When she found out her son had just been named capologist for the Philadelphia Eagles, Micki Banner was in a full-blown panic. It was 1994 and not many people knew what an NFL capologist was. So I can just picture Joe Banner's mom at the local grocery store after he agreed to help run Jeffrey Lurie's new team.

Oh Margerie, have you heard? Yes, a capologist. It's true. Our Joey is throwing away his college education and a respectable career just so he can help some football team organize their hats.

Banner eventually straightened her out about his new job.

And since then he's done his momma proud.

	30 Second Column
	Want to know what I learned during the recent baseball labor squabbles? Football players are getting screwed. Hey, I'm all for labor peace, it's the reason why the NFL is now the daddy of all sports. But something is royally messed up when a mediocre baseball player with little to no risk of injury, playing a game that has lost most of its luster can make 10 times what a star football player brings home. Besides signing bonuses, very little money is guaranteed in the NFL, where just about everyone except the stars works for what amounts to one-year contracts. And after their brief NFL careers most ballers can look forward to a lifetime of chronic pain. Knowing that an average baseball player is worth $2M a season kinda makes you look at holdouts like Jimmy Smith and Tony Gonzalez in a whole new light, doesn't it?
	The Flemister File
	In which we check in with Redskins TE Zeron Flemister, official Fleming File mascot. FlemFile: On Sept. 7, when my little Redhawks from Miami University (WHO CRUSHED NORTH CAROLINA LAST WEEK) take on your Iowa Hawkeyes it will be an ugly dismantling the likes of which the Big Ten has never witnessed. ZFlem (former Hawkeye): "Iowa by a landslide." FlemFile: Care to place a wager big guy? Say a T-shirt or sweatshirt? ZFlem: "Maybe the fans should decide what we bet. But I am open to whatever because my team will win." FlemFile: Fine, we'll let the fans decide. And when we get done spanking the Hack-eyes we're going down to LSU to steamroll the Cajun kitties on their home field ... again.
	The Flem Five
	Top five running backs with a (really, really long) shot at breaking the record Emmitt Smith is about to break. 5. Marshall Faulk -- Never say never when talking about the Rams offense. 4. Barry Sanders -- I wish he'd return. He won't. But if he did the record would be his. 3. TIE Eddie George and Jerome Bettis -- Still around 6,000 yards shy of the mark, Bettis is the closest active player on this list. But just like George, injuries cripple his chances. 2. Curtis Martin -- He's got the contract, does he have the miles left in those legs? 1. Corey Dillon -- If his punishing style doesn't backfire on him Dillon could get this record in 2010 ... the same year the Bengals return to the playoffs.
	WHYLO of the Week
	As you might expect, after last week's column on the Eagles Cheerleaders lingerie calendar, my mailbox contained some absolute classics. Besides 872 requests for a link to the cheerleaders site, I also got a nice note from my new pen pal, Monica (Ms. March) and a promise from the Dallas Mavs cheerleaders to ship me the very first copy of their new calendar. My FBI agent brother Bill wrote in to tell me, "Dude, you've got the best job in America." Jerid in Wisconsin, who claims to be afflicted with "Notgettingany Syndrome", says the column may have saved his life. Don from Philly wants me to look into an NFL "cross-dressers calendar". I'll get right on that, big guy. Of course there were the requisite tsk-tskers. Dorota Karmazyn in Orlando wrote: "You should really get your mind out of the gutter and if the preseason information seems like doldrums to you ... change professions and become a fashion reporter so you can gawk at females. In my mind ANY team that is willing to compromise their cheerleaders in this way is slimy." Finally, Steve F. wrote: "It just so happens to be my younger sister Christina on the cover (and Ms. January) of the Eagles Cheerleader calendar. While I'm sure she meant no disrespect, please thank your wife for her reference to my sister as 'a little sub par'." While I respect you standing up for your sis, the sheer Lets-All-Take-Ourselves-Way-WAY-Too-Seriously tone of your email is enough to make you the WHYLO of the week. Steve, Who Helped You Log On?
	Flem Gems
	Over the last few months I've done lengthy analysis pieces for The Mag on the personnel secrets of the Steelers and Eagles. The common denominator on both clubs was Tom Modrak, who is now working his magic in Buffalo. One more reason why the Bills could be this year's Pats How about those Bengals? They now have two kickers and zero quarterbacks on their roster Classless act: Thursday night in Jacksonville the fans did the wave while waiting for Cowboys' Markus Steele to be strapped to a backboard and carted off the field after the backup 'backer strained his neck One of the more unique personalities in Dallas is Emmitt Smith's heir Troy Hambrick. Last week he spoke at length about Smith's flatulence during camp. "Millionaire gas," he called it. Then I caught him waving to himself on the JumbTron in Jax With Chris Weinke's benching, the Panthers continue to be haunted by their poor treatment of Steve Beuerlein, whom they cut after he threw for 8,166 yards and 55 TDs in 1999-2000. How smart is Tony Gonzalez? Guy gets a huge raise and skips training camp altogether. Forget the Eagles cheerleaders. What about Pink's new video? Yikes At 12:30 a.m. on Friday, an hour after the game in Jax had finished and with no reporters or cameras around Jerry Jones was signing autographs in the rain for Cowboys fans.

