STERN APPROACH STILL AN AGE-OLD PROBLEM.(Sports)(Column) - Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)

Byline: Dave Krieger, Rocky Mountain News

Musings for a Monday morning on overkill and other amusements of the rich and famous . . .

* David Stern's insistence on a minimum age of 20 to play in the NBA, for example.

* There's only one legitimate argument for this idea, but it's a pretty good one: The NBA has no place to put teenagers who are not ready for prime time, so they end up wasting away at the end of the bench or on the injured list.

* Detroit's Darko Milicic, Minnesota's Ndudi Ebi, Miami's Dorell Wright, Seattle's Robert Swift and Golden State's Nikoloz Tskitishvili, just to name a few.

* Baseball doesn't require a minimum age because kids who aren't ready get ready in the minor leagues.

* Not coincidentally, Stern is proposing this solution, too. He wants the players' association to recognize the National Basketball Developmental League as an official minor league to which NBA teams can assign players.

* If the union agrees - and indications are it will - the minimum age becomes unnecessary, not to mention offensive, as Jermaine O'Neal pointed out.

* What, 18 is old enough to die for your country but not old enough to play pro basketball? Huh?

* Speaking of overkill, George Steinbrenner is very upset with the Yankees' 4-8 start. Naturally, he considers it Joe Torre's fault.

* After all, if you can't buy a championship for $205 million, the Yankees' payroll this season, exactly how much does it cost?

* Just wondering: Is it time to trade Byung-Hyun Kim yet?

* Granted, he hasn't reached Allan Simpson's earned-run average of 67.50, but he does have two losses in six appearances and 10 walks in 81/3 innings.

* Boulder's Tyler Hamilton could find out today whether his cycling career, which produced a gold medal in Athens, is over.

* Hamilton, who finished fourth in last summer's Tour de France, allegedly tested positive for blood doping at the Tour of Spain later in the season. If an arbitration panel sustains that finding, Hamilton, 34, faces a two-year ban from the sport.

* Speaking of cyclists, Lance Armstrong has half the Euro sporting press in Macon, Ga., today for a promised announcement on his future.

* He might announce he'll retire after the Tour de France.

* On the other hand, he might announce he'll sing a duet with Sheryl Crow on her next record. Lance is funny that way.

* The Rockets might have been guilty of a little overkill of their own in Saturday's 28-point thrashing of the Nuggets, but you can hardly blame them when the prize was playing Seattle in the first round of the playoffs.

* Yes, the Rockets were wearing throwback jerseys. No, the Nuggets were not required to cooperate by recalling the Dick Motta era.

* Now, everybody's seen their Achilles' heel. The Nuggets dominate by getting gimmes at the basket - throw-downs on the break, throw-downs on the alley-oop, even a throw-down or two on the offensive boards.

* But not when you put a legit shot blocker back there.

* Against Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutombo, the gimmes were gone. That left the Nuggets struggling to make contested perimeter shots, just like the bad old days. Does Carmelo Anthony shooting 4-for-17 ring a bell?

* Unfortunately, their other shooters, DerMarr Johnson and Wesley Person, can't stay on the floor if they have to check top scorers themselves.

* And yes, Virginia, Tim Duncan is a pretty fair shot blocker.

* Sad but true: The Rockies' team ERA, an astonishing 7.84, is more than two runs higher than the next worst in baseball, the Giants and Royals at 5.40.

* The Rocks put an average of almost two men on base every inning - 93 innings pitched, 116 hits, a league-high 64 walks and three hit batsmen.

* They've caught one of 12 basestealers. They even lead the league in balks.

* Other than that, the young pitching is coming along.

* Still, all this whining about the local nine is premature. There's no whining in baseball until you're long-suffering, and you can't be long-suffering in Year 13. Now, if you're a Cubs fan, feel free.

Conquest wins second straight.(Sports) - Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)

Byline: PHILLIP RAMATI Special to the Times Union

Conquest 52

Knights 37

MACON, Ga. - All it took was a slight defensive adjustment for Albany.

Conquest coach Richard Davis switched his corners to a straight man-to-man coverage, and dared the Macon offense to beat them.

The Knights couldn't.

Albany manhandled Macon on the line of scrimmage in the second half of a 52-37 victory in front of 3,105 at the Macon Coliseum.

'We got the heck beat out of us up front,' Knights coach Mike Hold said. 'We couldn't protect (quarterback Lionel Hayes). I may be wrong, and I have to check the film, but from my point of view we couldn't protect the quarterback.'

