Calgary

Do Jeff Garcia a favor. Do not compare him to Doug Flutie.The way Garcia sees it, he is just doing his job, which is playing quarterback for the Calgary Stampeders, the team with the best record in the Canadian Football League. He is just taking snaps, reading defenses, trying to make good decisions and letting the passes fly.Never mind that he has become the leader of the CFL's most prolific offense by replacing Flutie, the league's marquee player, after a torn tendon in his throwing elbow ended Flutie's season two months ago.If only real life worked that way. That Garcia, a shy, 25-year-old former star at San Jose State, has gone from Calgary backup to Calgary savior, is astonishing enough.

Baltimore quarterback Tracy Ham couldn't finish this game, but he vows he'll start the next one.Ham twisted his right ankle when sacked by linebacker Marvin Pope in the Calgary Stampeders' 42-1 6 victory over Baltimore in the CFL regular season home opener last night before 39,247 at Memorial Stadium.Ham went out after the hit that occurred on Calgary's first possession of the fourth quarter and didn't return. John Congemi directed the team the rest of the way."When I went down, one of their guys rolled on my ankle," Ham said.

The road to the Grey Cup championship game in Regina, Saskastchewan, on Nov. 19 begins this weekend with thedivisional semifinals. Baltimore opens the playoffs by playing host to Winnipeg tomorrow at 1 p.m. Here is a look at the other three games:* Hamilton (8-10) at Calgary (15-3), tomorrow, 4 p.m.The Calgary media have been warning fans about another late-season swoon, recalling the Stampeders' playoff losses of the previous two years, despite having the CFL's best regular-season record.

REGINA, Saskatchewan -- During the post-game hoopla that surrounded Baltimore's 37-20 Grey Cup victory over Calgary yesterday, quarterback Tracy Ham eventually moved from the locker room to a separate interview area to deal with the horde of reporters who wanted to hear from him.Maybe that was fitting, since Ham's appreciation for winning the Grey Cup runs especially deep. The victory, and Ham's resulting Most Outstanding Player award, capped a career that was chock full of accomplishments before yesterday.

Put Karl Anthony in the secondary and he's right at home. Put the ball in his hands and Baltimore's All-CFL cornerback is in heaven.He is an offensive player dressed in the body of a defensive technician."

Five days after Baltimore's CFL team lost a veteran receiver to injury, it lost a promising rookie to insubordination.Shannon Culver, a 24-year-old wide-out, walked off the practice field at Towson State yesterday after being told he would have to compete for his spot on the active roster this week.Coach Don Matthews said Culver would be suspended, although a final determination on Culver's status is expected today."Skinny didn't enjoy what was going on and felt he wanted to go home," Matthews said, referring to Culver by his nickname.

LANDOVER -- Anyone who pays even a moment's notice to professional sports is aware of how tough it is to win on the road. Helping the perception along, of course, is the fact coaches and players have been lamenting this circumstance for eons.Besides having to make a quick adjustment to playing in a building they probably haven't seen in a year -- the situation facing the Calgary Flames yesterday -- there's the often inhumane treatment handed out to travelers by the schedule-maker.Sometime last summer, someone in the NHL office probably figured out that the Flames were going to be a good team this season.

When the CFL Colts open training camp at Towson State on Friday, offensive tackle Karl Nieberlein will at least be familiar with the territory.A four-year starter at Towson State who was passed over in last month's NFL draft, Nieberlein signed a one-year contract, with an option year, to play for Baltimore's Canadian Football League expansion team."

ALBERTVILLE, France -- Most of them weren't around for the tragicomedy at Calgary four years ago, when the U.S. Winter Olympic team took its painful pratfall. Ryan "The Speck" Heckman was a middle-schooler in Steamboat Springs. John Aalberg was a Norwegian citizen. And Herschel Walker was a Dallas Cowboy. "I never even heard of a bobsled in high school," he said. "Now I'm on the Olympic team."More than three-quarters of the 181 American athletes who will ++ compete in the XVIth Winter Games beginning next week are newcomers.

Despite their wretched record, there is a limit to the indignities the Shreveport Pirates will abide this season.When Edmonton cornerback Charles Wright balked at a trade that would have sent him to Louisiana, Shreveport coach Forrest Gregg canceled the deal.This is noteworthy because Wright was the cornerback who played like toast in Matt Dunigan's record 713-yard passing epic earlier this season for Winnipeg. Wright allegedly was covering Alfred Jackson when the Winnipeg receiver rolled up 308 yards on seven catches.