your life, so you’re hesitant to be judgmental. I completely understand that. But chances are your mistakes are different than being a sociopath. I bet you’ve never taken your dog out into your back yard, tied a noose around his neck, hung him by a tree limb and watched him struggle and die.

That was an ordinary afternoon for Michael Vick. That psychology doesn’t change.

Or maybe your priorities are grossly out of whack and you’re seeing what you want to see. You’ll be content if Vick just “says and does the right things.” Because, after all, he’s fast and also agile. That’s all it took for him to manipulate Dungy, commissioner Roger Goodell, Lurie, Banner, Reid and McNabb — Vick’s latest litter of puppy dogs.

When a franchise wins a major championship, like the Phillies did last year to finally end Philadelphia’s drought, it’s as if your whole city wins something. You take pride in it, you walk a little taller. Because your club, in which you’ve invested time and money and energy, stands at the pinnacle of the sports landscape. Because your team represents your town.

Life is shades of gray, and I’ve overlooked plenty of questionable off-field behavior by plenty of questionable athletes. But if the Eagles win a championship with Michael Vick on the team, I want no part of it.

I don’t want what Dungy is hocking. It’s awful about his son’s death, but he can take his traveling preacher act somewhere else. I don’t believe in Michael Vick, he doesn’t represent me, and I’m not selling my soul for a football title.
 
 
Entire Vick press conference
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie press conference

Pete Rose is all about morality.

No sports figure sparks more passion, whether you’re for him or against him, than Pete Rose does. That’s because he ignites our basic sense of moral values, the tenets we grew up with and by which we, at least partially, have defined ourselves since childhood.

On the field, Rose epitomized the morality of the fan: play to win, give it your all, every day, no matter what.

In fact, one of his most famous quotes was, “I never got booed in a white uniform,” because he never mailed it in, never half-assed it, never jogged out a fly ball. If he was on your team, you loved him.

Integrity. Heart. Hustle. Those are the things that defined Pete Rose’s game, Charlie Hustle’s game.

On the field, Pete Rose was sports morality.

Hell, lots of people were willing to overlook his cheap shot on Ray Fosse as a biproduct of Rose’s drive to win.

Just like lots of people are willing to overlook his gambling on baseball. After all, the major leagues’ last Player/Manager never bet against his own club, never threw a game. Pete always bet on Pete.

So what if, off the field, Rose was a different kind of hustler — trying to hustle the system, trying to hustle you for sympathy, for Hall of Fame entry?

Off the field, Pete Rose was and is a total scumbag.

A degenerate gambler. An ignoramus. A liar. A remorseless liar. And, did I mention, a liar?

That’s Pete Rose: Mr. Morality on the field, Mr. Amoral off of it.

I believe what Pete Rose did was wrong. I believe in forgiveness. I believe what he did doesn’t compare to what steroid users have done. (Ironic that in those years Pete was betting on the game, Jose Canseco was sticking a hypodermic needle in Mark McGwire’s butt cheek.) I believe that Rose, the All-Time Hits King, should be in the Hall of Fame.

My beliefs are largely based on my morality. But if you disagree with me about Rose, I understand the moral reasons for your beliefs. I support Rose’s Hall of Fame plea because of his accomplishments and morality on the field; you oppose it because of his mistakes and absence of morality off the field. I understand, because your morality is valid too.

Amaro didn’t go for broke, but he didn’t skimp out either. It wasn’t Broadway, but it was still big-time. He got a legit, front-line starter. And by keeping J.A. Happ, he gave the Phillies depth.

Halladay is Mr. Consistent, the closest there is to a sure thing, a second-to-none Number One. That’s not what Amaro got in Cliff Lee, who can slide in either ahead or behind Cole Hamels in the Phillies’ rotation. But, although Halladay would have packed more of a punch — and was absolutely worth the price — the Phillies retain a more balanced staff, top to bottom, with the Lee deal.

Lee, Hamels, Blanton, Happ, Moyer, Lopez and, soon, Pedro. Not too shabby. One of the best staffs in baseball, in fact.

Is it a staff built for the postseason? We’ll see.

It’s comforting that the Phils kept Kyle Drabek, Dominic Brown and Happ. But who’s to say Jason Knapp — a 6-foot-5 righty with a 97-mph fastball at age 18 — won’t turn out to be the best of the lot? Cleveland sure seems to like him, and the Indians know a thing or two about young talent. They traded then-ace Bartolo Colon to Montreal a while back for a couple prospects named Lee and Sizemore. They also drafted and developed a guy named Sabathia.

It’s easy to say the Phillies “gave up nothing” to get Cliff Lee, but that might not be true. That’s why they should have gotten Halladay.

Still, I’m pretty excited about Lee.