The Knights (2-4) provided Hayes some protection in the first half, and he produced. After struggling over the past two games, Hayes led Macon to a 21-20 halftime lead, completing 12 of 18 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns.

But in the second half, the Conquest (2-3) turned up the pressure on defense. Committing the corners to single coverage was the key.

'The second half, we sucked it up,' Davis said. 'It was an unbelievably good effort. I'm pretty happy. In the first half, we were sloppy, probably from spending 10 days down here. We had a conversation in the locker room. We were going to press them. We were in pure man, and it helped our linemen' pressure Hayes.

Hayes spent most of the second half either hurried, sacked or knocked down after rushing his passes, resulting in a scoreless third quarter for the Knights in which the Conquest, which established a season high for points, put the game away.

While Macon managed a great deal of pressure on Albany quarterback D. Bryant in the first half, it evaporated in the third quarter. Bryant needed just four plays before hitting Manwel Talbert with a 6-yard scoring pass that put Albany ahead 27-21 with 12:36 left in the third quarter.

Macon never responded, and the result was Albany's second win in a row after an 0-3 start.

Obey Arah sacked Hayes in the end zone to give the Conquest a 29-21 with 9:03 to go in the period. After the ensuing kickoff, Bryant led a four-play drive that ended with a 29-yard touchdown strike to Jeremiah Pope with 5:39 left in the quarter. A field goal on the next series made it 39-21.

'I thought in the second half we really came together as a team,' said Conquest wide receiver/linebacker Jeff Higgins, named the ironman of the game. 'Everyone was winning the physical battles and we were able to stymie their offense.'

Bryant, the offensive player of the game, connected with offensive specialist Jeremiah Pope on three scoring passes.

'Things are starting to jell for us,' Bryant said. 'The defense stepped up big time in the second half and gave us a lift late in the game.'

CONQUEST 52, KNIGHTS 37

-7

ru,.5

Albany 14 6 16 16-52

Macon 6 15 0 16-37

ru,.5

First Quarter

Alb-Pope 5 pass from Bryant (Samuel kick), 10:42.

Mac-Johnson 14 pass from Hayes (kick failed), 6:09.

Alb-Butler 9 pass from Bryant (Samuel kick), 1:30.

Second Quarter

Mac-Collins 1 run (Holmes, kick), 12:27.

Mac-Garman 15 pass from Hayes (kick failed), 5:14.

Alb-Butler 4 run (run fumbled), :42.

Mac-Lee fumble return, :42.

Third Quarter

Alb-Talbert 6 pass from Bryant (Samuel kick), 12:16.

Alb-Arah safety, 9:03.

Alb-Pope 29 pass from Bryant (Samuel kick), 5:39.

Fourth Quarter

Alb-Samuel 24 FG, 11:35.

Mac-Jackson 45 pass from Hayes (Jackson run), 10:52.

Alb-Pope 14 pass from Bryant (Samuel kick), 8:07.

Mac-Johnson 5 pass from Hayes (Johnson pass from Hayes), 2:36.

Alb-Thomas 9 pass from Bryant (kick failed), 1:08.

Alb Mac

First downs 18 20

Rushes-yards 9-11 6-14

Passing 205 272

Comp-Att-Int 21-43-2 23-40-1

Kickoff Returns 4-95 4-91

Interceptions Ret. 1-0 2-16

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 3-2

Penalties-Yards 4-25 6-43

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING- Albany, Bryan 3-6, Butler 2-5, Higgins 1-1, Harris 1-0, Hill 2-(minus 1). Macon, Jackson 1-11, Lloyd 1-1, Lucas 1-1, Collins 1-1, Hayes 2-0.

PASSING- Albany, Bryant 21-43-2-211, Team 0-0-0-(minus 6). Macon, Hayes 23-40-1-289, Team 0-0-0-(minus 17)

MIMBS TWINS DOUBLE THEIR PLEASURE AND MAKE HISTORY.(SPORTS) - The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)

Byline: Bob Molinaro

NORFOLK -- Here's something you don't see every day. This afternoon at Harbor Park, identical twins will take the identical mound to start the identical Triple-A baseball game.

Mark Mimbs is pitching for the Norfolk Tides against Michael Mimbs of the Columbus Clippers.

In honor of the Mimbs brothers, maybe the Tides should cobble together a promotion: Double Vision Day.

Through the years, baseball has had its share of pitching duels between brothers Niekro and Perry and Mathewson. But Mark and Mike take the sibling act to a new level. These lefthanders look, speak and think alike. Their repertoire of pitches? Identical.

