To know list: 6 years till Alfonso Soriano turns, what, 40?

Sporting News, The, March 1, 2004

(1) A GUIDE TO THE COMING MONTH

Are you ready for some brackets?

MARCH 1, 2004 All times Eastern

TUE 2

Are you sitting down, Horizon Conference hoops fans? ... Hello? ... Hello? The first three of a seemingly endless stream of Division I league tournaments tip off with, let's see, a million or so Big Dance field-shaping games to follow, all but a couple thousand of them on the ESPN channels.

* Baseball's most devout procrastinators will test the mettle of the spring training mandatory reporting date.

WED 3

NFL veteran free agents can begin to sign new deals; Terrell Owens and Warren Sapp are the headliners. The trading period--Drew Henson, anyone?--also opens.

* Lakers at Rockets (9 p.m., ESPN). Shaq aims to crush Yao, who put the earth mover on the defensive ("He made the shots, but he got the whistle") last time they met.

THU 4

Pistons at Trail Blazon; (10 p.m., TNT). Lock the doors and hide the refs' wives and children--Rasheed Wallace is back in town.

SAT 6

Stanford at Washington (6 p.m., ABC). Don't miss what could be a higher final hurdle than you might think in the No. 1 Cardinal's run to an unbeaten regular season.

SUN 7

They're calling it The Challenge at the Los Angeles Marathon (self-billing: the "largest participatory event in the U.S.")--the elite women will get a 2D-minute head start on the elite men, the hope being the male and female leads will hook up for a climactic kick.

* It's only spring training, but don't cry in your cotton candy, kids, if the stars don't come out to shine--there's always the chance Yankees vs. Red Sex will turn hazardously hateful!

TUE 9

NHL trade deadline. If Olie the Goalie's still a Cap at breakfast, odds are he'll be eating his dinner on a one-way flight out of town.

SUN 14

It's Selection Sunday, and you know what that means: button-popping dinner-time ratings for CBS, bogus seedings, penciled-in upsets and a few crestfallen teams from the painfully weak Big Ten.

* Spurs at Kings (3:30 p.m., ABC). A good indicator of how dangerous the Pacific leaders will be with Chris Webber in the mix.

THU 18

Timberwolves at Spurs (9:30 p.m., TNT). And four nights later, they'll do it again at K.G.'s joint.

FRI 19

Nets at Knicks. These are two changed teams since their last meeting, 75 days before. Will the great Lawrence Frank still be perfect? OK, so that's kind of silly.

SAT 20

It's the first day of spring football ... for defending BCS champ LSU. Teams' spring dates vary quite a bit, actually, but everybody gets the same number of practices--15.

THU 25

Anybody got a match? In Ancient Olympia, the Olympic flame will be lit and the torch relay begun.

SAT 27

Avalanche at Red Wings (1:30 p.m., ABC). Catch 'era while you can.

SUN 28

The NFL Annual Meeting convenes in Palm Beach, Fla. On the agenda: an examination of instant-replay rules and other boring stuff.

* Feed City 500. Lookie here, it's a regular Busch series--as in Kurt, who got his first career win at Bristol and has won this race two years runnin'.

* The last two Final Fear teams clear the path to San Antone. (Remember, that does not count as a "shining moment.")

TUE 30

It's the NIT semifinals! This is probably a good time to say: See ya next month.---Steve Greenberg

(1) BUSINESS AS USUAL

Job security? What's mat?

The marketplace for NFL free agents giveth, and it taketh away. And sometimes it leaveth in limbo. (A free-agent preview section begins on page 24.) A number of prominent starters who could escape cut-down day unscathed still might face competition for their jobs.

Jay Fledier, QB, Dolphins. Fiedler is mobile, but his wet-noodle arm and scattershot accuracy cry out for an upgrade. Possible replacements: Billy Volek, Drew Brees, Drew Henson.

Anthony Thomas, RB, Bears. New offensive coordinator Terry Shea needs a cutback runner who can catch, not an A-Train. Possible replacements: Duce Staley, Kevin Faulk.

James Thrash, WR, Eagles.

Donovan McNabb should disown him. Thrash's poor size and separation skills showed in 2003. Possible replacements: Terrell Owens, Darrell Jackson, Tai Streets.

Jessie Armstead, LB, Redskins. A former Pro Bowl stalwart, Armstead (34 this year) could get competition from a cheap, second-tier signee. Possible replacements: Barrett Green, Dhani Jones, Clark Haggans.

Ricky Manning Jr., CB, Panthers. Carolina needs an enforcer outside, and Manning (5-9, 185) can't press or scrap with big receivers. Possible replacements: Troy Vincent, Shawn Springs.--Jason Langendorf of The War Room

(3) THE PRICE OF SUCCESS

One big UTEP hello

New UTEP coach Mike Price promises that he or a member of his staff will have shaken hands with every high school football coach in the state of Texas before the start of the 2004 season. Let's look at the numbers, shall we? There are just under 1,000 high schools in Texas that play football--not including the 99 that play six-man ball. The state is 267,277 square miles, and UTEP has a staff of 11. Let's hope the Miners have a good deal with Avis--and that their coaches like staring at absolutely nothing in the middle of nowhere.