But let's face it, you don't need to be Bill Walsh to recognize that the logic behind the whole training-camp and exhibition-season formula seems, like the patellar tendons of so many current Eagles, badly strained.

It's an anachronistic leftover from an era of two-way players and one-way contract negotiations. Those guys needed time to get into football shape because they'd been working at real jobs in the off-season, rarely lifting anything heavier than a Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Today's players, on the other hand, are as religious about their training regimens as devout Muslims are about daily prayers (please, direct all fatwas to Gonzo!), with most of them working out year-round.

Sure, it's essential that a team run plays and bond as a unit, but couldn't that be accomplished without a daily body count?

Why do you need to expose 300-pound men to vigorous workouts in 100-degree heat?

Why is it necessary that those same super-size individuals be encamped in beds and rooms designed for scrawny engineering students?

Why are fans charged regular-season prices to watch games in which those who won't play compete against those who can't play?

Why, during contact drills, are quarterbacks off limits but not middle linebackers?

Why can't teams practice at the hometown sites they have constructed, with great care and at considerable cost, for the sole purpose of practicing?

The answer to all those questions is both simple and, sadly, familiar:

Money.

Exhibition games aren't going anywhere until the NFL expands its revenue base by expanding its regular season.

And, as long as teams can use them to garner prodigious amounts of free publicity and crank up their marketing machines, summertime training camps aren't in any jeopardy, either.

Five questions for the Phillies about their potentially disruptive pitching glut.

1. Why did you give a 46-year-old pitcher a two-year, $13 million contract?

2. Why didn't you make it clear that Pedro Martinez would have to test his arm in the bullpen before being inserted so awkwardly into the starting rotation?

3. Now that it's feasible, why wasn't Cole Hamels given a couple of more weeks on the DL to get his head together?

4. What happens if Brett Myers is ready to contribute?

5. What happens if J.C. Romero isn't?