A Phillie now, Revere has Georgia on his mind

AFTER THE Phillies traded centerfielder Shane Victorino in the middle of the 2012 season, they had a chance to re-sign him in the offseason. They instead opted to trade starters Vance Worley and Trevor May for Ben Revere, a base-stealing threat with excellent outfield range who seldom strikes out.

To some observers, Revere's throwing arm (he now plays leftfield) and his lack of power (he has two home runs in six seasons) might lessen his value. But at 27 and not being eligible for free agency until 2018, the versatile Revere, with his .289 career average, is a prime candidate for some contending team to snare from a bloated Phillies roster.

Until then, his bubbly presence helps make the Phillies' clubhouse a little bit brighter during their current quest for mediocrity. Marcus Hayes caught up with Revere on the Phillies' last road trip, and they talked about - what else? -sports.

Q You were born in Georgia and raised in Kentucky. But your favorite teams still hail from Atlanta, where the pro teams generally do well in the regular season but fall short of titles. You must love heartbreak. What's your best Atlanta sports memory?

Jamal Anderson doing the Dirty Bird dance, back in 1998 or something. The first Falcons Super Bowl appearance. The whole city got fired up. It helped everybody get ready for the Super Bowl. Then, they broke my heart.

Also, watching Michael Vick play. I had the video game (EA Sports' Madden NFL 2004). He was the best guy on the game. He could throw perfect and scramble and everything, but you'd better get him out of bounds. If he got touched, he'd fumble. A lot.

Q Your father, John, is the running-backs coach at Eastern Kentucky. You were a star receiver in high school and have been timed running a 4.3-second 40-yard dash. Your brother J.R. was a star college quarterback. Why baseball, not football?

Yeah, football. Some days I miss it. My dad's a coach. Then I see about all the concussions, and I realize I chose the right sport.

I didn't start playing football until I was in eighth grade. I had to learn about tackling, taking hits, had to get stronger. I dislocated my kneecap as a freshman. I didn't come into my own in the sport until my senior year.

When I committed to play baseball at Georgia, the football coaches asked me to play, too. But my mother watched my brother run the triple option at Georgia Southern and get crushed a lot. She was, like, "I can't take another 4 years of that."

I want to have my legs under me when I'm 60 years old, to play with my grandkids.

Q You're only 5-9, but was basketball ever an option? Can you dunk?

I played when I was a little kid. And I could dunk. Maybe not now, after two ankle surgeries and two knee surgeries. But in high school, I could dunk in Timberland . Maybe, if it was a really good day, maybe I still could.

Q Did you take any joy in the Hawks' run to the Eastern Conference Finals?

Yeah, they're my team. They always do so well in the regular season, then in the playoffs . . . Then they went up against LeBron and those boys from Cleveland.

I've met a couple of guys from the Hawks. Kyle Korver , and I met Jeff Teague. Hopefully, in the offseason they'll get some big guys to help them.

Q You're a basketball aficionado. Could Kentucky's men's basketball really have beaten the atrocious Sixers last season?

I was forced to be a Kentucky Wildcats basketball fan. They were a good team and all, but you're talking about kids playing grown men. They were deep, but kids and grown men?

I'd say maybe one game out of 10 they might beat them. But if it really came down to it, the Sixers would be, like, "We ain't gonna let these boys beat us."