Ryan Howard says he does get it. He lives and works in a world where Manny Ramirez gets suspended for 50 games for using a performance enhancing drug, and Alex Rodriguez gets a book written about him, and everyone is under suspcion. And, yes, he says he can acknowledge that cloud.

“I think it is unfair. At the same time, you can kind of understand it because of what continues to happen,” Howard said. He was talking on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike” program this morning, on an off-day for the Phillies when he was doing some promotional appearances for Subway.

“What Major Leagues baseball is doing with the testing is great because it seems to be working,” Howard said. “Hopefully, we’ll get to the point where nobody has to worry about it again and it’ll be completely out of the game.”

There has never been an ounce of suspicion directed in Howard’s direction. He has said in the past that the testing program is what he leans on for objective truth -- that if you pass, you’re clean. There is a problem there, of course -- Ramirez himself has said that he passed about 15 drug tests in the past -- but the testing program, however weak by international standards, is really all the sport has right now as it attempts to project a clean image.

“I was just shocked,” Howard said, describing his reaction to the Ramirez news last week. “I was surprised at what happened. Now, to me, it’s kind of unfortunate that it’s happened. He’s come out and accepted it and it’s just time to move on.”

As for the up-and-down Phillies, “I think we’re starting to get into a rhythm,” Howard said. And as for the hangover effect from winning the World Series, Howard says it might have been there, “maybe a little bit...you try to enjoy it as long as you can.” But he says it is done now.

New item: Manny Ramirez tests positive for a banned substance and receives a 50-game suspension from Major League Baseball.

Reaction: a curious shrug.

It is hard to get worked up about this stuff anymore. You get numb to it. Ramirez' disappearance from the lineup will affect the Dodgers, clearly, but it does not have the ability to ignite anything approaching outrage. Ramirez has adopted the familiar defense, that he didn't know what it was that he was putting in his body. It is the same defense employed (and swatted down by MLB) by the Phillies' J.C. Romero. I believe Romero. I believe Ramirez, too. It doesn't matter, though. You cannot have a drug policy that is meaningful if a valid excuse for violating it is, "I didn't know." That's just the way it is.

There is prurient interest here, for sure. Ramirez said he was taking something on the advice of a doctor to treat some unstated personal medical condition. Well, you're damn right that everybody is dying to know what the medical condition is and what the substance was that he ingested. Again, though, that's just human nature -- to want to know other peoples' private business. And we will know pretty soon because that's the way the world works anymore. Privacy ain't possible, not anymore.

So we will be titillated, and we will gossip about this a little bit, and high horses will be mounted, and stern lectures will be delivered, and then we will all  go about the business of really not caring what any professional athlete ingests as long as they don't get caught.

Nobody, though, is shocked. We're way past that. 

I have not read the book.

I have no feelings on the subject.

I am not A-Rod's high school coach.

Three people have approached me on Facebook since Selena Roberts' book on Alex Rodriguez has been published. Two of them were just people, I think, but one of them was an honest-to-goodness journalist from a newspaper in South Florida. All of them wanted to chat about the allegations that A-Rod used steroids while in high school. They wanted to talk to the man who coached him -- a famous guy already in high school baseball circles, but suddenly a very famous guy because of this book.

His name is Rich Hofman.

My name is Rich Hofmann.

It's all in the extra n.

I am not in the least bit sensitive about how people misspell my name. I would estimate that 25 percent of the mail that comes to my house has my last name spelled with two f's and one n. If I just threw it away, I would lose out on so many fabulous free offers and other once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that, well, I couldn't live with myself.

I have received many checks from people with the wrong spelling -- every flavor and iteration of the wrong spelling -- and they all cashed just fine. I once had a brokerage account with the wrong spelling and nobody noticed for years, including me. I understand that people don't take the time to spell it right because they don't take the time to read it right, and I have learned when to pick my battles, like in a hotel. They have to spell it right to find your reservation. So you stand there and spell it for them as you're checking in,  and they can't find it because they're not listening, so you spell it for them again -- one f -- and they tend to manage to hear you the second time and find it. But sometimes it takes three times.

Which brings us back to A-Rod.

