Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 31

THE HARTFORD COURANT: Saturday, January 25, 1992 D3 Pawtucket job to Petrocelli Baseball holds off ruling on Mariners Baseball Associated Press Former Red Sox shortstop Rico Petrocelli was named manager of the team's Triple A club in Pawtucket, R.L, Friday. "I'm happy to be back with the club. It's a real rewarding feeling," Petrocelli said. "I appreciate them for giving me the opportunity." Petrocelli fills the position vacated by Butch Hobson, who became manager of the Boston Red Sox when Joe Morgan was fired two days after the 1991 season. Petrocelli, 48, played for the Red Sox from 1965 to 1976.

He had a career batting average of .251 and hit 210 homers in 1,553 games. His 40 home runs in 1969 are an American League record for a shortstop. Ironically, Petrocelli was replaced as Boston's third baseman by Hobson in 1976. "The one thing I want to do is help the Houston Astros but hope to be in the majors. Incaviglia will try to win the right-field job, while Jones will be given a chance to become the No.

1 closer. Toronto pitcher Todd Stottlemyre ($1.2 million) and Atlanta pitcher John Smoltz ($1.52 million) and second baseman Jeff Treadway ($1.26 million) agreed to one-year contracts, avoiding arbitration. Stottlemyre was 15-8 last season with a 3.78 ERA. Smoltz was 14-13, 12-2 after the All-Star break. Treadway hit .320 with three homers and 32 RBI.

Florida Marlins president Carl Barger, 61, was discharged from Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, one day after he was hospitalized for dizziness apparently caused by medication. The Pirates, unhappy over an unpaid $4.2 million debt and with deteriorating conditions at Three Rivers Stadium, filed their second suit in 11 years aimed at nullifying their lease. the players get to the big leagues," he said. "I don't have any ulterior motives. My ambition is not to get the Boston Red Sox job." Petrocelli managed the Chicago White Sox's Double A Birmingham (Ala.) team in 1988 and at Class A Appleton (Wis.) in 1986.

After retiring in 1977, Petrocelli worked as an analyst on Red Sox radio broadcasts. The past three years he has worked for the Jimmy Fund, a charity closely linked to the Red Sox. Another candidate for the Pawtucket job, Dick Berardino, was given a minor league position with the team. Incaviglia, Jones Join Astro: Outfielder Pete Incaviglia and reliever Doug Jones, both free agents, signed minor league contracts with troubled team Thursday for $100 million, with the Japanese interests controlling 60 percent of the club. The announcement was welcomed in Seattle, but it brought a new round of national Japan-bashing and a swift, negative response from base- i ball commissioner Fay Vincent, prompting speculation that owners would squash the deal immediately, i But Vincent said Friday, "I think we ought to view this as a great compliment to baseball.

I think we have, however, a strong preference in favor of local ownership and our owners will have to confront this issue with some care." Friday's nondecision was consid- ered a victory by the would-be inves-. tors, who said it means baseball has decided to give the offer a closer look. Combined wire services SEATTLE With the threat of a lawsuit against Major League Baseball gaining momentum in Seattle, baseball owners Friday declined to pass judgment on a local group's offer to buy the Mariners. Baseball's ownership committee, which ultimately will approve or reject the Seattle group's $100 million cash offer, discussed the proposed sale at length in a telephone conference. But they made no decision, offering only a two-sentence statement suggesting any attempt to buy the Mariners should be directed at owner Jeff Smulyan until a formal sale agreement is reached.

The group headed by Hiroshi Ya-mauchi, president of Nintendo Co. offered to buy the financially Associated Press Managing in Pawtucket won't bo old hat for former Boston Rod Sox infielder Rico Petrocelli. ii i inn mill ipiwmiun Super Bowl notebook What it takes to be great MINNEAPOLIS Tarry Bradshaw, who has four NFL looks for delay in Plan Super Bowl rings, this week spoke to Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, who has none. From the way both described the conversation, it was like a father talking to a son. Kelly, one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, has proved that in the regular season he can be great.