During the summer I spent quite a bit of time talking to Banner, who is now the Eagles president, for a story in The Mag this week on how the Eagles were built, step-by-step, from a laughingstock to a Super Bowl contender.

In the process I learned to love the whole concept of the NFL capologist. Mostly because in the economics of today's game these guys -- these puny, pale faced dudes with pocket protectors (okay, that's a bit of a stereotype ... some of these guys are flat-out rebels and clip their pens directly to their shirt pockets) -- are the most powerful men in football.

It's not the 350-pound nose tackles or the bully coaches or the megalomaniac owners who control the NFL. Instead it's guys like Banner who have turned the task of balancing free agency and the salary cap into something of an art form.

Banner and Lurie grew up dreaming of working in pro sports while watching Patriots and Celtics games together in Chestnut Hill, Mass. After college Banner had a stint as a reporter/producer for a Philly radio station. He then ran his own chain of retail clothing outlets and helped create City Years, a nonprofit urban Peace Corps that brings young adults from a variety of background together to donate a year of their time in 13 cities across the country.

Hmmm, I joked when we first met, young adults working for free in major cities for the betterment of society. Oh yeah, that's just like the NFL -- minus the Ferraris. "Fundamentally they are exactly the same," Banner replied. "It's all about putting people together from very different backgrounds -- like an intern in the equipment room making $20,000 and a superstar player making $5 million -- and getting them to work together toward a common goal."

The first few years in Philly were rough for Banner and Lurie. The cheesesteak cognoscenti quickly labeled them Dumb and Dumber: two childhood chums playing a real-life version of fantasy football. But in the end I think it was Banner's very lack of football experience that helped him bring a fresh perspective to Philly.

Now, in the era of the 700-day window of success, the Eagles have a team capable of challenging for the Super Bowl for the next several seasons. Note, please, that I said challenging, not winning, because nothing is certain in the bizarrely balanced NFL.

"This is a league that can humble you at the drop of a dime," says Eagles corner Troy Vincent. "We're not getting ahead of ourselves at all. Because in this league one minute you can be riding that big white stretch limo down Broad Street and the next thing you know they won't even let you sell hot dogs on South Street."

In other words, lots of folks have the coin to buy all the parts of an NFL team. But only a few can mix the right ones together to make a winner. In keeping with Vincent's food theme, anybody can buy milk, eggs and sugar and toss 'em in a bowl, that doesn't mean you're gonna end up with crθme brulee.

Sometimes you end up with the Bengals. Or the 1998 Eagles.

"When I bought the team the facilities were horrendous, the relationship with the fans, the city and the players were not ideal -- there was just so much that had to be done," Lurie says. "Now, the blueprint has worked. By taking it step by step by step ... I think it's all in place now."

When the team's new training facility was built Lurie had a quote from Charles Lindbergh stenciled in black paint on a wall deep inside the building. Well past the stunning museum-like lobby and back toward the locker rooms and team auditorium where access is normally 'staff only', the quote is lit from above like a work of art. The lettering practically jumps out at you off the eggshell-colored walls. It's been placed at eye level just inside a doorway so that no matter how many times you pass by or how cluttered your mind is as you approach you can't help but repeat it, often out loud, before continuing down a corridor that features portraits of the team's Pro Bowl players.

The important thing is to start ... to create a plan and then follow it step by step no matter how small or large each one by itself might seem.

You can also find this quote on the wall behind head coach/GM Andy Reid's desk. It's Banner's credo as well. The guy is tireless, which explains the bags behind those horn-rimmed glasses. He and an assistant break down every deal in the NFL. (Yes, every single deal.) And back when it looked like negotiations for the Eagles' new stadium had hit a rough patch, Banner left his family vacation on Martha's Vineyard, survived a bus crash and two plane trips to make a crucial city council meeting.

From the balcony of Banner's office you can now see the highest girders of The Linc. Tours of the site reveal that the new stadium will feature a 14,000-square-foot locker room (minus the rats from The Vet ... and by that I mean the rodents not the fans); HDTV scoreboards measuring 27' by 96' and viewable from space; 100,000 square feet of plaza space, 9,000 club seats and 117 suites.

While standing in the dirt and gravel of what will become the 50-yard line, looking up past your hard hat at the future of Philly football, one is struck by a single thought: which is a more impressive construction job, this stadium, or the team that will play in it?

The Linc is set to open in 2003. Or, as Lurie is hoping, on the first Monday Night Football game after the Eagles win Super Bowl XXXVII.

If that happens, it would be a quite a Banner year.

David Fleming is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at flemfile@aol.com. But watch out -- you could be the WHYLO of the Week.