I do not know why he showed up so big that one year in high school. I do not know what he has lied about. I have not read the book but I do have the distinct feeling that the author would not be under quite the same media assault if she was a man, if her name was Sam Roberts and not Selena Roberts. I cannot prove that, though. It is just an opinion. I really know nothing about this. I have not read the book and I probably wouldn't read it if somebody gave me a copy for free -- not because it's a bad book but because I really don't give a crap.

Because I don't have to.

Because I'm not Rich Hofman.

I meant to get to this last week, not because I’m hockey’s greatest defender or anything, but just because. And this admittedly is a little bit of an odd time to be wondering who is more popular in town, the Sixers or the Flyers, given their recent spectacular demises. But, well, here goes.

On 950 ESPN, Mike Missanelli is a huge hockey hater. He’s a talented guy, he’s kicking ass in the ratings -- really an amazing thing to watch -- and that’s all fine. He doesn’t like the game and that’s not a big deal. Lots of people don’t like hockey (although I would argue that Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby throwing dueling hat tricks at each other in the same game is worth a look). But his insistence that there are “10 times as many” Sixers fans compared to Flyers fans is just wrong.

I know, I know, “10 times as many” is just a conversational shorthand. But by any standard, you can’t come up with anything approximating the claim.

Attendance, you know. The Flyers have outdrawn the Sixers for most of the last four decades. The haters dismiss that one with the idea that there are only 20,000 Flyers fans in town, and they all show up, and they have more money, and et cetera. OK, fine.

But television is different. Most everybody who wants cable has cable. There is no great economic barrier to getting it anymore. For the overwhelming majority of people in this area, watching the Sixers involves no economic burden. All it takes is click of your thumb.

And, well, the Sixers and Flyers were both just beaten in first-round playoff series after playing middling kinds of regular seasons.

In the regular season, the Sixers averaged a 1.4 rating (42,000 households) on Comcast SportsNet. The Flyers averaged a 2.4 rating (71,300 households).

In Game 5 of their playoff series against Orlando, the Sixers drew a 2.6 rating and peaked at a 4.1. In Game 3 of their playoff series against the Penguins, the Flyers drew a 5.2 rating and peaked at a 6.8, beating the CW and NBC in primetime.

One demographic: for ages 25-54, the Sixers did a 1.9 rating and the Flyers did a 4.6.

These are not isolated numbers, either. The Flyers have outdrawn the Sixers for years. These are real numbers, real facts, and they drive economic decisions by advertisers.

Now, we all remember 2001, when the Sixers went to the NBA Finals and enchanted the town. That was a special time. I will agree that basketball has the potential to build a bigger bandwagon than hockey in those kinds of moments because of overall familiarity with the sport among the people who climb upon bandwagons. But I also recognize that as a unique situation driven by two unique personalities, Allen Iverson and Pat Croce.

But day-in and day-out, the Flyers are a lot more popular than people think -- even here, even today. Hockey is not as popular as basketball but the Flyers are, in many ways, more popular than the Sixers.

Poll: Which team is more popular? (2082 votes)

Everybody loved the Eagles' draft. Sports Illustrated's Peter King loved the Eagles' draft. But King has posted an analysis online that walks you through the Eagles' second day draft maneuvering, all of the dizzying trades, and comes to this conclusion: 

What would you think if I told you the Philadelphia Eagles got third-, fifth-, sixth- and seventh-round draft choices, plus half a starting cornerback for nothing in this year's draft?

That's right. For free. There are no smoke, mirrors or cheating involved. Only thought and effort.

For moving down six spots in the third round -- eventually taking a player they were considering for that 85th pick anyway -- the Eagles got filthy rich. I am shocked more teams don't run their draft the way the Eagles do. It s almost irresponsible that teams don't do it the Philadelphia way.

"Actually, I'm happy more teams don't,'' said Tom Heckert, the Eagles general manager. "If more teams did, we wouldn't be able to do what we do.''

Traditionally, King loves him some Eagles. He likes the coach, likes the front office. He is spot on here, though, and it is hard to find a cynical counter-argument. It is a thorough analysis of the maneuvering and the conclusion is clear: if Cornelius Ingram really is a player they considered taking in the third round then this was intelligent theft.

Joe Paterno wants some changes. Here's the link to the ESPN.com story that lays it all out.

