WPPA / T-102 SPORTS / Tuesday

NFL-
SEAHAWKS/PACKERS
- The Seattle Seahawks are back at full strengthwith the return of running back Shaun Alexander and quarterbackMatt Hasselbeck. Both players had a big hand in the Seahawks'34-to-24 comeback win over the Green Bay Packers last night. Alexander ran for a season-high 201 yards on a team-record 40carries in his second game since missing six straight with a brokenleft foot. Hasselbeck threw three first-half interceptions and lost afumble that Abdul Hodge returned 29 yards for a touchdown. But hefollowed that by throwing three second-half touchdowns that allowedthe Seahawks to erase a 21-to-12 deficit. Hasselbeck was in action for the first time since missing fourgames with a knee injury. Packers quarterback Brett Favre (fahrv) threw for 266 yards anda touchdown while making his 252nd consecutive start. But he alsotossed three interceptions, two in the final six-plus minutes. The Seahawks are 7-and-4 after dropping the Packers to 4-and-7.Seattle leads the N-F-C West by two games over San Francisco andSt. Louis. NFL Plummer's helper becomes Broncos' main man...Vanderjagtbooted...Surgery for Ward

- The Denver Broncos will begin the Jay Cutler eraSunday night against Seattle. The eleventh overall pick in thisyear's draft gets the nod over Jake Plummer, who has struggled thisyear after guiding the Broncos to the A-F-C title game in January. The Broncos are 7-and-4 and currently hold the sixth seed forthe A-F-C playoffs. But the team ranks 26th in the N-F-L in passingyards per game, averaging fewer than 172. Plummer's passer rating is 70-point-five, just 28th in theleague. He heads to the bench after throwing eleven touchdownpasses and 12 interceptions, one year after getting picked off justseven times. Cutler hasn't played a down since preseason, when he was thirdamong all N-F-L passers with 561 yards. While Denver is changing quarterbacks, the Dallas Cowboys areswitching kickers. Mike Vanderjagt (VAN'-dur-jat) has been releasedafter hitting just 13 of his 18 field-goal attempts, the lowestsuccess rate of his career. He entered the season as the mostaccurate kicker in N-F-L history. The Cowboys replaced Vanderjagt with Martin Gramatica(mahr-TEEN' grah-MAT'-ih-kuh), who was released by Indianapolis amonth ago. Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward has undergone arthroscopicsurgery on his left knee. The four-time Pro Bowler will miss atleast one game. San Diego has welcomed back outside linebacker Shawne Merriman,who returned to the team after serving a four-game suspension for apositive steroid test. Merriman was tied for the league lead witheight and a-half sacks when his suspension began November first. And Junior Seau's (SAY'-owz) season is over. The New EnglandPatriots placed the linebacker on injured reserve, one day after hesuffered a serious right arm injury during a 17-to-13 win overChicago. The 12-time Pro Bowl selection had 70 tackles this season,his first with the Pats.

MLB-HALL OF FAME
McGwire Hall election unlikely
- It could be a while before Mark McGwire gives aspeech at Cooperstown, according to an Associated Press survey. The slugger is on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for the firsttime after slugging 583 home runs during his career, but his powernumbers have come into question due to suspicion of steroid use. The A-P has interviewed 125 voters, or about 20 percent of thoseeligible to cast a ballot. Only 25 percent of those who gave anopinion intend to vote for McGwire. Twenty-three said they wouldvote for him, 74 said they wouldn't and 16 were undecided. McGwire's problems with the voters stem from his testimony at acongressional hearing earlier this year when he refused to answerquestions about steroid use. The vote totals will be announced January ninth.

