Running in_category on the side?

I have a page for my weblog mainly it’s index.php from the wordpress installation, but under one of the sections in the columns i want to slip this code
<?php if ($posts) : foreach ($posts as $post) : start_wp(); ?>
<?php the_date('','<h2>','</h2>'); ?>
<?php if (in_category(2)) { //code below is for link post ?>
<div class="storytitle">
Link It: " title="<?php the_content_rss('', 0, ''); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?><?php edit_post_link(); ?>
</div>
<?php } else { // code below prints normal posts (without excluded links category) ?>
<?php } // closes printing entries with excluded cats ?>

and was wondering if it possible. It’s the code that mtdewvirus posted that shows an external link as the title. basically, I want to set a column on the side and link other news I see. When i put the code above it gives me Parse error: parse error, unexpected $ in /home/—/public_html/v12.php on line 158 and line 158 doesnt exist. Not sure if I am explaining it thoroughly, but I just wanted to have something like mezzoblue.com daily section using WordPress