These are the ``Psychic Southpaws,'' so designated by the National Enquirer in a 1992 story.

The year before, the Mimbs brothers produced eerily identical statistics pitching for different Class A teams in different states.

Mark, pitching in California, won 12 games. Michael, working in Florida, won 12 games. ``And,'' said Mark, ``we had the same hits and strikeouts per nine innings.''

But for eeriness, even that can't compare with the Hallmark Moment.

That same year, Mark bought his father a birthday card in California. Meanwhile, Michael picked out a card in Florida. When their father opened his mailbox at the family's Macon, Ga., home, he found that his sons had sent ... you guessed it, identical Hallmark greetings.

``We never talked about it,'' Mark said. ``We just see things the same way.''

The Mimbs matchup is a chance for baseball fans - and no sport savors trivia more than baseball - to double their pleasure.

Twins, identical or otherwise, have never started a regular-season professional baseball game against one another. This is as far as the keepers of baseball's treasured memories (at least those who could be reached) know.

But one need not hype today's game any more than is necessary. As Mark Mimbs says, ``It's wild that we're even pitching on the same day, much less against one another.''

Once before, the two started the same game. In '96, they pitched against one another for two innings in Clearwater, Fla., in spring training.

``I struck him out,'' Michael said, ``on three pitches. An oh-two changeup.''

Even so, Mark contends, ``Most of the time, I can tell what he's going to throw.''

And say.

``If you talk to us,'' Mark notes, ``you'll hear us say the same things, talk in the same sentences.''

Says Michael, ``We've got the same voice.''

And the same interests. Both attended Mercer University in Georgia. Mark earned his degree in business administration. Michael is a couple classes away from his degree ... in business administration.

It's a twin thing. Ask Tides manager Rick Dempsey about the Mimbs brothers, and he'll recall the seasons he managed Mark in Triple-A Albuquerque. At the time, big-brother Mike, older by five minutes, was with the Philadelphia Phillies.

``All I had to do was see what his brother had done the day before and I'd know how Mark was going to pitch that night,'' Dempsey said. ``If his brother had a good day pitching for Philly, he had a good day. You talk about your ESPN.''

Not that there aren't differences in the 29-year-old twins. Mark is married, Michael single. Mark fashions a mustache and goatee, while Michael is clean shaven and a little fuller in the face.

``I talk a little more,'' Mark said. Also, ``We have different taste in a lot of things, especially girls.''

If either brother is anxious about today's game, he isn't letting on. Both gave the standard reply that they aren't really facing their brother, just nine other hitters.

They probably don't believe that themselves.

And what would each brother wish for from today's game? Asked about that, Mark ... or was it Mike, said, ``A 1-0 win would be fine.''

It's a sentiment that plays well in stereo.

CAPTION(S):

Color photo

NHAT MEYER/The Virginian-Pilot

Tides pitcher Mark Mimbs, right, will be matched against twin brother Michael Mimbs of Columbus today.

Graphics

TUESDAY

TODAY

HUGE DEALS SEND WRONG MESSAGE.(SPORTS) - Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)

Byline: BOB KEISSER

Know what woke baseball legend Joe DiMaggio from that coma in a Florida hospital? Someone in his room mentioned that a 33-year-old pitcher named Kevin Brown had just signed a seven-year, $105 million contract.

The 84-year-old former Yankee shot up in bed, asked a nurse for his spikes and told his agent to get Scott Boras and Kevin Malone on the phone.

Seriously, Saturday's news flash hit baseball the way Hurricane Georges hit the Dominican Republic. Wreckage can be found from the commissioner's office to every small-market franchise.

This offseason money orgy wasn't the message baseball wanted to send its fans after a pretty magical season. All it does is drive home the prevailing theme of sports in the '90s: It's all about the money. There's no other interpretation. Everything boils down to who has it, who wants it and who gets it.

The big spenders have been those teams in big markets (Yankees, Mets) or flush with corporate money (Fox/Dodgers, Disney/Angels). Arizona has also been a player ($118 million worth), because having an expansion franchise these days pays off like bringing water to the desert.

The free-agent class of '99 will go down in history as the richest ever, and perhaps the most covetous. Every member of the nouveau riche signed on the dotted line for purely financial reasons. Don't listen to any of the spin about playing close to home, or playing for a contender, or wanting to stay with a particular franchise. It's all hooey.

Those fans still in Mike Piazza's camp are agog the Dodgers would give a pitcher seven years and $105 million after refusing to budge past six years and $84 million for a catcher with numbers like .300, 30 and 100. But in the final analysis, the man himself showed no proclivity to anything but getting the richest contract.