He wants an expansion of the Big 10 to a 12th team -- Pitt, Syracuse, Rutgers, he doesn't seem to care. He wants a post-season playoff because the Big 10 "go(es) into hiding for six weeks" after the regular season while the other conferences get ready for their playoffs. He says he brings it up and Big 10 officials "snicker" behind his back. He says they don't know that he knows that they're snickering -- until now, anyway.

The people at Rutgers and the rest also will be heartened to hear that Paterno believes Penn State is the only team from the Northeast with a chance at winning a national championship. He said, "The only [Northeastern] team that's got a shot would be us, and yet we've got a tough job because the Big Ten is not as visible in the key times as the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12."

He also said that he actually coached this spring, as opposed to simply overseeing things the previous year. And he said that might be the "kiss of death."

Ed Snider, Paul Holmgren and Ed Stefanski were having lunch.

Here is a secret transcript of the conversation.

Snider: How could you let that happen?

Stefanski: Which one of us are you talking to?

Snider: How can you collapse like that in the last game?

Holmgren: Which one of us are you talking to?

Snider: It's Game 6, the crowd's revved up, and you completely fall apart?

Stefanski: Which one of us are you talking to?

Snider: Where's the heart?

Holmgren: Which one of us are you talking to?

Snider: Where's the young leadership you always talk about?

Stefanski: Which one of us are you talking to?

Snider: And how does a coach let that happen?

Holmgren: Which one of us are you talking to?

Snider: I've never seen anything like this. Now what am I supposed to do?

Silence.

Did an Eagles chat this afternoon.

One hour.

Thirty-eight questions.

Only two about Donovan McNabb.

Now, a producer selects the questions from a longer list. There might have been a higher percentage of McNabb questions in the whole list -- there probably were; I only gave it a quick scan during the chat -- but it wasn't a lot more. And I'm sitting here trying to figure out if there is a lesson in there somewhere.

Because, on the one hand, as I've said many times, all you have to do is belch McNabb's name in a column to get people to read it. One of the most-read stories the other day on philly.com was a recapitulation of McNabb's post on yardbarker.com. On the other hand, though, there seems to be a lot of interest now in the Eagles' new draft class and the reconfiguring of the offense and the rest.

I'm not sure what to make of it.

It was a Game 6 in Philadelphia, a long time ago. It was one of the first times they let me out of the office. It was to go to the airport and chase down the Los Angeles Lakers as they arrived for what they hoped would be their NBA Finals-clincher against the Sixers. It was so long ago that professional teams actually, you know, flew commercial.

Center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was hurt. The question for coach Paul Westhead was, well, how would you configure things in Kareem's absence? It was 1980 -- again, so long ago that there was no airport security that I can remember, no nothing, you just went to the gate and hung out. And when people found out that the Lakers were on the flight, dozens of people were suddenly hanging out.

Walking backward, trying to get in a few questions, Westhead said that he might just play rookie Magic Johnson at center. He laughed, everybody laughed.  I was fairly incredulous because, well, I was 22 and incredulous was pretty much more normal state of being. But I put it all in the paper and, what do you know, Magic Johnson played center in Game 6 at the Spectrum and played great and booted the Sixers out of the tournament.

Which brings us to Marcin Gortat. He is the fella who will likely play a bunch in this Game 6 in Philadelphia, Orlando at Sixers, in the absence of suspended Dwight Howard. Marcin is not Earvin. The Sixers need to go right at him; duh. Even if the Magic pack it in and dare them to shoot three-pointers, the Sixers need to take it right to the Polish Prince (one of his real Wikipedia-approved nicknames, along with the Warlock, the Polish Machine and the Polish Hammer). He cannot possibly be as intimidating inside as Howard and he isn't as likely to be as menacing on the double-team that the Magic have thrown at Andre Iguodala the last couple of games every time he bounces the ball.

Howard's elbow-induced suspension provides the Sixers with an opportunity, yes, but also a responsibility. (And we haven't even brought up the injury to Courtney Lee.) There is no excuse for not winning this game. Everybody has spent the last few months tempering their expectations for the Sixers, who don't have Elton Brand and really are a year away from knowing what they really are, but even with those tempered expectations, they need to win this one.  To lose in Game 6 would cost the Sixers whatever credibility they have begun to earn in this series so far.