But there is a lot of pressure on Kelly and the Bills to win Sunday's Super Bowl XXVI against the Washington Redskins. For Kelly to be considered with the likes of Bradshaw, he must win a Super bowi. it tnat simple. So Kelly called Bradshaw, a Hall of Famer and former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, who now is a CBS analyst. Kelly asked: What does it take to be great? "I said if you're asking me, you're always judged Associated Press The Giants' Ottis Anderson, who rushed for 102 yards in last year's game, is among the NFC backs to run over the AFC in the Super Bowl.

by how many Super Bowls you win," Bradshaw said. "Championships. That's just the nature of the beast. You can't deny the fact that if you've got a ring and the other guy doesn't have a ring, he's got all the stats but you've got the ring, I'm going to go with the guy that has the ring. "All things considered, if you've got the ring, you've won a championship.

That to me is the telltale Runaways NFC holds the power Continued from Page Dl In the 1960s, the Packers had Vince In the 1970s, Don Shula, Chuck Noll and John Madden built the Dolphins, Steelers and Raiders. The 49ers (Bill Walsh), Redskins (Joe Gibbs) and Giants (Bill Parcells) rose in the 1980s under the leadership of their coaches. "They're solid organizations with good coaching. They're three of the best organizations in the league," Jets general manager Dick Steinberg said. "They also took the time to rebuild." If the keys are so obvious, how did the AFC slip off track? The turning point might have been the influx of quarterbacks, starting with the 1983 draft John Elway ended up in Denver via a trade, Dan Marino went to Miami and Tony Eason was drafted by the Patriots.

Boomer Esiason arrived in Cincinnati in 1984 and, after two seasons in the USFL, Jim Kelly became the Bills quarterback in 1986. Offenses were built around these quarterbacks, and their teams became the AFC's Super Bowl representatives (Marino, Eason, Esiason and Kelly are each 0-1 and Elway is 0-3). Success breeds copycats, so the AFC became more of a finesse conference. But the AFC caught on and has reversed its ways the past few years. Kansas City, Houston, Denver and the Raiders have become more physical on offense or have significantly improved their defense.

"More teams are getting away from the old AFC, 'Let's put it up and throw Bradshaw said. "It's pretty simple. Control the ball, run the clock, play great defense. You look at all these teams, and that's pretty much what they do." With the league's two highest-scoring teams, this Super Bowl could develop into a shootout. But the Buffalo-Washington matchup also has many of the charac- sign ot a great quarterback.

A lot ot quarterbacks are great during the regular season. But when some of them get in those big games, boy, they're not so great." The NFC ha won the past even Super Bowls by a combined score of 260-101. In those games, the NFC has outrushod the AFC by an average of 101 yards. Tne NFC may be abis to overpower the AFC again in Super Bowl XXVI Sunday. The Redskins' offensive line averages 289.6 pounds (outweighing the Bills' line by an average of 18 pounds) and Buffalo's defense was ranked 24th against the run.

The rushing totals and results of the past seven Super Bowhu Keep the doors closed, please It's a good thing they're playing this one in a dome. The forecast Sunday is for possible snow with a high in the 20s. In comparison, it's supposed to be 75 in Los Angeles, 71 in Miami. In Hartford? Same as Minneapolis. Chance of snow and high in the 20s.

Came NFC team yardage AFC teem yardage Winner, score XXV Giants 172 Bills 166 Giants, 20-19 XXIV 49ers144 Broncos 64 49ers, 55-10 XXIII 49ers112 Bengals 106 49ers, 20-16 XXII Redskins 280 Broncos 97 Redskins, 42-10 XXI Giants 136 Broncos 52 Giants, 39-20 XX Bears 167 Patriots 7 Bears, 46-10 XIX 49ers211 Dolphins 25 49ers, 38-16 What they're saying Bills placekicker Scott Norwood grew up in Alexandria, near Washington. He has been a witness to Redskins mania since the days of coach George Allen's Over-the-Hill Gang. But he said he won't feel strange kicking against the hometown team because he was more attuned to another By TERRY PRICE Courant Staff Writer MINNEAPOLIS Plan could be on the verge of planned obsolescence. NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue used his annual Super Bowl address Friday to announce that Plan a limited form of free agency that normally runs from Feb. 1 until April 1 probably will be put on hold for a month.

