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.

I mean, if this stuff is going to keep happening to Cole Hamels -- the latest being a sprained ankle on Tuesday night -- somebody at least ought to be able to make a buck out of it. Because you know that somebody in New York has a voodoo doll, perhaps like the one pictured above on the cap.

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren, a straight shooter in most cases, was pretty vague about the future of goaltender Martin Biron at a Tuesday press conference. After the team's first-round playoff ouster by Pittsburgh, Holmgren is in evaluation mode, clearly.  But given several chances to say that Marty would be his guy if they can work out the money under the salary cap, Holmgren declined.

The fact is, backup Antero Nittymaki is unsigned, too -- and has a hip problem to boot, a lingering injury that will require further checking, according to Holmgren. Anyway, Holmgren said, "We’ll continue to talk. Some of it’s going to come down to, in terms of both of those guys...whether we can afford to sign both those guys, I don’t know. These are things we will continue to discuss.”

Holmgren was then asked if he would be happy with Biron as his starting goaltender next season. The GM said, “I think Marty’s a good goalie. I think he’s had a good couple of years here and (if) we move forward with him, that’ll be a decision we make in the next little while.”

Then, later, Holmgren was asked if it was just a matter of getting the money right, if that was the issue. And Holmgren said, “We’ll see. We’ll see. It’s a difficult process when you have a salary cap and we’ve already committed a certain amount of dollars in certain areas, we’ll come up with the right direction.”

Make of that what you will. Maybe they just haven't decided yet internally and Holmgren was stalling. Maybe the money is such an overriding factor that they can't get their heads around the rest of it. I don't know. All I'm sure of is that I didn't hear a ringing endorsement of the incumbent goaltender.

As someone who remembers when the NFL draft was sometimes 12 rounds in one-day, an absolute car wreck of a day, the evolution of this thing is nothing short of astounding. And now comes this news, which actually has been coming for a while but which the NFL is now saying out loud:

The league is considering taking the first round to prime time, and turning it into a seven-round, three-day extravaganza.

The confirmation comes from an NFL public relations guy, via Twitter (heaven help us).

Here's what he tweeted:

"We're thinking of taking #nfldraft primetime. 1st rd thurs, 2-3 rds Fri nite, 4-7 Sat. Good/bad idea? What do u think?"

If there is money to be made, they're going to do it -- and, guess what, there's money to be made. By Saturday, other than shut-ins, sportswriters and family members of potential draftees, I'm not exactly sure who is going to watch. But the Thursday night thing would be gigantic -- and now that they have the first round under 3 1/2 hours, it's possible. The Friday night thing would be good, too -- if for no other reason than it would give people a night to chew on what their team did or didn't get in the first round, and what the new imperatives are.

April is already National Draft Month. This will just make it official.

Sitting over in the NovaCare Complex on Sunday when the Eagles traded two fifth-round picks for Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs, two questions immediately hit me:

1) What does this mean for disgruntled corner Sheldon Brown?

2) Why did it only take two fifth-rounders to acquire a starting corner?

We're going to take these in reverse order. Why fifth-rounders for a guy who has started for the better part of four years? You do have to wonder a little bit. You do have to wonder about why the Patriots have spent the off-season acquiring new secondary talent, making Hobbs expendable. The price was pretty reasonable, especially for a player at such an important position. So let's not go too crazy about what they got here. They got a professional player, and a guy who is young enough that he might still be getting better. Don't say much more than that, though, until we see more.

Then there is the Brown question. This isn't about him anymore -- it's about other people. Two of them are Andy Reid and Joe Banner, and they are not likely to acquiesce quickly to Brown's demand for a new contract and/or a trade -- because that's not what they do. Even more important than them, though, is the unspellable Jack Ikegwuonu (and, to a lesser degree, just-drafted Victor Harris).  One of them has to be able to play or the Eagles cannot move Brown.