With the acquisition of Cliff Lee and the impending arrival of Pedro Martinez, J.A. Happ looks to be the odd man out when it comes to the starting staff. Happ is the young gun and Moyer is the wiley vet who has seniority. Charlie Manuel and the Phillies are hesitant to pull Moyer, and there has even been talk of installing a six-man rotation to accomodate him, but the fact is it’s time for Moyer to go.

He’s 46 and he pitches like he’s 46. His 10 wins are because of the Philies’ potent lineup, and they mask the ugly truth of Moyer’s eroding skills. Happ is the present and the future. It doesn’t mean Moyer can’t contribute, from the bullpen and with some spot starts, but he shouldn’t be taking the mound every fifth day.

Manuel needs to make a tough decision and yank the aging lefty, or Moyer should do the classy thing and offer to step aside and take on another role.

· USC could be in trouble again for NCAA violations.

· TMZ has obtained the tape of Erin Andrews’ 911 call about “two assholes” sitting outside her house.

· Dale Hansen, who said the Dallas Cowboys might as well sign Osama bin Laden to play wide receiver when they acquired cornerback Pacman Jones, quit his job at the ESPN radio affiliate in Dallas after the Worldwide Leader mandated that the station not discuss the rape lawsuit against Ben Roethlisberger. Hansen also famously said that the only difference between Al Davis and Jerry Jones is the white jumpsuit.

· Fresno State coach Pat Hill faces an uncertain future.

Get Roy Halladay. Now. Please.

They want Drabek, Happ and Brown. Fine. I want another championship, and a Halladay/Hamels duo exponentially increases my odds.

And all you Phillies fans paralyzed by fear, it’s time to get on board. We’re big-time now. We’re major players now. We’re world champs. Realize what that means. This is not the time to wait and hope for tomorrow. Seize the day.

If you have so much faith in these sacred, pristine, untouchable prospects — about whom, I bet, you don’t actually know much (be honest) — then have faith in the Phillies’ ability to draft and develop other prospects. In the meantime, for the next two Octobers and hopefully beyond, we’ll have one of the best pitchers in baseball leading our elite club in its dynastic quest.

And Cliff Lee is no substitute. I won’t complain if we get him, but he doesn’t have the bulldog, big-game mentality Halladay has.

Ruben Amaro knows the Blue Jays are up against it. They need to deal Halladay, and with a year and a half left on his contract, right now is when they’ll get the best value. So Amaro is gambling that they’ll soften their demands just before the Friday deadline — and that no other team will swoop in and scoop him up.

Amaro may be right. But I don’t want to gamble, not on prospects and not on passing up Roy Halladay.

For more on Jim Johnson, and to share your thoughts, click here.
 

He was a teacher to many players, both on and off the field, and devoted his life to the game of football. He had a positive influence on scores of young men, and leaves behind a wonderful legacy.   —NFL commissioner Roger Goodell
 

I’m not sure there’s a person that I’ve met that isn’t a Jim Johnson fan. He really represented everything this city is all about, with his toughness and grit. That’s the way he fought this cancer.   —Eagles coach Andy Reid
 

He was a tough coach who wasn’t afraid to let you know how he was feeling, but at the same time, he cared about us deeply.   —Former Eagles safety Brian Dawkins
 

I loved Jim Johnson.   —Former Eagles assistant coach John Harbaugh

Hmm… Can you count the number of things wrong with that statement?

Unfortunately, T.O. isn’t the only one who thinks Vick “deserves” a second chance. But Michael Vick already got a second chance — he’s not in prison anymore.

He got a second chance at making something of his life, a second chance at freedom. It doesn’t mean he simply gets to pick up where he left off in the NFL.

Owens says Vick has “suffered enough,” as if we should feel sorry for him, and that there are guys around the league who “have done far worse things” than Vick did and they’ve gotten second chances.

Really? Who?

There have been plenty of guys who’ve committed crimes, even crimes that have resulted in people’s deaths. But how many of those guys had the depraved intent that Michael Vick had when he derived pleasure from murdering dogs? What Vick did was irresponsible but it was no accident. It was how he got his kicks.

Here are my thoughts on Vick, which I laid out when he pled guilty. Maybe T.O. just doesn’t want to be the only outcast stuck in Buffalo.

What Pete Rose did was despicable, but there is no evidence he ever bet against his own team or threw games. That wasn’t in his makeup anyway. Not to mention, steroids distorted the landscape of the game far worse than anything Pete Rose did. 

If a single steroid user gets in — like, for instance, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, who is somehow getting a free pass — and then hard evidence comes out later that he was a juicer, where does that leave baseball? Pete should be reinstated and inducted, and there should be a note about his gambling, and steroid users should get in too, with a general note about the Steroid Era.