Sorry for the lack of posts lately. A little post-election lull, coupled with my annual Thanksgiving-week vacation, has kept me away from manning my battle station (i.e. the keyboard).

Speaking of Turkey Day, I scanned the list of scores from around the region and saw that my alma mater, Northeast High, crushed rival Central.

That was the good news.

The bad was the lack of Thanksgiving games. Kudos to the likes of Spring-Ford and Phoenixville -- and also Pottsgrove and St. Pius X -- still getting it on, but all other area schools not still alive in the PIAA playoffs (all but North Penn) should have made attempts to find dance partners.

Northeast went fairly deep into the playoffs (which amazes me because the Vikes looked mediocre against Norristown in the season opener) and still kept the Central game on the calendar.

Kennedy-Kenrick and PW would have been a good game. How about a renewal of the Norristown-Upper Merion rivalry that we still hear so much about? Methacton could have hooked up with an old rivalry lost with its move this year to the Pioneer Athletic Conference.

All it takes is a phone call. Some athletic directors make some nice coin. How about earning some of it?

I know, I know ... there are bigger problems in the world.

Nonetheless, sometimes you have to think local before acting global. Things like rivalries, even if they can only be semi-regular becuase of the PIAA playoff cash cow, are what help to keep the American fabric sewn.

When the supposed Angel of Death comes to call, would you rather go quick or slow. Going quick saves you a lot of suffering but going slow gives you a chance to say goodbye who are worth saying goodbye to.

It's a tough call. Ideally, you'd like something in the middle, but that's not on the table for this drill.

What brought this lovely topic to the forefront? The Eagles -- the football team, not the band.

For this loyalist and season-ticket holder, the Andy Reid era officially ended after the loss on Monday Night Football to the dreaded Dallas Cowboys earlier in the season.

Reid, and the fans, gave a collective smile and shrug after the narrow loss. The feeling was that, although the setback could prove to be the difference between winning or losing the division (both teams have since gone into the tank, so that laughable now), it was a good game and at least the Eagles were able to hang with the same team they used to beat up on a few seasons earlier.

That attitude -- after losing a winnable game to a division rival -- told me that the bar has been set below reaching the Super Bowl with this regime. They now just want to compete and maybe, if the ball bounces their way, eke into the playoffs and milk the fans for money around the holidays for playoff ticket ransom.

Since then, it's been all downhill. The Eagles are 5-4, but all four losses could and should have been wins. They are 0-3 in a division that has passed them by. Brian Westbrook looks old, Donovan McNabb is never going to get any better and their tendencies on both sides of the ball are predictable. The only saving grace is the talent to overcome coaching gaffes, but it's not enough.

It's over.

And I'd rather see the Eagles crash this season and finish something like 7-9 or 8-8. If they manage to go above .500, ownership will continue the Andy Reid charade that will never bring us a parade that would make the Phillies' celebration look like a Memorial Day cookout.

I know this isn't political, but some things just hit closer to home. Thanks for letting me vent.

Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump ...

If listen closely in between the crows of the rooster this historic morning, you can hear the pounding.

The rapid heartbeats should be born out of great anticipation. Instead, there are thumping away by virtue of the most vile of all four-letter words -- fear.

I would wager a pretty penny or two that some of you reading this still haven't made up your minds upon whom to vote for today.

To left, you have Barack Obama and running mate Joe Biden. To the right, there is John McCain and sidekick Sarah Palin.

Given where we are in this country -- and the fact that more than 90 percent of Americans think we're heading in the wrong direction -- it should be a landslide.

McCain, for better or worse, is wearing the brand of the party that dug the hole. He rubber-stamped many of the flawed decisions that pushed us into that hole. He rationlized it, which equated to trying to bury us alive.

Obama, overcoming all odds, represents a new dawn.

He won't dig us out in 12 seconds, but he will. He has the vision and intellect to surround himself with dynamic people who, together, will point us toward tomorrow instead of yesterday.

But there is a catch. Obama is 50 percent black, which is 50 percent too much for a lot of America to swallow.

And so, for that reason alone, we will have a close election today. Obama should still eke out a win in terms of popular vote and surpass the magic number needed in electoral votes.

But one never knows.

So I'm taking to the mound to make one last pitch -- despite a sore arm.

A lot of you are scared. You're not racist, at least not in a KKK or Karl Rove sense, but you are afraid -- afraid of the dark (pun intended).

Let's just be politically correct and call it ... culturally insecurity.

Well, before it's too late, let's flip the switch and look at this thing logically and try to ease some fears with five reasons to do the clear-cut right thing and vote for the Obama-Biden ticket today:

5) The Vice Presidential Choices: And this goes to judgment as much as anything else. Sarah Palin was a no-name from nowhere, which created a temporary mystique that wore off fast with all but the faithful. Her down-home pluck might make her a go-getter of a governor in Alaska, but the thought of her being a heartbeat away from the Oval Office is downright frightening. McCain, whose mantra was "country first," clearly put politics first with his choice. On the other hand, Biden is an accomplished politician -- as much, if not more so than McCain -- and complements Obama (which Palin fails to do for McCain).