The announcement is an indication the league plans a serious push for a new collective bargaining agreement "There is some progress being made," Tagliabue said. "We have had continuing discussions that have been candid and sometimes even constructive, which has been a pleasant surprise. What we're trying to do is put in place for the 1992. season a salary cap and a free-agency system that would be responsive to the' players' interest." The NFL is eager to reach an agreement before a suit filed on behalf of Jets running back Freeman McNeil and other players reaches trial. The suit could threaten the NFL's exemption from antitrust laws.

James Quinn, counsel in the McNeil suit who has been negotiating with Tagliabue, was not as optimistic about a labor deal. "There are no serious settlement proposals on the table," Quinn said. "We're looking for a trial date and we're ready to go to trial. Tagliabue said the suspension of Plan would keep open the possibility of a' salary cap and free agent plan for 1992 and possibly would provide incentive to speed a labor agreement. "We would have a target date and a deadline that would make both sides accelerate the pace of the talks and try and get something done for the 1992 season," Tagliabue said.

The NFL has said its planned two-team expansion in 1993 is contingent upon labor agreement, although Tagliabue was not emphatic about that point Friday. The NFL has not had a collective' bargaining agreement since 1987. Tagliabue said the NFL would not unilaterally impose a salary cap and wage scale. He said the suspension of Plan for a month was "just some crossing of T's and dotting of I's." Tagliabue said that Plan put into effect in 1987, has served its purpose, but it was an interim device until an overall system of free-agency is determined. "I think there are better ways of deal- ing with the overall player salary situation," he said.

Tagliabue also said that despite pressure from American Indian groups, the NFL has no plans to change team nick-' names such as Redskins and Chiefs. "In our point of view these nicknames do not convey a demeaning meaning," Tagliabue said. "They have acquired a special and unique meaning affiliated with sports." Wire reports included sport. "To tell the truth, I was more of a Washington Diplomats fan," he said of the old North American points in five games against the run and shoot because their linebackers can also cover, allowing them to stay with a four-man front. Give defensive coordinator Richie Petitbon two weeks and he'll come up with a quicker way to get his signals across against Buffalo's no-huddle.

But when Kelly is sharp, the Bills are dangerous. Kelly has the ability to bring this NFC streak to a halt. "These things go back and forth and it might turn in this game," Saints presidentgeneral manager Jim Finks said. teristics of the mismatches in the '80s. The Redskins have that familar NFC look.

Their running game was ranked seventh, their defense third and they allowed the second-fewest points. The Bills defense was ranked 24th against the run and will be outweighed by an average of 18 pounds along the line against the Redskins. End Bruce Smith, who will be 80-90 percent healthy because of knee problems, will face All-Pro tackle Jim Lachey. If Lachey can control Smith one-on-one, the Redskins should be able to run or throw. The Redskins defense allowed only 47 Soccer League team.

Which places him in very exclusive company. Bills running back Thurman Thomas on how history could end up looking at his team: "We don't want to be put in the mold of the Minnesota Vikings or the Denver Broncos, where we get to the Super Bowl so many times and not win anything. Hanifan in Hog heaven After 33 years as a football coach, Jim Hanifan Frerotte wrestling with his future made it to the Super Bowl. And he's a principal reason the Redskins are here His offensive line, which protected quarterback Mark Rypien admirably through a 1 4-2 season, gave up only nine sacks. The record, seven, was set by the Miami Dolphins one season when Dan Marino invariably let the ball By TERRY PRICE Courant Staff Writer MINNEAPOLIS Mitch Frerotte has hair almost halfway down his back, wears a Guns N' Roses hat and rides a fly at the first sign of trouble.

