Cleveland

SCOUTING REPORT Ravens rushing vs. Browns run defense -- RAVENS In the past three games, the Ravens have averaged 159 yards rushing as a team. The line will be missing one of its top run blockers in left guard Edwin Mulitalo, who is out with a knee injury. Kipp Vickers is an adequate replacement against Cleveland, the 20th-ranked run defense. Marred by poor tackling, the Browns have held just one running back under 93 yards in a game. Cleveland is susceptible to the big run, giving up a gain of at least 15 yards in every game this season.

The Browns' return to the NFL is the feel-good story of the season, with fans across the country sympathizing with the fans in Cleveland who had to endure three seasons without a team.But the story is entering a sympathy-free zone this week, with the Browns coming to Baltimore to play the Ravens at Camden Yards.Fans in Baltimore don't want to hear about those three long, painful years in Cleveland, not when they had to endure a dozen long, painful seasons without a team after the Colts left for Indianapolis in 1984.

The second in a series of one-game win streaks planned by the Spirit unfolds at 7: 30 tonight at the "House of Gain," often referred to as the Baltimore Arena.The House of Gain reference is used because the Spirit won 15 of 20 games on the Arena rug during the regular season and has won two straight during the playoffs. "No question we're more comfortable here," said coach Mike Stankovic.Comfort isn't the only thing the Spirit is feeling going into the "do or disappear" game, which is single elimination for the home team since the Cleveland Crunch leads the best-of-five American Division final 2-1."

CLEVELAND - The most hated man in this city's sports history brings his football franchise back today, yet no one in Cleveland seems to care. Art who? A year ago, Cleveland fans hung Ravens owner Art Modell in effigy and then burned the image before the Ravens played the Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium. But no such hatred will be displayed today in the first meeting between the two teams in the 2000 season. Actually, it's kind of ho-hum. Yawn. There's more action at a rap concert for senior citizens.

Jason Dieter was a regular in those days. He and his father had Blast season tickets in section 227, front row. In the mid-1980s, Dieter seldom missed a game.He was a teen-ager then, a budding soccer star at Archbishop Curley High. He was like a half-dozen other players now on the Spirit -- kids growing up in Baltimore who idolized the Blast.The Blast's games with the Cleveland Force were big. They were often sellouts, just as tomorrow's might be against another Cleveland team -- the Crunch.

RICHFIELD, Ohio -- When the Baltimore Blast prepared to visit the Cleveland Crunch yesterday afternoon, history was not on its side.But the Blast (3-4) ended a seven-game road losing skid by overcoming a 3-0 halftime deficit and defeating the Crunch, 6-3.Before yesterday, Baltimore hadn't won on the road since beating the Stars, 5-4, in the Tacoma Dome last March 12.The last time the Blast won a road game by more than one goal was Feb. 23, 1990.And the last time that Baltimore won in Cleveland was in April of that year.

This weekend, for the first time, Spirit coach Dave MacWilliams finally will get to see the team he and general manager Drew Forrester assembled.Through the first four games, key players were out with injuries. Goalie Cris Vaccaro, forward Brad Smith and defender Omid Namazi missed the first three games and defender Mike Stankovic and forward Pete Schneiders missed last week's against the Harrisburg Heat."We're fortunate to be 3-1 with the injuries we've had," MacWilliams said.When the Spirit visits the Cleveland Crunch tonight and travels to Philadelphia to play the Chicago Power tomorrow night, it will have its healthiest group of the season.

CLEVELAND -- Emerson Fittipaldi blazed a track qualifying record on his final lap yesterday to hold off hard-charging Michael Andretti in a hot provisional pole duel for tomorrow's Cleveland Grand Prix.Fittipaldi's fast lap of 139.615 mph came as the checkered flag ended the 30-minute qualifying session on the 2.37-mile, 10-turn temporary road course at Burke Lakefront Airport.It came a tick before Andretti posted a lap of 139.983, good enough for second place on the tentative grid.The quick lap of the day broke the record of 139.319 set last year by Rick Mears, now Fittipaldi's teammate, on the circuit that was shortened in 1990 from 2.48 miles.

Three years ago, Ravens running back Jamal Lewis and Cleveland Browns linebacker Andra Davis engaged in a little trash-talking over the phone, and Lewis backed up his promise to enjoy a "career day" against the Browns by rushing for 295 yards, an NFL single-game record. With another matchup against the Browns looming Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium at 4 p.m., Lewis said yesterday that he won't participate in another phone call with Davis. "Actually, my friend that set up that phone call last time called me and said, `What are you going to do?

Maybe they should call them the River City Indians. There's just not enough trouble in Cleveland to fulfill this baseball team's destiny.But general manager John Hart is no music man. Neither is manager Mike Hargrove. They're a couple of guys trying to make a go of it in the big leagues. And, so far, this year has been like one long dirty trick.And that's saying a lot for a club that hasn't won a pennant in 39 years, a club that hasn't even contended since 1959.It started in spring training with a boating accident that killed bullpen closer Steve Olin and middle reliever Tim Crews.