Deion Sanders

MIAMI -- At the start of the season, when Deion Sanders spurned a better offer from New Orleans to sign with the San Francisco 49ers, Saints owner Tom Benson thundered, "What kind of a Mickey Mouse organization do we have out there?"The NFL now has the answer.It has one that's going to play in the Super Bowl tomorrow.One of the reasons the 49ers were able to do it is the creative way they were able to handle the salary cap -- in part using their winning reputation to lure players like Sanders for below their market value.

He has a tattoo of Donald Duck on his right shoulder blade. He lists Deion Sanders and Jim Thorpe as the only professional football players he admires. And his nickname has little to do with being from Texas.Gabriel "Tex" DeLeon is not a typical high school junior, and he's not a typical high school football player.A 5-foot-8, 168-pound running back and defensive back at Towson High, DeLeon has rushed for 752 yards on 65 carries and has scored four touchdowns this season. His 242 yards on a muddy field at Loch Raven last Friday marked his third straight 200-yard game.

Quarterback: Kyle Boller, in his second year, looked nervous but seemed to get better in the second half. He had a hard time on touch passes and often held the ball too long, sometimes patting it once or twice. It wasn't a great start and he didn't show much improvement from last season. GRADE: C-. Offensive line: In all fairness, this group has not had much of a chance to work together this season because of injury. The Ravens were missing two starters. But guards Edwin Mulitalo, Bennie Anderson and center Casey Rabach had trouble picking up blitzes in the middle, and reserve left tackle Ethan Brooks had trouble pass blocking the entire game.

Based on a study done by Ravens trainer Bill Tessendorf, the Ravens are expecting Todd Heap to return no later than three weeks from now. The two-time Pro Bowl tight end sprained his right ankle Sept. 19 against the Pittsburgh Steelers and has yet to participate in a full practice. He has already been declared out for Sunday's game in New York, the seventh straight time he will be sidelined. "Bill did a study on this specific injury and it was between 50 and 70 days; he's right at [Day 53]

In a recent issue of Golf Digest, Fred Couples tells a story about running into the late tennis hustler, Bobby Riggs, at the Palm Beach (Fla.) Polo Club. Riggs wanted to play - and bet - Couples in golf, getting no strokes, but receiving one throw on each hole. Couples figured he could whip Riggs with even two throws, so he took the bet. Big mistake. "On the first hole, I hit my approach shot to 15 feet," Couples said. "Meanwhile, it took Riggs four shots to reach the green. But just as I got set to putt, Riggs walked over, picked up my ball and threw it out of bounds."

The natural tendency, during times like the commemoration of an event as significant as Jackie Robinson's cracking of baseball's color line, is to take stock of where we are, what has changed and how things are likely to look. And you've no doubt heard a lot in the past few weeks about how far sports and our society have come since April 15, 1947, the day Robinson took a tremendous leap of courage, the first of many he took.But the distance we've traveled and the places we're likely to go are limited by the fact that most of the African-American athletes who have followed in Robinson's footsteps haven't built on his example of bravery.

CAL RIPKEN stands astride the year in sports like the ancient colossus (the Colossus of Arthur Rhodes?).Ripken blots out all other sports stories like some kind of eclipse (or blots them up like some kind of quicker picker-upper -- hey, another endorsement possibility).Ripken is this year's Jimmy Stewart, his lap around the Camden Yards field like George Bailey's winking skyward at Clarence the angel (as opposed to Peter the Angelos).Yes, Ripken is a simile waiting to happen. And, in the case of this piece, he'll still have to wait for a good simile to happen.

Ravens cornerback Chris McAlister took exception to a phone call placed last week by Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Johnson. Johnson supposedly called former Pro Bowl cornerback Deion Sanders and begged him to come back to the NFL because nobody could cover him. After the Ravens' 31-13 win over the Cincinnati Bengals yesterday, Johnson had to run a reverse and acknowledge he can indeed be covered, and McAlister added another top-notch receiver to...

ASHBURN, Va. - Deion Sanders said he had been prepping Champ Bailey all week. Yesterday, Bailey's moment arrived. The second-year Redskins cornerback out of the University of Georgia was named to his first Pro Bowl as a starter. Tight end Stephen Alexander and defensive end Marco Coleman are two other Redskins who will be making their first trips to Hawaii, site of the Pro Bowl, the first week in February. In many respects, Bailey beat out Sanders for one of the three positions on the NFC squad, but Sanders couldn't be happier for him. "Champ is going to be a tremendous player for years," Sanders said.

Coach Billick: The man [Deion Sanders] is retired, I've got no clue! Next question! Question: Would there be any interest if he come out of retirement? Have you had any conversations with him - or anyone on the team talk with him at all? Billick: The man's retired. Next question. [ Q: Would there be any interest? [ Billick: Sure, if he comes out of retirement, yeah, and stand in line. A lot of teams are interested if Deion wants to come out of retirement. Q: But what if he said he wanted to play for the Ravens?