Why else would he stay in New York, where fans booed him? When push came to shove in L.A. and Fox-dom over Piazza, the words of Piazza's agent rang truest: If he doesn't get the jack here, he'll get it somewhere else. He did, $91 million from the Mets.

When Mo Vaughn turned down Boston's final offer and decided to play for $13 million-plus Disney dollars a year, Boston Globe columnist Will McDonough replayed the last few years of Vaughn's on-again, off-again negotiations with the Red Sox.

At various times in the process, McDonough reported, Vaughn turned down Red Sox offers of $9 million a year, $10 million a year, $11 million a year, $12 million a year and finally $13 million a year. In every case, the Red Sox offer would have made Vaughn one of the highest-salaried players in the game, if not the highest. Yet the Red Sox were the ones painted as disloyal.

When Randy Johnson and the Mariners were butting heads over a multiyear contract, Johnson accused the team of reneging on old promises and not caring about loyalty or fielding a winning team. But it was Johnson who mailed in his first-half performance last season before a post-trade salary drive in Houston.

And, it turns out, the entire free-agent game plan of Johnson and his agent from the start was to get the left-hander to the expansion D-Backs and his home in suburban Phoenix. And despite all of Arizona's investments, I doubt if Johnson will be playing for a winning team soon.

Today's news is Brown. By baseball standards, he's a pretty mercenary guy. The Dodgers will be his fourth team in five years. Yet the Dodgers' concern for his family, he says, put them over the top. The club agreed to jet them into town pretty much whenever he wants.

But if he was truly concerned about his family down in Macon, Ga., wouldn't Brown have agreed to take less money from the Braves and spare his family so much flight time? Or sign with St. Louis, which is much closer than L.A.? When your agent is Scott Boras, we're not inclined to believe anything mattered beyond becoming the first nine-digit man in baseball.

Tomorrow's news will be the trade of Roger Clemens to a franchise dedicated to winning, per a clause of the contract he signed with the Blue Jays. Toronto wasn't exactly sad sack city last year with a payroll of almost $40 million. But compared to the new ceilings being raised in New York and Los Angeles, the Jays are bottom feeders.

Ergo, a trade demand. Wherever Clemens goes, his agent will be sure to follow, with an offer to extend his client's contract and bring it in line with today's new reality. After all, Clemens is only 36, a mere three years older than Brown, who the Dodgers believe will pitch them into the 2005 World Series.

Spin the view of these numbers to the other direction and there's just as much carnage. This all started because owners like George Steinbrenner and Ted Turner refused to control themselves when free agency was in its diapers. As absurd as the Piazza and Brown contracts might seem, they make perfect sense alongside a few others.

Like Colorado giving Brian Bohanon $3.3 million a year, Baltimore giving Mike Timlin $4 million a year, Texas giving Royce Clayton $4.5 million a year, the Yankees giving Scott Brosius $5.2 million a year, Boston giving Jose Offerman $6.5 million a year, Detroit giving Dean Palmer $7.2 million a year and Arizona giving Todd Stottlemyre $8 million a year.

If I'm a baseball general manager, like the Dodgers' Kevin Malone, maybe I can explain all of this money malarkey. But I'm not a G.M. To me, anything over a $1 million is funny money. And I've stopped laughing.

MALONE METER

Rating moves made by Dodgers GM Kevin Malone.

Saturday: signed free agent right-hander Kevin Brown.

Our Rating: Home Run

This offseason: 4 for 4, single, double, HR

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

PHOTO The Dodgers made pitcher Kevin Brown, who's been with four teams in five years, the first $100-million man in baseball.

Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press

VENA IS STANDING TALL.(SPORTS) - Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)

Byline: MARK SINGELAIS Staff writer

Albany Conquest quarterback Ryan Vena spent a day at the Great Escape amusement park last week, hanging out with teammates who were enjoying themselves after an outstanding regular season.

Vena had every right to relax after setting an arenafootball2 record for passing yards in a season as he guided the Conquest to a 13-3 mark and the Northeast Division title.

He's a front-runner for af2 Offensive Player of the Year honors as he leads the Conquest into its quarterfinal playoff game against Macon (Ga.) at 7:30 tonight in Pepsi Arena.

Yet as Vena toured the Great Escape, the Queensbury attraction known for its thrill rides, he got a call on his cellphone that reminded him why his career has become a roller coaster.

His height. Or lack of it.

