Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 31

DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE DemocratandChronicle.com SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2005 3D The buzz fades for Bills-Dolphins rivalry Us ff A 1 7 Summers, "The American Rockstar," on the Next Era Wrestling card Sunday, Dec. 11, at the German House. Rochester's Cedric Walker had a big week in Jacksonville, at the USATF annual meeting. He was one of 12 people to earn a President's Award for exceptional service to U.S. track and field and was elected as team leader for the IAAF junior championships in Beijing, China, Aug.

13-18, 2006. Forty-nine years ago today (Dec. 3, 1956), Wilt Chamberlain scored 52 points in his college debut with Kansas. This week's retirement of 2005 Preakness and Belmont Stakes champion Afleet Alex leaves New York state-bred Funny Cide (2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner) as the only Preakness winner still active. If all goes well, a 6-year-old Funny Cide will run in the $500,000 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park Feb 4, 2006.

If he weren't a gelding, he'd probably be retired to stud by now, too. Rochester Razor-Sharks COO-general manager Orest Hrywnak wasn't happy to see his 5-2 team plunge from No. 4 to No. 14 in the latest ABA power rankings. It is a stretch to believe that more than a dozen teams in the bloated league are better than Rochester.

The RazorSharks won't need to worry about at least one higher-ranked team. The third-ranked Texas Tycoons dropped out of the ABA this week with a 3-0 record. I'm not saying USC's Matt Leinart didn't deserve to win the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award this week as college football's top senior quarterback, but I wonder why the voting couldn't have waited until after today's UCLA at USC game. UCLA's Drew Olson is No. 1 in the nation in QB ratings (Leinart is No.

5) and probably would deserve the Unitas honor in the unlikely event his Bruins upset the Trojans. The Minnesota Twins on Friday became the latest team to benefit from the fire sale by the penny-pinching Florida Marlins, obtaining veteran second baseman Luis Castillo for minor-league pitchers Travis Bowyer (the 2005 International League Relief Pitcher of the Year for the Rochester Red Wings) and Scott Tyler (7-8 with a 3.95 ERA for Single-A Fort Myers). Castillo is a huge upgrade at second base for the Twins, who also are talking with free agents Frank Thomas and Mike Piazza to fill the designated hitter role and No-mar Garciaparra to play third base. Minnesota needed more offense and general manager Terry Ryan is doing something about it. An interesting item being offered at www.Lelands.com is a collection of 78 Mickey Mantle bubble gum baseball cards that supposedly were accumulated by the New York Yankees legend and Hall of Famer late in his life.

Hopeful autograph hounds mailed him the cards and they were never returned. The latest high bid is $3,221.02. Cheers to Barry Bonds for his reported plans to play for the United States in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in March 2006. The seven-time MVP's decision adds to the event's prestige and puts pressure on the other high-profile stars to participate. It also should improve his selfish image as he closes in on Babe Ruth's 714 home runs.

And cheers to Fidel Castro for confirming on Friday that Cuba will participate in the World Baseball Classic. His "amateurs" have beaten up on the rest of the amateur baseball world but figure to be outclassed by the pros. Rochester boxing favorite Hasim Rahman will be in Can-cun, Mexico, Dec. 20 for a ceremony to formally present him with his second WBC heavyweight championship belt. Rochester-based manager Steve Nelson says negotiations are under way for a title defense against James Toney in February or March.

You can check out some talented and enthusiastic young amateur boxers this weekend at the New York state Silver Gloves tournament at the downtown North Street Recreation Center. The action starts at 1:30 p.m. today. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for kids on Saturday and $3 for all on Sunday. Area pro wrestling fans are looking forward to the scheduled appearance of CJ BOB MATTHEWS Contact him at: 55 Exchange Blvd.

Rochester, NY 14614 (585) 258-2325 matthewso DemocratandChronicle.com The once familiar western New York buzz entering Sunday's Buffalo Bills at Miami Dolphins game seems all but gone, mainly because both teams are struggling. Hindsight is 20-20 and it is too late to change now, but Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr. should have given up his pet rivalry with the Dolphins and pushed for a division including Buffalo, Cleveland and Pittsburgh in the last NFL realignment. Those regional rivalries would have encouraged many more fans to attend divisional road games. Nine teams in the NFL currently are at least plus-8 in turnovers.

