In my three decades of creating front pages for this newspaper, it has become my constant companion.
It is the rock that sits deep in my gut.
The rock was a little bigger when I went to bed Sunday night. That's because I was wondering about the front page that was about to hit the streets Monday morning.
It detailed the huge win by the U.S. Women's Soccer team in capturing their second consecutive World Cup title.
It wasn't the front page so much as the headline that screamed off it.
We refer to that lead banner headline as our 'black line.' Other tabs call it The Wood.
Even today, amidst a sea of Twitter, Facebook and online postings, it remains the single most important decision I make every day.
That Page One headline has a job to do - one that people are sometimes surprised I am willing to admit.
It is meant to sell newspapers.
That's correct. That's one part of my job - to sell as many newspapers every day as I can.
That often rubs people the wrong way. Usually the people who call me up and scream at me that "you only put that story on your front page to sell newspapers." There's an element of truth in their arguments.
We sometimes push the edges with our front page. It's part of the job.
As far as news goes, Sunday was a fairly slow news day. I knew there was a very good chance we would be banking on the World Cup final involving the U.S. Women for our lead. We had a reporter doing a local side.
So as soon as I heard the final score, my mind did what it does every time I hear a good story.
The tumblers in my head start clicking as I sear for a few words to capture the story - hopefully with a little twist to capture the readers' attention.
I thought about soccer, about goals, about kicks and about women.
Then as it usually did, it just popped into my head.
"Golden Girls."
But there was a problem. There usually is with these kind of headlines.
I wondered if some people would think of me as sexist for portraying the women's team as "girls. The truth is this was a play off the old TV sitcom featuring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty. Google it, kids.
So I did what I routinely do in these situations: I asked my wife if she was offended.
She was not.
It's one of the things I miss most about the distinct shortage of people in our building these days. There was a time when we did all the composing - the actual paste-up of the daily newspaper - as well as the printing, right in our own building in Primos.
Those days seem like a thousand years ago.
I would routinely walk into the composing room and ask for opinions of a Page One headline. It helps to ask someone other than newspeople their opinions. We tend to look at the world a little more cynically than most.
If a person winced when they looked at the headline, I knew it was probably one I might want to reconsider.
I am happy to report I got nary a complaint at that "Golden Girls" lead head.
The bowling ball that resides in my stomach is only slightly smaller.
It never goes away, it just sort of hides for awhile.
On Wednesday the U.S. Women's team will be feted with a ticker-tape parade in New York City.
I'm a baseball freak. I always refer to great Phillies teams as The Boys of Summer.
I guess this makes this women's team The Girls of Summer. That might work on a front page.
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