``My agent called me and was like, `Hey, you're doing a heck of a job,' '' Vena recalled. `` `You've got some teams looking at you, but it's the same old thing. Everybody's worried about your size.' ''

Vena said he's 6 feet tall, ``or darn near close,'' hardly the stature of an ideal quarterback when teams are seeking someone 6-5 who can easily look over opposing linemen and throw laser-beam passes.

The criticism has motivated Vena, who believes he'll be on someone's roster next year in the Arena Football League, the parent league of the 4-year-old af2.

And Vena, who is 25 and was out of football only two years ago, has one answer for those who belittle him for his size.

``Just read the numbers,'' said Vena, who's listed at 220 pounds. ``I've lost what, five or six games the past two years? Come on. I don't care about the size thing. That's definitely a motivation, when I hear people on other teams call me short and whatever they want to say. It just makes me want to play that much harder.''

It's difficult to argue with the results. Vena is 25-6 as Albany's starter the past two seasons after going 30-12 in four seasons at Colgate University, a Division I-AA non-scholarship program.

That's a 55-18 record as a starter -- a .753 winning percentage.

Vena also put up eye-popping individual statistics this season, throwing 85 touchdown passes and establishing an af2 record with 4,452 passing yards. Known for his mobility, Vena also rushed for 174 yards and 17 TDs.

``He's definitely proven one thing -- he can play,'' Albany coach Pete Costanza said. ``You look at Ryan and he doesn't have that prototypical quarterback look. If he shows up at a workout, you'd think, `Is this guy joking?' But you have to be able to look (past) that appearance. There are a lot of guys that look like Tarzan and play like Jane.''

Costanza said that despite Vena's size, the quarterback has had only one pass batted down at the line of scrimmage this season.

Conquest receiver Corey Hill, who played with Vena at Colgate for three years, said it would be a ``travesty'' if the quarterback isn't playing at a higher level next year.

``Are we having a height-measuring contest, or are we playing football?'' said Hill, who rooms with Vena in a Troy apartment during the season. ``That's what amazes me the most about the entire game of football. It's transformed from what you do on the field to numbers and sizes.''

Hill said Vena has a poise in the huddle that rubs off on teammates.

Four times this season Vena has directed the Conquest to a game-winning touchdown with 15 seconds or less remaining.

``You can tell he's confident,'' Hill said. ``He's not a rah-rah guy. He's got that look in his eyes. And that's why the team takes to him.''

Vena said he gained confidence growing up near Denver as a die-hard fan of the NFL's Broncos. There he idolized quarterback John Elway, the master of the fourth-quarter comeback.

``I studied him a lot,'' Vena said. ``I kind of model my game after him. I can throw on the run and across the field. I can scramble when I need to. I don't have his height (6-3) and his cannon arm, but I know I have his heart, his desire, and his will to win.''

Vena said he developed his passion for football early in life.

Born in New Jersey, Vena sat on the couch as a toddler and watched NFL games with his father, Charlie, a Giants and Jets fan.

``When he was barely big enough to walk, I used to watch `Monday Night Football' and I'd get him all pumped up for the game,'' Charlie said. ``I'd prop him up along side of me. He didn't have a chance (of not liking football) from that start.''

His parents were divorced when he was 5, and Vena moved to Colorado with his mother, Jeanne.

Moving was difficult on Ryan, who saw his father only every summer on trips to New Jersey. But he maintained his love for his sport, and Vena began playing flag football at age 7 and tackle a year later.

He starred at Chatfield High School in Littleton, Colo., although he missed several games because of a broken ankle as a senior.

Vena and his father mailed out highlight tapes to dozens of colleges. He eventually chose Colgate over Hofstra because he thought he could get a superior education at the school in Hamilton.

The Red Raiders had a 12-game losing streak when Vena arrived. When they started 0-4 his freshman year, Vena wondered if he had made a mistake.

In a desperation move, Colgate coach Dick Biddle inserted Vena into the starting lineup, and the team won six of its remaining seven games. Vena captured the Patriot League Player of the Year Award, joining Georgia's Herschel Walker and Furman's Stanford Jennings as the only freshmen in Division I-A or I-AA history to win conference player of the year honors.

``We had lost 16 games in a row,'' Biddle said. ``We felt we had to make a change. (Vena) just made plays. He was very confident, but not a cocky person. When you talked to him, it was like talking to somebody your age.''

When his college career ended, Vena had won three Patriot League MVP awards and had guided the Red Raiders to two league titles and three NCAA playoff appearances. Biddle calls Vena the best player in Colgate history.

That didn't help him after he graduated because Vena was passed over by the NFL and Arena Football.

