The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 23

College football Tennessee State working at bolstering defensive unit 8C SPORTS NBA 6C (T High Schools 7C II Scoreboard 7C FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2001 NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY Today Tomorrow Season opens in prime time Pepsi 300 Grandstands open, 8 a.m. Busch race begins, noon (300 miles, 226 laps) TV FX, 11:30 am. Radio: 99.7-FM Busch qualifying Busch series practice, 8-1 0 a.m., p.m. Busch series qualifying, noon (All positions, two laps) ARCA race Grandstands open, 8 a.m. Driver introductions, 3:30 p.m.

ARCA race begins, 4 p.m. (150 miles, 113 laps) Titans schedule Preseason id km Ik vm rv kN tads Kit! va ki VA A VixXhW ftWVW 7 Date Opponent Time Aug. 1 1 Chicago 7 p.m. Aug. 1 7 at St Louis 7 p.m.

Aug. 23 Philadelphia 7 p.m. Aug. 30 at Detroit 6p.m. Regular season Date Opponent Time Sept.

9 Miami 7:30 p.m. Sept 16 Cincinnati Noon Sept. 23 at Jacksonville Noon Sept 30 Open Oct. 7 at Baltimore Noon Oct. 14 Tampa Bay Noon Oct.

21 at Detroit Noon Oct 29 at Pittsburgh 8 p.m. Nov. 4 Jacksonville Noon Nov. 1 2 Baltimore 8 pm Nov. 1 8 at Cincinnati Noon Nov.

25 Pittsburgh Noon Dec. 2 at Cleveland Noon Dec. 9 at Minnesota Noon Dec. 16Green Bay 3:15 p.m. Dec.

22 at Oakland 8 pm Dec. 30 Cleveland Noon WKRN-2 WTVF-5 "FOX-17 ESPN i AxA I fi Titans receive four night kickoff games By PAUL KUHARSKY Stuff Writer The Titans will open the 2001 regular season Sunday night Sept 9 at Adelphia Coliseum against the Miami Dolphins, the first of four prime-time games for the defending AFC Central champions. The Titans will play twice on Monday Night Football at Pittsburgh's new stadium on Oct 29 and against the Super Bowl XXXV champion Baltimore Ravens in Nashville on Nov. 12. With the league shifting away from games on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve in the final two weeks of the regular season, the Titans will play in another prime-time night game, a Saturday version of MNF at Oakland on Dec.

22. The opener against Miami will be televised by ESPN. "A first-place schedule is always challenging," Titans Coach Jeff Fisher said. "The NFL has put together a good combination of games including a tough road stretch with four of five away Sept 23-Oct 29 and a test with six consecutive games within the division Oct 29-Dec. 2." After starting with home games against Miami and Cincinnati and a game at Jacksonville, Tennessee gets a Week 4 bye before an Oct 7 game at Baltimore the team that knocked the Titans out of the playoffs last season Single-game tickets for regular and preseason games wul go on sale July 14 at 10 am The Titans estimate 4,000 seats per game will be available.

Todd Bodine predicts 'big lots of crashes By LARRY WOODY Staff Writer GLADEVILLE A number of Busch Series drivers got spanked by spanking-new Nashville Superspeedway during yesterday's get-acquainted runs for tomorrow's Pepsi 300, and some took the track to task. "This is the worst I've ever seen for being slick," said Todd Bodine, who wiped out his Chevrolet near the end of the day's practice session and will be forced to saddle up a backup car for today's noon pole qualifying. "I don't know what they've done to the finish of the racetrack, but the other concrete tracks we've run on were not this bad. I don't know what the deal is on it." Bodine, the only two-time Busch Series winner through seven races this season, ril NFL postseason Date Round Jan. 5-6: Wild Card Weekend Jan.

12-13: Divisional Playoffs Jan. 20: Conference Championships Jan. 27: Super Bowl XXXVI, New Orleans Complete NFL schedule inside on 5C. predicted problems for today's qualifying and tomorrow's main event. "Big problems.

There's going to be a lot of wrecks," he said. "The track has no grip other than where we've run. No grip at all. Once I got out of the groove I was all done. I just had to hang on for the ride." Inside NASCAR safety concerns still abound in after Dale Earnhardt's death.

0n2C Kafs start with champ again Predators at Kats 0 When: Today, 7 p.m. Where: Gaylord Driver Sammy Sanders of Mt Juliet was taken by ambulance to a local hospital after a hard crash. He was checked for a concussion and released, but still complained of ankle pain, according to a team spokesman. Indiana racer Tony Raines also hit the wall but was not injured. Bodine said he drove the lap on which he crashed, "like I had driven every other one.

The car just bottomed out on me coming off Turn 2 and got up in the loose stuff. From there I tried to save it but I had no control and it just hit the walL" "It's definitely slick in spots," Nashville's Bobby Hamilton Sr. said. "There's one really slick spot coming off Turn 2. There's about a 7-foot stretch were the tires don't seem to grip at all." NASCAR Busch Series director John Darby, however, said there are no plans to re-work the apparent Turn 2 trouble spot "We've looked at the track and it's fine," Darby said.