MLB-SIGNINGS
Mussina, Yanks finalize contract...Birds get Baez
- The New York Yankees have finalized theirtwo-year, 23 (m) million-dollar contract with pitcher Mike Mussina,who turns 38 next month. Mussina went 15-and-7 with a three-point-51 E-R-A last season. The Boston Red Sox are close to acquiring another startingoutfielder, which could pave the way for the team to deal MannyRamirez. A person familiar with the negotiations says the Bosox andfree agent J.D. Drew are getting closer to a contract agreement. The Los Angeles Dodgers are near a deal with free-agent hurlerRandy Wolf, who went 4-and-0 with a five-point-66 E-R-A aftercoming off the disabled list on July 31st. Danys Baez has inked a three-year, 19 (m) million-dollar packagewith Baltimore. The Cleveland Indians and outfielder David Dellucci have reachedpreliminary agreement on a three-year deal worth eleven and a-half(m) million dollars. Pitcher Adam Eaton will ink a three-year, 24 (m) million-dollarcontract with Philadelphia if he passes a physical. Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Damaso Marte (DAHM'-ah-sohmahr-TAY') has agreed to a two-year pact worth four-point-seven (m)million dollars. San Francisco is close to completing free-agent deals withinfielder Rich Aurilia (oh-REE'-lee-uh) and center fielder DaveRoberts. Chicago White Sox first baseman Ross Gload has accepted aone-year, 625-thousand-dollar contract after batting .327 in 77games this year. Seattle's Willie Bloomquist has agreed to a two-year contractworth nearly one-point-nine (m) million dollars, tearing up thefinal season of his previous deal. And the Cincinnati Reds have signed catcher Chad Moeller, whohit .184 in 29 games for Milwaukee this year. Moeller received aone-year pact.

NBA-SCHEDULE
Mavs win again...Warriors end Spurs' road streak
- Last night, the San Antonio Spurs were trying tobecome the first N-B-A team in ten years to start off 8-and-0 onthe road. The streak has ended against the Golden State Warriors,who rallied for a 111-to-102 win over the Spurs. Jason Richardson poured in 14 of his 26 points while theWarriors were outscoring the Spurs 34-to-24 in the fourth quarter.Richardson had a breakaway dunk during a 12-oh run that put GoldenState comfortably ahead. Andris Biedrins (BEH'-drihns) added 18 points and blocked threestraight shots by Tim Duncan in the final period. The Dallas Mavericks picked up their tenth straight win since an0-and-4 start, holding off Minnesota 93-to-87. Dirk Nowitzki andJosh Howard each had 15 points for the Mavs, who blew a 20-pointlead in the second half before Howard hit a go-ahead floater with65 seconds left. Erick Dampier (dam-PEER') contributed 12 points, grabbed elevenrebounds and blocked a potential tying layup by Ricky Davis withabout 15 seconds left. The Orlando Magic handed Utah its second straight loss,88-to-75. Dwight Howard had 21 points and 16 rebounds for theMagic, who lead the Eastern Conference at 11-and-4 following theireighth win in nine games. Howard helped the Magic outrebound theJazz 45-to-36 and outscore Utah 40-to-32 in the lane. Utah had won eight straight before their losing streak. And Dwyane (dwayn) Wade scored 33 points and had 13 assists asthe Heat knocked off Philadelphia 103-to-91. The 76ers lost for theninth time in eleven games despite Allen Iverson's 45 points.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL-TOP 25 SCHEDULE
- Big brother beat little brother in the nation'scapital last night. John Thompson the third watched his 18th-ranked Georgetown Hoyasroll to a 69-to-54 win over Ronny Thompson's Ball State Cardinals.Jeff Green scored 14 points and DaJuan Summers added 12 as theHoyas improved to 4-and-1. John Thompson Junior was in attendance to watch his sons matchwits. The former Georgetown coach wore a black baseball capfeaturing a gray letter "T" that stood for "Thompson,"according to him. Three other ranked teams were in action yesterday. Dominic James hit a three-pointer with three seconds left togive eighth-ranked Marquette a 65-to-62 win over Valparaiso. Jamesscored 15 of his 22 points in the final six-23, including a pair ofthree's in the last 37 seconds. Acie Law scored 17 points and Joseph Jones finished with 16 asnumber-nine Texas A-and-M clobbered Arkansas-Little Rock 75-35. TheAggies are 6-and-0 following their 28th consecutive non-conferencehome win. And Number-15 Syracuse beat Holy Cross 72-to-64 behind DemetrisNichols' 21 points.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL-AP TOP 25
UCLA jumps to top of the A-P rankings
- U-C-L-A is the new number-one in this week'sAssociated Press men's college basketball poll. Pittsburgh and Ohio State have each moved up one place to secondand third. Florida fell from first to fourth following Saturday'sloss to Kansas. The Jayhawks climbed five notches to fifth. Alabama, North Carolina, Marquette, Texas A-and-M and L-S-Uround out the top ten. The Tar Heels had been number-two until lastweek's loss to Gonzaga in the N-I-T Tip-Off semifinals.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL-MICHIGAN STATE/DANTONIO
Spartans, Bearcats, Cyclones find new coaches...Shula fired byTide
- There are new head football coaches at MichiganState, Cincinnati and Iowa State. There's also a help wanted signat Alabama. Mark Dantonio has been introduced as the Spartans' new footballcoach. The former Michigan State assistant coached Cincinnati to a7-and-5 record this year. He replaces John L. Smith, who was firedtoward the end of a 4-and-8 season. The Bearcats didn't waste any time replacing Dantonio, namingdefensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi as interim coach for the rest ofthe season. Narduzzi will coach the Bearcats in their bowl game,which hasn't been determined. And the Cyclones have hired Texas assistant Gene Chizik toreplace Dan McCarney, who resigned this month after 12 seasons atIowa State. Chizik takes over a team that went 4-and-8 this year.He has been the Longhorns assistant head coach and co-defensivecoordinator the past two seasons. Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide have fired football coach Mike Shulafollowing a 6-and-6 season that ended with three straight losses.Athletic director Mal Moore says defensive coordinator Joe Kineswill serve as interim head coach. The 41-year-old Shula led the Crimson Tide to a 10-and-2 recordlast season and a victory in the Cotton Bowl. But his teams werewinless in four tries against Auburn.