He played the 2000 season for Peoria (Ill.) and Erie (Pa.) in the now-defunct Indoor Football League, a former rival of af2. A year later, he left training camp with the af2's Norfolk Nighthawks when it was apparent he'd be no more than the third-string quarterback.

``I'm not a great practice player,'' Vena said. ``I'm a gamer.''

He sat out the 2001 season. Having moved to Holmdel, N.J., where he still lives in the off-season, Vena worked a series of jobs -- as a bartender, an insurance claims adjuster and a pizza delivery man -- to keep himself afloat.

``I didn't want to get any of those corporate jobs,'' said Vena, who is single and earns $200 a game, with a $50 bonus for each win. ``It was always in the back of my mind that I was going to play again.''

He got his break last year when Albany joined af2 as an expansion team. When former head coach Ron Selesky signed Hill to be his offensive specialist, Hill recommended Vena as a possibility at quarterback.

Vena started as the backup, but replaced a struggling John Krueger for good by the fifth game. Vena threw for 56 touchdowns and 3,041 yards in helping the Conquest to a 13-3 record in the regular season and the Northeast Division title. The Conquest lost to Cape Fear in the af2 playoff quarterfinals.

Still, Vena fielded only one offer from an AFL team -- to become Buffalo's third-string quarterback when Selesky was named coach there.

Instead, Vena returned to Albany to work on his game under Costanza, the new head coach. The move paid off.

Vena credits a better cast of receivers and an improved offensive line for his success. He also said he's making quicker decisions than a year ago.

``That's the key to this game,'' Vena said. ``You don't have a lot of time to throw and there's so little space in here that you have to get it there at the right time. My arm's gotten better and I'm making better decisions this year.''

It's hard to tell if that will lead to an opportunity in a better league.

Mike Dailey, head coach of the AFL's Colorado Crush, saw Vena play this season and said he was impressed. But like other coaches, Dailey isn't sure if Vena is big enough to play in the AFL.

``It's a concern,'' Dailey said. ``Does that shut the door on him completely? Probably not.''

Dailey said he's far from deciding whether to give Vena a shot in training camp. It would seem a natural fit, since Vena grew up in Colorado and the Crush is co-owned by Elway, his idol.

Vena insists, however, that thoughts of next season are only in the back of his mind. He is focusing on winning an af2 title.

``I wish God would have blessed me with a couple more inches, and that would have been great,'' he said. ``But I could be in a lot worse places and a lot worse position.''

CAPTION(S):

A DESPERATE DISHING OUT OF BIG DOUGH.(SPORTS) - Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

The story's as old as the Hollywood Hills. A fading member of the old guard lavishes cash and courtesies on the latest hot young thing, buying that which he no longer can effortlessly attract.

That could have been some gilded geezer's cologne we smelled Saturday around Dodger Stadium, so pungent was the scent of desperation. There certainly was nothing subtle about the doddering Dodgers' courtship of uber free agent Kevin Brown. That wasn't a romance they finally consummated, it was a conquest.

The Dodgers, on the rebound after a couple of very public rejections, went to absurd lengths to prove they haven't lost their appeal. They showered Brown, the right-handed ace of San Diego's World Series staff, with $105 million, a seventh season and a private plane for a dozen quick hops home to Macon, Ga.

Never mind that with the money they threw at him, Brown could buy his own corporate jet. Forget that he will be 40 years old in the final year of his contract, which is, like, 84 in pitching years.

Brown, 33, was able to demand the sun, the moon, the stars and a no-trade clause for pretty much the same reasons the latest hot young thing can extract diamonds from a sugar daddy. Brown had in the Dodgers a suitor with deep pockets and a deepening feeling of vulnerability.

The once-proud franchise had been spurned twice in the past few months alone, by manager Felipe Alou and left-handed pitcher Randy Johnson. There was no way the Dodgers could afford to strike out swinging at the negotiating table, no matter how much money it took.

Not if they wanted to save face.

Not if they wanted to stave off the annexation of the Southland by the Angels, who signed slugger Mo Vaughn and are pursuing a trade for pitcher Roger Clemens.

Not if Rupert Murdoch, whose Fox Group bought the team earlier this year, had any say in the matter.

In the end, ego drove the Dodgers where they had emphatically refused to tread in the early days of Fox's ownership. Five months after the team dealt catcher Mike Piazza to Florida rather than dignify his $100 million musings, the Dodgers locked Brown up for every penny of Piazza's asking price and more.

Say what you want about Piazza, whose seven-year, $91 million deal with the New York Mets all of a sudden seems pretty puny, but at least he is an everyday player. Brown will grace the mound every fourth or fifth game. All in all, not a bad way to go to earn so much dough.