"It's just a new track, and that's why it's slick. It'll be OK once we get a little more rubber down" Please see RACE, 3C Entertainment Center. TV: TNN Radio: 99.7-FM More on the Kats' first game on 8C. ArenaBowl rematch brings Orlando here By CHIP CIRILL0 Staff Writer The Nashville Kats can't seem to get a break in the season opener. When the Kats kick off the Arena Football League season at 7 tonight against Orlando at Gaylord Entertainment Center, it will mark the third straight year Nashville begins at home against the defending league champion The rematch of last summer's ArenaBowl, a 41-38 victory for Orlando, will be nationally televised on TNN.

"That way everybody gets to see our team, that's what I want" Kats Coach Pat Sper-duto said. "I want our guys to put up or shut up. Everybody is going to see what they can do and we'll find out how Please see KATS, 8C RANDY PILAND STAFF Two racing fans walk in front of the grandstand as drivers make their practice runs at Nashville Superspeedway. The course will play host to an ARCA race today and a Busch race tomorrow. Waltrip not afraid to criticize NASCAR's lack of safety concern Opinion David Climer begins its coverage of the Pepsi 300 tomorrow, Waltrip will fire up his larynx and push the throttle with his typical like-I-see-it style.

Do the powers that be at NASCAR appreciate Wal-trip's pot shots? Hardly. But it would be hypocritical for them to twist arms at Fox and try to get him muzzled. His 84 Winston Cup victories came before the sport's current growth spurt and his outspoken nature generated fan interest and media attention that ultimately brought NASCAR into the wakeup call, but NASCAR isn't responding," Waltrip said. "They should step in and say, This is mandatory. It's not debatable.

You're not going to race unless you're wearing if" Would Waltrip wear such a device if he were racing tomorrow? "I wouldn't get in a race car without one," he says. But if a moot point Darrell Waltrip is a driven man but he has lost his desire to drive. David Climer writes daily about college sports at i www.tennessean.com. He can be reached at 259-8020 or dclimertennessean.com. And Waltrip believes it took the death of the sport's biggest star to "open a lot of people's eyes to the fact that it's not just a regional or cult sport" But even as it has come out of the sports shadows and into the world of big business, NASCAR continues to operate with too much of a Mom Pop Shop mentality.

The organization pats itself on the back for studying safety issues but stops short of mandating the use of the HANS device or similar headneck support systems. "People are getting killed on the track and that should be a lyst these days. Last weekend, we heard Jim Nantz of CBS fawn for hours over Tiger Woods, Augusta National and the glories of golf. He's not alone. Channel-surf into an NBA game and you'd think pro basketball is dribbling through Valhalla Hockey commentators tend to avert their eyes from any fights.

Baseball blowhards do more apologizing than announcing. Waltrip? "They're paying me to say what I think so I'm not going to stop now," he says. This is what we have come to expect of him When Fox they haven't gone nearly far enough to make it safer for the drivers," Waltrip said. "If they had really gotten serious about this and taken steps to make it safer, Dale would be alive today." Note, please, that Waltrip is now a racing analyst for Fox TV and thus owes his livelihood to NASCAR. By openly criticizing the governing body of the sport for its stand on driver safety issues, Waltrip is essentially biting a plug out of the hand that feeds his bank account This is so remarkably out of character for a TV sports ana GLADEVILLE He's nrveyed the surroundings nd pronounced Nashville uperspeedway race-worthy, we're wondering if Darrell Valtrip might be getting an chy ignition finger.

What about it D.W.? Want 3 strap in once more for old me's sake? He shakes his head, and for a loment you think the man of uany words has lost his voice. "No," he finally says. "My lesire to get on the track in a ace left me on the last lap of tie Daytona 500. 1 love racing ut I couldn't do it now." Two months later, the pain and anguish have yet to be put in the rearview mirror. The crash that killed Dale Earnhardt haunts Waltrip to this day and leaves him concerned about his sport and what he considers an appalling lack of responsibility about safety issues by NASCAR.

"NASCAR talks about it but Sports Extra Respert ready to prove Vols right Mets edge Braves F'Vfl The Atlanta Braves Web-exclusive I local coverage 1 I i 1 ODDortunitv in the Capitals ice Penguins Washington opened its NHL playoff series with a 1-0 win against Pittsburgh. St Louis beat San Jose 3-1 while New Jersey stopped Carolina 5-1. On 6C Pittsburgh's Robert Lang, top, slams Washington's Brendan Witt Assistant Managing EditorSports: Bill Bradley, 259-8022 bbradleyt8nnessean.com Deputy Sports Editor Michael H. Jones, 259-801 3 Assistant Sports Editor: Kevin Procter. 259-8014 Assistant Sports Editor Bob McCteBan, 259-8299 Phone: 259-8010 Fax: 259-8826 Write us: tnsportstennessean.corn After struggling through his freshman season, lineman and i commentary.

10th inning and fell to the New York Mets 1-0 when Rey Ordonez drove in the game-winning run. On 4C. www.teraiess6aftconi Jason Respert says he wants to justify UT signing him. On 8C. AP www.tennessean.com..