Remember: Lito Sheppard is gone now, and the Eagles play four cornerbacks a decent percentage of the time. And if the fourth guy can't play, opposing offenses will make the Eagles play four cornerbacks an even higher percentage of the time. And it's not even that: they play three corners a ton of the time, and if somebody sprains an ankle, the fourth has to play in place of one of the first three, and the other teams will find him on the field every damn time if he can't play.

When I listen to Reid talk about this stuff, I try to hear the truth beneath the words. And when Reid talked Sunday about Ikegwuonu, who missed his rookie season injured, he said, “Jack is coming off the major knee [surgery]. He has been doing the offseason program and it looks like he has a chance. He is a little bit rusty right now but he is working his tail off so we will add him into the mix.”

That does not sound like a ringing endorsement. This is going to have to play out. Brown has no chance to be moved until the Eagles are convinced Ikegwuonu or Harris (or somebody) can get on the field.

Draft weekend is message time in the NFL, maybe the only time when a team tells the truth -- and not with its words but its actions.

With that:

In selecting Jeremy Maclin with the 19th pick in the first round, and trading up two spots to do it, the Eagles selected a wide receiver higher than they have since they took Kenny Jackson with the fourth overall pick in 1984. That's a quarter-century.

In selecting LeSean McCoy with the 53rd pick in the second round, the Eagles took a running back higher than they have since they took Charlie Garner with the 42nd overall pick in 1994. That's 15 years.

Earlier, they used the 28th pick as part of a trade to acquire left tackle Jason Peters from Buffalo.

And they signed right tackle Stacy Andrews, a former franchise player from Cincinnati.

And they signed fullback Leonard Weaver.

But forget about Andrews and Weaver for a second. The last time the Eagles effectively expended their first three picks on offensive players was in 1985 (T Kevin Allen, QB Randall Cunningham, G Greg Naron; ouch). They also did it in 1982 (WR Mike Quick, TE Lawrence Sampleton, TE Vyto Kab), and 1972 (QB John Reaves, T Dan Yockum, G Tom Luken). And then you go way, way back from there. Even then -- and even if I missed one someplace -- three offensive acquisitions with the top 53 picks appears to be unprecedented, at least in the Eagles' modern era.

If that doesn't tell you about the Eagles' hopes and their concerns, nothing does. If that doesn't tell you that they want to placate quarterback Donovan McNabb with more options, more possibilities, nothing does. I know, I know, you wanted Anquan Boldin. Maclin is younger and faster but it might take longer, and that is a fair concern. But the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that the Bears inquired about Boldin and the Cardinals rejected their offer of the 47th pick. You wonder if it would have taken the 21st pick to get him. And if you don't really love him, and it is going to cost you $9 million or $10 million to get him, and you can get younger and faster at the same position without him, what do you do?

I wanted a really big guy for the red zone, but you can't invent him if he isn't there. Given that, I don't see how you can dislike the Maclin pick. I mean, you can see Andy Reid scheming even now. And, yes, I know you hate it when Reid schemes. But he really is pretty good at it, and pretty reasonable, except for the game or two every year when he goes off his rocker. But that is the exception. They do score a lot of points.

Reid and McNabb. It comes down to them, as always, but there is a lot to like here. If nothing else, there are new  people and new skill sets to talk about.

Nobody talks about Anquan Boldin's contract, which is the reason he wants out of Arizona.  If the Eagles were to acquire him in a trade, they would have to renegotiate his contract with two years remaining and throw in an SUV full of cash. If the rumors about Boldin wanting $9 million-plus per season are true, this is an enormous mouthful.

Renegotiate with two years remaining...

After already doing Jason Peters...

Paging Sheldon Brown...

Paging Donovan McNabb...

This is the real problem -- and that is acknowledging that I'm not even sure that the Eagles love him as a player. The contract is the hurdle, both for the cash involved and for the locker room ramifications.