Hanifan ranks his group, which is called the Hogs, as tne best offensive line he had. "They've achieved more," he said of tackles Jim i. Lachey and Joe Jacoby, guards Raleigh McKenzie and Mark Schlereth and center Jen Bosttc. "And they're not that old. They'll have another two-three top years together.

The World Wrestling Federation has a possible future member playing in Super Bowl XXVI Sunday. So what if it isn't exactly what coaches have in mind when they say athletes should prepare for a life after football. "It's what I want to do," said Frerotte, who has the size 6 foot 3 and 285 pounds not to mention the scowl required for the WWF. "It's not my life aspiration to be a professional wrestler, but I'm young and I'm athletic, so I might as well use my athletic ability when I get done playing football instead of going to sit behind a desk." Frerotte, who majored in administration of justice at Penn State and has worked as a prison guard, has already picked out a nickname for his wrestling career Pit Bull. Frerotte also has practiced applying war paint.

Last season he painted his face for games, but the league eventually ordered him to stop. "They thought I was making a statement about it, but I wasn't. It was just something I was doing," Frerotte said. To Frerotte, the popularity of wrestling is simple. "Just like boxing or anything else, any contact sport that has big men doing it, people love to see it," he said.

"People like to see two men go to battle with each other." "Football is my first love," Frerotte said. "I'll play football for as long as I can. But I also want to make some more money wrestling when I'm done playing There might be one problem. Frerotte lists housecleaning as one of his hobbies. Oh, well, maybe he can clean Hulk Hogan's clock.

Harley Davidson. In others words, Mitch Frerotte is one scary guy. Which is his point. Or will be when the Buffalo Bills offensive lineman finishes his NFL career. "I'm going to wrestle when I get done playing foot They're not hailing Redskins In New York, American Indians gathered outside CBS headquarters of the network broadcasting Super Bowl XXVI, to demand "an end to the use of Indigenous People as mascots.

The Indians said they are offended by the term, "Redskins." Banging a drum and chanting, about a dozen ball," Frerotte said. FREROTTE He is going to wrestle the way Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior wrestle for money. American Indians from several tribes demanded respect from their fellow Americans. "It's demeaning. It's dehumanizing," said Tonya Frichner of Union City, N.J., an Onondaga Indian and spokeswoman for the American Indian Law Greenberg Alliance.

No injury problem for Rypien Quarterback Mark Rvoien. whose riant ankle was I mildly sprained Thursday, went through washing ton tinai practice witn no proDiems. "At first, there was a little tenderness," Rypien said. "But as we got into It, there was no problem at all. Meanwhile, the Bills said strong safety Leonard Smith, sidelined all week by a staph infection in his knee, would be placed on injured reserve today.

Coach Marv Levy said the Bills would probably replace Smith on their 47-man roster with corner-back Chris Hale, who has been on injured reserve since Nov. 23 with a muscle pull. Dwlght Drane will start at smitn safety spot. Levy won't rush retirement At 63, most people are anticipating retirement and the easy life. Not Buffalo coach Lew.

I must admit here that I had never gone ice fishing. I should also admit that I have never gone fishing, period. I don't touch bait, and I don't eat at Japanese restaurants. They say if you give a man a fish, he'll survive for a day. But if you teach a man to fish, he'll survive for a lifetime.

I'll take my chances on dying young. Buoyed with that sort of pioneer spirit, three of us boarded an otherwise empty bus for Lake Minnetonka accompanied by a tour guide named Linda, whose button said she was our "Hot Host" Linda was not born in Minnesota, but she had learned the local language quickly. Like our waitress in the steak house several nights before, her answer to every "Can question was a resounding "You bet." Can this eventually get on your nerves? You bet. Linda said we would be out to catch muskies, crappies, sunfish, walleyes and northern pike. Ever the gracious host she did not say that my friend Mike and I were complete and total idiots for wearing our Nike Air sneakers while preparing to spend the morning on a frozen lake with the windchill at 35 below zero.