4) The Face of Race: We are just a day away from a magical turning point. It could be that once-fantastical day when every parent can now look their child in the eye and say you can do anything, even be president, and mean it. But it goes beyond that. As a Hillary Clinton backer, I scoffed as much as anyone at Obama's speech on race -- right here in Philadelphia -- in the midst of the Rev. Wright debacle. When I review the speech now, I alternate between being ashamed of myself and being overwhelmed with the message. It is fair to say that the discussion of race in America -- often conducted in whispers and hushed tones -- will change forever with an Obama presidency. For good and decent Americans, which most of us are, sillyfears will be allayed. There will be certain cards black America can no longer play, which may advance the discussion. Conversely, it will be easier to spot and hunt down the racists that have been hiding in the closets in every corner of the country. There will be rough spots, but we will emerge better for it in the end. The best taboo is no taboo.

3) Our Standing In The World: I also downplayed this argument when Obama first came onto the scene, but it really is important that we restore our image as the country to emulate. It's not that way anymore, and that's simply tragic.

2) The War On Terror Will Gain Focus: Obama didn't pick Biden because he planned to go into a pacifists' shell. He always saw the Iraq War, which is the unspoken heat lamp atop our economic meltdown, as folly. He will end that so-called war so we can hunt down those who actually attacked us on Sept. 11. And if you believe that John McCain is some kind of a Superman who can fly through the air -- with Palin clapping her pom-poms from the ground -- and stop a plane before it hits a building, I think we should legalize whatever it is you are smoking. We are always safer with the more rational thinker. You want mission accomplished? You'll have a better chance of getting it.

1) Balance: It's healthy to eat fruits and vegetables and protein, but too much of any are no good. If you overload on Vitamin C, for example, you are at risk for kidney stones. Huh? What? I'm a Democrat -- although I've voted for plenty of Republicans over the years (maybe even McCain before he sold his soul to the far-right devils) -- but I wouldn't want a Democrat in the White House for more than two terms. It's just not healthy. Yes, the executive branch is only one-third of the power base, but he (or, one-day, she) sets the tone. The president has veto power and appoints the Supreme Court justices that are really going to shape the nation for average people like us. No matter how much of a centrist --let alone a populist -- a president may try to be, there is no way he can represent the needs of all Americans at one time. There will always be groups of people disenfranchised. When it's the same groups for too long of a period of time, it's just not a healthy balance.

So there it is.

Take a moment. Breath deep. In and out. And sing along with the George Harrison-penned masterpiece:

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right
Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun and I say it's all right
Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun and I say it's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right
It's all right

One thing I won't miss about Election season are the polls. Here a poll, there a poll -- everywhere a poll, poll.

And all polls, I've come to learn, are not created equal. Some are skewed left, some right. Some are based on phone calls. Others, the Internet or door to door.

They also tend to run a few days behind. So if there is a surge one way or the other, we don't really see it for two or three days. By then, the other side has done or said something to make it null and void anyway.

What I have done is create the G2 Tracking Poll. I take a cross-section of the more reputable ones and come up with my own equation.

So ... with the Election tomorrow, here is what the G2 poll is telling us:

- John McCain, as some polls are indicating, has closed the gap in terms of popular vote.

- Barack Obama has a stranglehold on the Electoral College, even if McCain comes too close for comfort on the popular vote.

I see Obama breaking 300 electoral votes, which puts him well over the top. He will struggle to get to 50 percent in popular vote, although I'm going to say he comes away with 51 to McCain's 47. The other two are divided between the independent candidates.

So there you have it - Barack Obama is your next president of the United States, according to the G2 tracking poll.

The best news? No more Sarah Palin!

There comes a point when you know you've won. Maybe you restrain from celebrating -- like when the clock ticks down toward all zeroes -- but you feel pretty good.

In football, it's when you get that key first down while holding a lead late in the fourth quarter and the other team is out of timeouts.

In baseball, it's when you add insurance runs before turning the game over to a lights-out reliever -- like Brad Lidge -- to close it out.

In basketball, it's when the other team is fouling you and you're padding your late lead at the foul line.

Hockey? How about that 'ol empty-net goal to take a two-goal lead with less than a minute left.

Elections can be trickier, but I felt pretty secure about a Democratic win come Tuesday when I watched John McCain look around in vain for his celebrity guest -- Joe The Plumber.

Not only is this guy not named Joe and not even a licensed plumber, but he is the epitome of the proverbial island of last resort.

Joe -- he of the back taxes owed -- eventually turned up and said something about supporting John McCain because he "a real American."

The statement just about says all that needs to be said about the mindset about to have it's collective clock cleaned on Tuesday.

The right has hijacked patriotism and God for too long. On Tuesday, we're taking it back.

Meanwhile, on the same day Joe Schmo made a further mockery of the McCain campaign, Barack Obama's featured guest was former President Bill Clinton. The next day, Nobel Prize winner Al Gore was on the stump for our next president.

It's not over -- officially.

But it's over.

We are going to be a better country for it!

That's right ... the Sunday before perhaps the most historic elections in the modern history of our country and I will not have one last column urging you to vote for Barack Obama.

Some things are more important.

One them is sports. Not the games themselves, but what they mean to the sub-cultures within the larger one.

The celebration since the Phillies won the World Series Sunday -- and the parade Friday -- prove that sports, like music and art and music, can unit where politics only widen the great divide.

Millions of people joining together, and probably not one word was uttered about Obama or McCain -- let alone Sarah Palin's wardrobe, Joe Biden's Foot in Mouth disease, Joe The (alleged) Plumber, William Ayers, etc.

That's why my column didn't go there.

By stayed tuned here -- at "My Back Pages" -- for last thoughts on the election.