Eight of those teams have a combined 65-23 record. The Bills (plus-8 turnovers) are the exception with a 4-7 record. Would the Bills be better off losing their next five games to improve their chances of selecting the best offensive lineman (hopefully) in the 2006 NFL college draft? It would be difficult to fall to the New York Jets on Jan. 1 but the other four games appear losable. America's Line updated odds on winning Super Bowl XL: Indianapolis the 3-to-5 fix MANUEL BALCE CENETA The Associated Press Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, left, is quite likely disappointed with the team's 11-16 record so far under coach Joe Gibbs, right.

Gibbs to replace Steve Spurrier: The 2004-05 Redskins enter Sunday with an 11-16 (.408) record in Gibbs' second stint as the team's coach. Spurrier was 12-20 (.375) in his two seasons. Gibbs was 140-65 from 1981 through 1992 (and won three Super Bowls). The NFL record for most points by an individual in one season is 176 by Paul Hornung of the 1960 Green Bay Packers. He had 15 TDs, 15 field goals and 41 extra points in a 12-game season.

Seattle's Shaun Alexander has an outside chance to top Hornung. He has 120 points (on 20 TDs) with five games left. Injury-depleted Amerks defeat Manitoba, 6-5 TIME WARNER jiti v. CABLE Adult On Demand I From the privacy of your home. Channel 870 ten on D'Hital Tprmmai rpfiuirpflfn wpivp A1'K On Dfrnnrl AMUSEMENTS PLUS INC "Your Source For Home Recreation" Largest Inventory Of Parts And Accessories in JAMIE GERMAN0 staff photographer RIT left winger Ricky Walton (8) is checked by Union's Olivier Bouchard (29) along the boards in the second period.

Walton did not score for the Tigers, who were outshot 32-25. Union scored two goals in the third period to rally for the victory. -r i mv WflllVIC I.I. Pool Tables Bumpei Pool I 1 1 A i .1 roosoan Mir noc Ky LkV i u-1 Ping Pong Touchsaoen i Video lighting Pub Tables Bais Chans 3-in-1 Game Tobies Cuetec Cues j-) or 11 Warehouse Pricing COME VISIT OUR SHOWROOM 585.244.2420 1 07-H Norris Drive Rochester 14610 800.377.7729 favorite (bet $5 to win $3), followed by Seattle (9-to-2), Denver (5-to-l), Carolina and Pittsburgh (each 6-to-l) and San Diego (7-to-l). If the Colts reach 14-0 and have clinched home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs, my hunch is that quarterback Peyton Manning would lobby to continue playing in pursuit of a 16-0 record.

He has been sacked only nine times all season and there is little chance that he'd be injured. This isn't the dramatic turnaround Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder had in mind when he hired Joe Even newcomer Ken Mago-wan picked up an assist on the game's first goal. He came up from Toledo of the ECHL. He took the place of Chris Thorburn, who was called up by the Buffalo Sabres (Maxim Afi-nogenov has a strained groin). Michael Leighton stopped 33 shots for the Amerks in a game where each team scored five goals in the final two periods.

Jo-zef Balej scored three goals for the Moose (15-8-1-2). Amerks coach Randy Cunney-worth said he has not heard if, or when, 35-year-old defenseman Alexander Karpovtsev will report from the Florida Panthers. He went unclaimed on waivers. A veteran of 590 NHL games, he has never played in the minors. If he doesn't report, he most likely would be suspended, and then not paid.

Amerks 6, Manitoba Rochester Manitoba 13 2-6 41-5 First period: Rochester. Larman 2 (Magowan, Mancari) 11:54. Penalties: Outresne. Roch (interference) Globke, Roch (high sticking) 15:13. Second period: 2.

