First of all, let me say thanks to all of you who sent in so many, touching, thoughtful and well-written e-mails in response to the Jermaine Lewis column.

E-mails like those are what make it bearable to read some of the other, uh, items I receive.

Let me give you an example. When I'm tough on someone, like, say, the Charlotte Hornets, I get e-mails like this, from Kevin:

"Hey Mr. Negative, if you ain't got nothing nice to say, then don't say a goddamn thing a--hole."

And when I'm complimentary of a team, like, say, the Philadelphia Eagles, I get e-mails like this, from Cortez:

"Jesus Christ! Homer has a whole new meaning after reading that article. I understand how someone could get caught up in the excitement of their team but brother if you weren't all over McNabb's [groin] over what he did in practice then I'm an angry white male."

You see, I just can't win. But the good news is, Kevin and Cortez certainly can. They're the co-WHYLOs of the Week!

Kevin and Cortez, WHO HELPED YOU LOG ON?

Now, here's a sampling from the rest of my mailbag.

From William: "McNabb can trow da ball buddy! Can da stinkin recievas catch da damn ting?"

Chad Lewis? James Thrash? Freddie Mitchell? Fugedaboutit.

From Kevin: "Is this the Dave Fleming that pitched for Seattle??"

No, but please, whatever you do, don't send me any more Dave Fleming baseball cards. It stopped being cute after the first 50.

From an editor at ESPN.com: "Can we do something about David Fleming's column headshot?"

Next week's column: Flem goes to Glamor Shots at the mall.

Kevin writes: "Excuse me sir, I just had a quick question, when I do fantasy football this upcoming year ..."

STOP RIGHT THERE. I do not answer fantasy football questions. I chose to spend my time doing something a tad more intellectually stimulating, like watering my lawn.

Dennis says: "It's disappointing that while doing an article on a great young talent-you had to subtly participate in the old, tired, and boring sport of Philly fan-bashing. There are a lot of good people in Philadelphia who do not appreciate the stereotype unoriginal sportswriters (such as yourself) cast upon our city. Shame on you."

I got a lot of these complaints. Geez, for a city that loves its tough-guy rep, you'd think fans wouldn't be so thin-skinned. The fan quote was written exactly as it was yelled through the fence. So don't blame me. And as far as the Philly sports fans' rep, that's well deserved. After all, I'm not the one who cheered wildly when Michael Irvin was lying motionless on the turf a few years ago.

Brian writes: "I was wondering if you could clear something up for me -- why does Iverson wear that silly sock thing on his arm?"

My guess would be it's from carpal-tunnel syndrome from shooting so much.

Regarding my reference to his seventh-grade afro in my last FlemFile, my brother Greg writes: "Hey Davey, haha very funny ... I'm gonna kick your ass at Christmas."

Gulp. Mom? MOM! GREG'S PICKIN' ON ME AGAIN!

And finally, NymphoCollegeGrl writes: "Hi sexy. My college girlfriends and I really need money for college, so we set up this phone service with some other girls from all over the country. We will do anything and everything you want, we'll fulfill any fantasy or desire".

Wait. Oops. Uh. Hehe. How did this get in here?

David Fleming, a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine, writes a weekly column for ESPNMAG.com. E-mail flemfile@aol.com.