We'll grant Brown this: He's a proven winner, having advanced to the World Series with his last two teams. That's more than can be said for Piazza, whose next postseason win will be his first. Brown is also a fiery leader in the clubhouse, a role Piazza was loath to assume.

The Dodgers will be a markedly better team with Brown in the short run. The team's staying power, however, will depend on the staying power of Brown's arm and therein lies the rub. General manager Kevin Malone was quick to point out that among pitchers in the '90s, Brown and Atlanta ace Greg Maddux have been the most durable.

His point was that Brown is blessed with a rubber arm. Our worry is that his arm is a ticking time bomb that could explode with his very next 97 mile-per-hour fastball.

The Dodgers are committed to paying Brown twice what National League champion San Diego doled out in players' salaries during its 1998 dream season. Brown collected $4.8 million in his only year with the Padres, who offered him $60 million over six years to stay awhile.

In October that figure would have been in the ballpark. Since then the fences have been stretched by baseball's haves to the point where the have-nots are starting to feel as though they're trapped in one of those fun houses with the distorted mirrors.

It's a little disorienting for everybody concerned to consider that in less time than it takes the average household to pick its Thanksgiving turkey carcass clean, the average yearly salary of the highest-paid player in baseball has jumped from $13 to $15 million. You'd have to go all the way back to Bob Beamon's 1968 Olympic effort to find a single leap that astounding.

Brown is not pro sports' first $100 million man. Five NBA players already have cracked that barrier. Not coincidentally, the NBA is in limbo right now, the players having been locked out by owners adamant about creating some sort of ceiling for the spiraling salaries. In 2002, that could be baseball.

John Moores, the Padres' majority owner, said the Dodgers' offer to Brown ``confirms my worst fears about what would happen if we let Murdoch buy the Dodgers.''

The worst fear of any Dodgers fan is that Brown will turn out to be like another pitcher, Don Gullett, who signed for big bucks as a free agent with the Yankees in 1977 and then hurt his arm and was out of baseball two years later.

ACC FOOTBALL REPORT.(SPORTS) - The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)

Byline: ED MILLER AND KYLE TUCKER

A weekly look around the ACC:

FLORIDA STATE: Coach Bobby Bowden will spend today at the funeral of his grandson and former son-in-law, who were killed Monday in an auto accident in Quincy, Fla.

From there, Bowden will fly directly to Miami, where the Seminoles will face Miami Friday night in a game postponed by Hurricane Frances.

Bowden said that over the years, he has counseled many players who lost loved ones. Now, he has a better understanding of what they were going through, he said.

'Somebody can't tell you how it feels when it hasn't happened to them,' he said. 'Now it's happened to me, and it's happened to some of my players in the past, and I believe I can sympathize a little bit more.'

Bowden's grandson, Bowden Madden, 15, and former son-in-law John Allen Madden, 45, were killed when their car was hit by a utility truck that was repairing outages caused by the hurricane.

GEORGIA TECH: Defensive end Eric Henderson, who missed the season opener against Samford, is listed as doubtful for Saturday's game at Clemson.

Henderson, an All-ACC selection who led the conference in sacks in 2003, is out with an injury that coach Chan Gailey has refused to disclose.

'Eric is a phenomenal player. He's essential to our defense,' linebacker Chris Reis told the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph. 'But we can do it without him.'

NORTH CAROLINA: Forgive the Tar Heels for opening with Division I-AA William and Mary last week. Starting with Virginia on Saturday, North Carolina faces eight consecutive teams that played in bowl games last year.

Carolina's next four opponents are ranked in the top 20, part of the reason its schedule is rated the fourth toughest in the nation by FoxSports.com.

For a team that finished 2-10 last year, this would seem to be a prescription for disaster. Quarterback Darian Durant is not looking at it that way.

'If we can go to Virginia and play well and win, then I think we'll be over that hump,' Durant said. 'Because we'll know what type of team we are. We'll know that we can beat anybody, instead of having speculation.'

N.C. STATE: Speaking of scheduling, the Wolfpack has an open date before hosting Ohio State on Sept. 18. It's the type of game coach Chuck Amato said he'll have to think hard about scheduling again, given the strength of the newly expanded ACC.

'Scheduling is the most important thing in our sport,' Amato said, adding that in conference play alone, 'You're going to be playing some bears.'

As to whether N.C. State will schedule another non-conference power like Ohio State, Amato said: 'We have to analyze that.'