Rochester, Novotny 7 (Mancari, Pactsch) 3:01 (pp). 3. Manitoba, Balei 9, 4:15. 4, Manitoba, Balol 10 (Fortunus) 5:03. 5, Rochester, Meyer 4 (Cullen, Larman) 6:21.

6, Rochester, Globke 1 (Mancari, Dufresne) 13:14 (pp). 7, Manitoba, Darby 5 (Bieksa, Butenschon) 14:19 (pp). 8, Manitoba, Balej 11, 18:10. Penalties; Jancina, Roch major (fighting) Roy, Man major (fighting) Mc Morrow, Roch major (fighting) Moscevsky, Man major (fighting) Bieksa, Man (hooking) Meyer, Roch (roughing) Bayda, Man (slashing) 7:41: Mollis, Man (slashing) 11:49: Dufresne. Roch (interference) Hendricks, Roch (tripping) Focht, Roch (elbowing) 14:49.

Third period: 9, Rochester, Larman 3 (Hendricks, Globke) 9:36. 10. Manitoba, Burrows 8 (Schultl, Butenschon) 17:30. 11, Rochester, Mancari 6 (Larman) 18:32. Penalties: Globke, Roch (tripping) 3:08: Focht.

Roch (tripping) 5:32: Focht, Roch (hooking) 16:39: Keane. Man (tripping) 16:39. Shots on goal: Rochester 9 -14-9 32. Manitoba 17-11-10-38. Goalies: Rochester.

Leighton 7-6 (38 shots, 33 saves). Manitoba. Flaherty 9-6 (32, 26). Power-play conversions: Rochester 2 of 3. Manitoba 1 of 8.

Penaltiesminutes: Rochester 1128. Manitoba 6 18. Attendance: 7,412. Referee: David Banheld. Linesmen: Greg McDonald, Garth Loeppky.

to test the equipment. The verdict? "Hawk-Eye is a great addition for tennis and the players," he said. Courier said the equipment still needed fine tuning and said there would need to be limits on the number of challenges to line calls. "Limited changes will make the players only question when they feel they were wronged," he said. Next month's Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia, will allow umpires to use Hawk-Eye the first elite event to do so.

Courier joined the U.S. Open committee last year and is pushing for Hawk-Eye to be used by umpires at the final Grand Slam of the year. i STAFF WRITER While injuries and recalls can cause headaches for American Hockey League coaches and fans, they don't create misery for the remaining players. They create opportunity. Mark Mancari, Drew Larman and Rob Globke took full advantage on Friday night, helping the Rochester Americans to a 6-5 victory over the Manitoba Moose in Winnipeg.

"When guys are gone, it gives another guy the opportunity to step up and show what he can do," Mancari said. Mancari showed he could do quite a bit. He helped set up three goals in the first two periods, then scored the game-winner with just 1:28 remaining in the third period. The goal came just 1:02 after Moose winger Alexandre Burrows erased a 5-4 Amerks lead. Mancari broke into the Moose zone two-on-one with Larman.

Goalie Wade Flaherty stopped Mancari's shot but couldn't find the rebound and Mancari fired it in for his sixth goal. "Larman drew the defense-man to him and when I shot I was hoping to get the rebound to Drew," said Mancari, who has scored five goals in the past eight games. "The rebound came to me and the goalie just stood there, he didn't know where the puck was." Larman also produced four points, scoring two goals. Globke scored his first goal as an Amerk (in 18 games) and assisted on another. Jiri Novotny and Stefan Meyer scored the other goals for the Amerks, who improved to 13-9 despite playing without nine regulars because of callups and injuries.

second period. "We wanted to play more physical than what we had recently," Wilson said. "If we play like we did tonight on a more consistent basis, we'll win a lot more than we lose." Draper scored his fifth goal of the season 25 seconds after his thundering hit on defenseman Rory Farrell enabled the fore-check to begin. He converted a pass from Jesse Newman. "We came out hard, we came out attacking," Draper said.