Instead, she gave us toe warmers, which Mike and I neglected to use because it would have meant an incredible hassle, such as tearing open the plastic wrapper. Double idiots. When we arrived, a guy named Art drove us out on the frozen lake in his car. But first, we had to walk some 30 yards to Art's car. In the hour it seemed to take to walk there, with 40-mile wind gusts blowing into our exposed faces, my nose froze, and my feet ceased to exist.

"It's not too bad," said the semi-fnsane Art. "It's just that darn wind." Inside the ice house, an 8-foot by 8-foot canvas tent with aluminum poles, it was only a tad warmer. You needed a megaphone to be heard above "that darn wind," which was threatening to rip apart our tent and fly it straight to Wisconsin, giving us a true taste of Northern exposure. Both the departed Linda no fool, she and our ice house host, Brian, told stories of elaborate plywood ice houses outfitted with stoves and TVs and warm bunks. But that's all they were stories.

Brian said he owned a plywood ice house and liked to use it for hours, to come out and relax, to take a break from his family. What kind of family could you have, I wondered, that you prefer being a human Popsicle? i Our tent was equipped with several milk crates (for sitting), some augurs (for drilling holes in the ice), an ice scoop, bait, fishing lines, a wooden contraption for fishing outside the tent that tripped a red flag when a fish bit and a heater about as warming as a birthday candle. Brian baited a hook or two and dropped Continued from Page Dl Do I look that much like a tourist? It's not just me, folks. Things like this are happening to everyone who has come here this week for what the Minnesota Super Bowl committee has dubbed "The Hottest Time of the Year." "People asked me if I have any regrets about Minnesota as a Super Bowl site," NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Friday at his annual press conference. "The answer is an emphatic, Are they visitors going to play golf? I doubt it.

Beaches? I'm not aware of any. Sunbathing contests? I haven't seen any of it yet But our hosts have made this week a delightful experience." And we are impressed. So impressed that a few of my media friends and I were wondering how we could pay back our hosts, show our appreciation for their marvelous hospitality. Round-trip tickets to Aruba? Overtipping? Nan. Too crass.

They'd be insulted. What about a much higher compliment? What about showing these proud Minnesotans how much we respect their hardy outdoors culture? What about showing them we weren't weenies by taking part in one of the great rituals of the Minnesota winter? That settled it We'd go ice fishing. them in the holes, then we all stood around shivering, our feet frozen, while listening to "that darn wind." How could you beat this for fun? The ice was about 8-10 inches deep, and; holes were drilled at the tent's four cor-i ners. Suddenly, we had a bite, and I nominated to try to reel it in with my bare hands. I did, and pulled up an ugly, wriggling thing that must have weighed 30 pounds, although Brian said it was probably closer to 16 ounces.

It was a pike. We tossed it outside the tent In a minute, Mr. Pike was hard as a lead pipe. A local TV crew visited our tent and, at their request I put my bare arm biceps-deep into one of those holes, as if feeling around for fish. Some people will do anything to get on TV.

When we told them I'd actually caught one, they had me pose with the disgusting thing, and it aired on the 5 o'clock news. Ice fishing was an experience, but I would only recommend it to people who enjoy spending endless hours staring at the electrical outlets in their home. There's nowhere to go to the bathroom, and the main skill involved is not losing your mind. Come to think of it maybe that's why the Minnesotans have been so nice to the obnoxious Super Bowl week hordes. If you can handle ice fishing without losing your mind, you can handle anything.

I' "Guys who say they want to coach three or four more years and then retire are already retired," Levy said. rTm not retiring. I hope I break Amos Alonzo Stan's record." Stagg coached into his 90s, which gives Levy 30 more years or so The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported in a copyright story Friday that 82 percent of 100 retired NFL players inter- viewed are experiencing ailments they believe are linked to their pro football careers. Knees were the most common problem, cited by 43 percent of sur veyed players witn football-related ailments, foi-f lowed by shoulders, backs, and lower arms and hands.

Ted Toibter, former coach at Southern Cal, has been named quarterback coach of the Los Angeles Rams. Chiefs secondary coach Tony Dungy joinea me vikings as defensive coorainator, Wire reports i i.