The Wolfpack fell to Ohio State 44-38 in triple overtime last year.

WAKE FOREST: Junior running back Chris Barclay couldn't have done much more in his first two seasons with the Demon Deacons. He rushed for 21 touchdowns and nearly 2,000 yards. As a sophomore in 2003, Barclay led the ACC with 1,192 yards to go with 12 touchdowns.

Still, Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe thinks his star tailback doesn't always get the respect he should.

'I think he's somewhat underrated because of his size,' Grobe said of the 5-foot-10, 173-pound Barclay. 'But he's a pretty tough guy. He's not a big guy by any means, but he fights for tough yards.'

Barclay made a few believers in Wake Forest's opener against 16th-ranked Clemson. He ran 29 times for 179 yards, tops among ACC backs last week .

'He's small, but he runs straight down hill,' Clemson linebacker Leroy Hill told The State newspaper. 'He made a lot of people miss. We're going to have a lot of extra running after practice because of him.'

CLEMSON: The last time Wake Forest saw Chansi Stuckey, he was a freshman backing up Charlie Whitehurst at quarterback. Stuckey threw for 71 yards and two touchdowns against the Demon Deacons last season.

This year, in the season opener against Wake, Stuckey showed up earlier and a lot more often, just in different places. He's a receiver for the Tigers now and caught eight passes for 112 yards.

He also ran four times, breaking one for 14 yards, and blocked a punt for a safety. Stuckey narrowly missed blocking a second punt, then ran down the field and delivered a block that sprung a teammate's return for a score.

'He's special,' Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said. 'Once he's got the ball in his hands, he just drives you crazy.'

MARYLAND: Ralph Friedgen knew it would take time to replace Scott McBrien, who was 21-6 as his starting quarterback. So he didn't flinch when Joel Statham struggled in his first career start against Northern Illinois.

Statham fumbled three times in the first quarter and later threw an interception. He went 12 for 23 for 169 yards.

'Joel obviously got off to a rough start,' Friedgen said. 'I went up to him to try to calm him down. He said, 'Coach, it can't get worse than this. I'm all right.' I said, 'You're right.' He's our quarterback. If I was going to change quarterbacks, I would have done it in the first three series. I have confidence in Joel.'

Luckily, Friedgen also has a pair of able running backs. Josh Allen and Sammy Maldonado combined for 186 rushing yards and two TDs to help the Terrapins narrowly avoid a second straight season-opening loss to Northern Illinois.

MIAMI: Make no mistake, it's still Florida State and Miami, a fierce rivalry with new conference title implications.

But after the 'Noles and 'Canes had to reschedule their epic opener because of Hurricane Frances, followed by the death of FSU coach Bobby Bowden's grandson, there may be some luster lost.

'I think it has,' Miami coach Larry Coker said. 'It really puts things in perspective. We feel for the Bowden family ? and all the homes lost. ? It gives us all a little bit of a reality check.'

Plus, the game is on a Friday night now, instead of the coveted Monday Night Football slot the game was scheduled to be played in. That's a downer for Coker .

'There was a lot of hesitation,' Coker said. 'We've had several requests to play on Friday night and we've declined them every time. High school football, it's our lifeblood, and I don't want to do anything to detract from high school football in the state of Florida.'

The Hurricanes, and no doubt Florida State, had invited several high school coaches and recruits to the game. But most high schools will be playing their own games Friday.

'It was going to be a big event,' Coker said.

DUKE: The Blue Devils lost their seventh season opener in nine years last Saturday against Navy.

They did it despite forcing three turnovers on the Midshipmen's first three possessions. Duke got just three points out of those miscues, then gave up 301 rushing yards to the Middies.

'Disgusted,' Duke coach Ted Roof said. 'We've got to be an opportunistic football team, and we didn't do that.'

Roof said the Blue Devils saw more than 1,700 reps in practice against Navy's triple-option offense. Despite seeing one of the Middies' plays 47 times, Roof said, it went for a big gain in the game anyway.

The Blue Devils are happy to be facing a more conventional offense this week against UConn. Or are they?

Huskies senior QB Dan Orlovsky threw for 382 yards and five TDs in their season opener. Against Navy, mainly a running team, Duke allowed 129 passing yards, including a critical 58-yard score.

CAPTION(S):

Friday

Florida State at Miami, 8 p.m., WVEC

Saturday

Duke at Connecticut, noon

W. Michigan at Va. Tech, noon

UNC at U.Va., 3:30 p.m., WVEC

Temple at Maryland, 6 p.m.

Wake Forest at ECU, 7 p.m.