Wing Bowl IX is just around the corner. This year’s orgy will celebrate fatness, drunkenness and the eternal desire to hang out in a strip club at 10 o’clock in the morning. Naturally, we’ll be doing something special for the event, probably on the order of having a tea party where we dine on finger sandwiches filled with speck and black trumpet mushrooms.

Wing Bowl gives us pause to think about the great tradition of obesity in this town. We’ve got cheesesteaks, pretzels, Tasty Kakes, temples of beer, the schmitter and Andy Reid. News is emerging, however, that at least one prominent Philadelphia sports icon, Charlie Manuel, is bucking the trend.

Thanks to a sensible diet, light exercise and a desire to remain alive, Manuel has dropped 59 pounds. The difference is amazing. The only down side is that his visits to the mound won’t be quite as entertaining but the trade-off seems to be worth it. Just when we thought we couldn’t like Uncle Chollie any more, he goes and does this. Kudos, Chas.