NHL-SCHEDULE
Red Wings short-circuit Stars
- The Detroit Red Wings used a couple ofshort-handed goals to short-circuit the Dallas Stars' three-gamewinning streak last night. Kris Draper and Mathieu Schneider notched short-handed goals inthe third period as the Wings turned a 1-to-0 deficit into a 2-to-1win over the Stars. Schneider snapped a one-all tie with seven-47left, allowing the Red Wings to end a five-game winless skid. The New Jersey Devils are limping home following a 1-3-and-1road trip that included Monday's 3-to-2 shootout loss in LosAngeles. Alexander Frolov and Anze Kopitar (KOH'-pih-tahr) scoredin the shootout after Kopitar set up Michael Cammalleri'sgame-tying goal late in the second period.

NHL-BLACKHAWKS/YAWNEY
Blackhawks fire coach Trent Yawney
- Another coaching dismissal has come out of theN-H-L's Central Division. Trent Yawney has been fired as coach of the Chicago Blackhawksand replaced by assistant coach and former Hawks great Denis Savard(suh-VARD'). The move comes less than a week after the ColumbusBlue Jackets hired head coach Ken Hitchcock to replace GerardGallant (gah-LAHNT'), who was let go earlier this month. Yawney went 33-55-and-15 in one-plus season behind Chicago'sbench. The Blue Jackets are the only team with a worse record thanthe Blackhawks'.

NHL-ISLANDERS/YASHIN Islanders' top scorer is out
- New York Islanders leading scorer AlexeiYashin (YAH'-shihn) will be out two to four weeks due to a sprainedright knee suffered in Saturday's 4-to-1 win over Washington.Yashin has ten goals and 28 points in 22 games this season.