"They started playing a lot more physical in the third period." The Tigers couldn't muster a response and spent much of the final 20 minutes backpedaling and backchecking. They had virtually no offensive pressure on Union goalie Kris Mayotte. KEVIN0 a DemocratandChronicle.com Union 3, RIT 2 Union 10 2 3 HIT 110-2 First period: 1, RIT, Draper 5 (Newman, Lambert) 6:02. 2, Union, Bouchard 8 (Poirier, Fox) 16: 16. Second period: 3, RIT, Lambert 8 (Smith, Bifulco) 7:58 (pp).

Third period: 4, Union, Fox 6 (Seney) 2:47 (pp). 5, Union, Milnamow (Seney) 15:18. Shots on goal: Union 9-1 1-12 32. RIT 7-15-3 25. Goalies: Union.

Mayotte (25 shots, 23 saves). RIT, Guimond (32. 29). Power-play conversions: Union 1-7. RIT i-7.

Penaltiesminutes: Union 816. RIT 816. SCHOTT DEALER Motorcycle Storoo Avolkibte Phone 482-7260 368 W. Ridge Rood Formal Biker Stufl BWg. ITT? PRICE IS WHY WE SELL! WE ARE OUT TO DELIVER 131 NEW VEHICLES.

AN AMERICAN REVOLUTION Route 31 Macedon 1-800-265-7174 Just Past Lollypop Farm www.mclouthchevy.com RIT FROM PAGE ID freshman winger Augie DiMar-zo created never-ending havoc in the deep slot, defenseman Brendan Milnamow flicked a shot from top of the left circle that somehow snuck past Gui-mond's right leg. "I'm still trying to figure out how it went in and I was standing right there," Draper said of the puck that somehow eluded legs and skates and finally the goalie, silencing most in the sellout crowd of 2,100 at Ritter Arena. "I had no clue where it was," Guimond said. "I just felt the puck on my pad. I never saw it but I just have to try to find the puck better." It was one of those nights for Guimond, the sophomore from Quebec who has been a standout for the Tigers in their debut in Division I.

The first goal caromed in off Tigers defense-man Stephen Burns as Olivier Bouchard, standing behind the net, tried to pass into the slot. Then came two goals in the third on shots he never saw, and a 2-1 lead turned into a 3-2 loss. "Once we have the lead, it's my job to keep it," said Guimond, who stopped 29 shots as Union outshot the Tigers 32-25, including 12-3 in the third period. The loss dropped RIT to 4-9-1 while Union, which two weeks ago knocked off then-No. 5 Cornell 2-1, improved to 8-5-2.

Considering the quality of the opposition, the Tigers played very well, which is why Wilson wasn't upset. "I'm happy with our effort," Wilson said. "We didn't get the result but sometimes results are misleading. We won a game 5-0 (over American International last weekend) but we didn't play very hard. "Sometimes as a coach you have to evaluate your team in different ways.

It's not always wins and losses." Wilson was especially pleased with the start. The Tigers came out hitting and continued to bowl over bodies well into the LINDA SEE THE Replay makes its debut in English tennis event PRO BASKETBALL N6V WITH A BITE RAZORSHARKS the blue cross arena Saturday, December 10th at VS. Syracuse U. Legend Lawrence Moten the Maryland Nighthawks Saturday, December 1 7th at VS. Former Bulls Guard Charlie Jones Strong Island Sound THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON Instant-replay technology in tennis underwent a big test Friday in a Champion's Tour event.

With the Hawk-Eye technology in place to help resolve disputed line calls, Jim Courier defeated Cedric Pioline 6-4, 7-5 in the quarterfinals. The technology was used for the first time in the tournament after three days of technical hitches. A four-time Grand Slam champion, Courier has been an enthusiastic backer of the technology. He will recommend that it be used in next year's U.S. Open, which he called a "90 percent" possibility.

"I think it will be a terrific addition for tennis," said Courier, who challenged a few calls just TICKETS ON SALE NOW! Arena Box Office www.ticketmaster.com OVBI in Cross Ait'iiuO I I A A Affordable 232-1900 I The ABA Fan Friendly www.rochesterrazorsharks.com -1 r-r.