----------

With that, I will end with a jerk question that encapsulates every bit of Eagles news for the last few days:

If the Eagles could only afford to do one thing, which would it be?

Get Boldin and give him a big new contract?

Or, pay the City of Philadelphia the $8 million it says it is owed?

Thaddeus Young won it at the end with a layup, contorting around Orlando's Dwight Howard with 2 second left. The final score was 96-94. The Wachovia Center erupted. The Sixers now lead the Magic in their best of seven playoff series, two games to one.

It was a wild night. Howard had 36 for the Magic. Andre Iguodala had 29 for the Sixers. The Sixers blew a 17 point lead but survived.

The first half was the Sixers’ best of the series. It was their best because they did what they do best – running and attacking the rim. They made 13 baskets from inside of about 4 feet, and they also made 12 out of 13 free throws, and they built a 60-49 lead at the break.

The other key stat, midway through: the Sixers had 9 fast-break points and the Magic had only 2. Again, this is the Sixers’ game – and when you consider the fact that they had only 21 combined fast-break points in the first two games, well, it told you all you needed to know about the stylistic forces at work.

The Sixers would increase the lead to 17 points, 74-57, when Andre Iguodala made a ridiculous fallaway jumper with two Magic players bracketing him and the shot clock expiring. They had stopped attacking the basket but it didn’t seem to matter.

And then it did.

Willie Green, traveling.

Shot clock violation.

Green, missed three-pointer.

Samuel Dalembert, turnover.

Put it this way: the Sixers had only six turnovers in the game’s first 29 minutes and then they have five more in the next 4 ½ minutes, five more in the space of nine possessions. And during that stretch, a 15-point lead evaporated.

The Magic, a great three-point shooting team that had been silenced from distance in the first two games of the series, suddenly banged in three three’s while the Sixers were throwing the ball around so carelessly. The lead was only 80-77 after the third quarter. When Rashard Lewis poured in a three-pointer, it was 86-86 with under 6 minutes to go.

It ricocheted from  there. And in the end, there was Thaddeus Young. It was only his third basket of the game.

I will not pretend to know Knowshon Moreno's projected ability as an NFL player. There are people in the league who are paid good money to throw that dart and make that guess -- and it is that, an educated guess, nothing more.

But I will repeat what I have been saying since the day the Eagles were eliminated from the playoffs by the Arizona Cardinals: they need to come out of this off-season with a running back who can step in and play immediately.

I know everybody in town wants a wide receiver. But go game-by-game last year and really look at it -- look at the situations where many of the games turned -- and the Eagles' depth at running back was their greatest problem. When Brian Westbrook limped, they were limp. They had Correll Buckhalter last year and they had Tony Hunt for part of last year and it wasn't enough. They weren't good enough all-around backup running backs. They didn't know the plays. They couldn't pick up blitzes. They couldn't be trusted, not enough, when Westbrook was nicked. And now both of them are gone and Westbrook is coming off of what has been described as minor off-season knee surgery. There is no backup plan currently in place that is worth talking about.

They do have until August to find somebody. But given Westbrook's history, the somebody can't just be anybody. I remember they got Dorsey Levens late one summer, and he was decent, but this is a big spot here and waiting that long is an enormous risk. It is not a risk they can afford to take.

So they need a running back, and he needs to be camera-ready. The Eagles cannot afford to get out-maneuvered here and they cannot allow the vagaries of draft day -- "there's a run on running backs!" -- to prevent them from doing this.

History says it won't be a first-round guy. But the Eagles have never faced the current set of imperatives: a crying need and the certainty that the guy is going to have to play immediately.  Could a second- or third-round guy play right away? Sure. Could a second- or third-round guy be a better value in the long run? Sure. The league is full of just such guys, including Westbrook.

But the odds get longer the longer they wait, and the Eagles cannot miss on this. Cannot. Because this isn't a rebuilding team, not with Donovan McNabb at quarterback. This is all about now, about right now.

With that, draft away.