Ea Sports

If they build it, will you come? That's the question Microsoft, "The House That Bill Built," and Electronic Arts, the 800-pound gorilla of the video game industry, are asking these days. Each company has created its own virtual field of dreams to lure rabid sports fans into the online console gaming arena. It's the first time these behemoths have gone head to head, and it promises to be interesting. Until now, the pair have had a working arrangement by dint of EA making games for Microsoft's Xbox - which it still does.

If watching the NCAA basketball tournament isn't enough in this maddest of Marches, you can get into the game yourself with a PlayStation 2 video console. We assigned lifelong gamer Jason Forrest, 18, and his mom, assistant sports editor Patricia Fanning, to try the latest versions of two competing NCAA tournament titles. Here's what they found: Die-hard Tar Heels fans can relate to the designer who put a North Carolina player on the cover of Final Four 2002, the latest college hoops offering from Sony's 989 Sports division.

Dunking with authority and shooting the lights out from three-point territory usually require serious height and ball-handling skills. But you don't have to be 6-foot-11 to keep your shots from being blocked with the latest crop of NBA-inspired video games: EA Sports' NBA Live 2002, Sega Sports' NBA 2K2 and Microsoft's NBA Inside Drive 2002. These $50, NBA-sanctioned titles allow you to pass, post up and take it to the hoop no matter what your real height, speed and physical shape because you'll probably be playing crouched in front of your television set. At their best, they're as exhilarating as a Michael Jordan comeback.

This is the year Mac gamers bid farewell to the ghosts of Christmases past.In holiday seasons gone by, their choices consisted mostly of poorly ported PC hits. But so many first-rate titles for Macs have appeared in recent months that the challenge is deciding which to buy.Topping many lists will be Aspyr's Mac version of EA Sports' "Madden NFL 2000." While this game has existed for years for the PC platform and stand-alone game systems like Sony's PlayStation, this is the first time you can play it on your Mac.In fact, the arrival of "Madden" ends a long drought during which no major sports simulations were released for the Mac. If the game sells well -- and I predict it will -- we should see more EA sports titles migrating.

COLLEGE PARK - He has the quickness and leaping ability, the head-above-the-rim variety, that commands the respect of opponents and the attention of basketball fans. He comes from a school that has become a University of Maryland pipeline. He will be the only senior on next year's Terrapins squad. Junior forward Jamar Smith has wanted to come to Maryland since his days as a four-year star at Overbrook High in South Jersey. Smith got his wish after spending two productive seasons at Allegany (Md.)

The 2004 NASCAR season got in gear this month with the running of the Daytona 500, so it's a perfect time to take a closer look at NASCAR video gaming. NASCAR titles have been in short supply, but not because they're unpopular. For a few years there was a glut of NASCAR games on the market - everybody and his brother wanted you to know the pleasures of driving modified stock Fords and Chevrolets in circles. These days, fewer titles are released, because the NASCAR games from Electronic Arts and Infogrames have blown away the rest of the field.

The recruiting battle between Maryland and Connecticut for Archbishop Spalding basketball star Rudy Gay was won last month by the Huskies, but the reverberations and accusations over how the decision was made are still swirling from College Park to Storrs and back to Baltimore. Last week, after an exhibition loss to an NBA minor league team at Comcast Center, Terps coach Gary Williams made an off-the-cuff remark seemingly pointed at Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun. "We could have scheduled an AAU [Amateur Athletic Union]

Soccer can be about the glamour and pageantry of the World Cup, an international stage where lowly Senegal can gracefully defeat the defending champions from France in an inspiring upset. Or it can be about punching an opponent in the back, kicking his teammate in the knee, dribbling the ball downfield, flipping it over your head and bicycle-kicking it past the goalie. Hey, whatever you prefer. For traditionalists, EA Sports' 2002 FIFA World Cup ($49, all ages) for the Xbox will make you feel like you're skipping across the grass of the real stadiums in Japan and South Korea.

Golf Presidents Cup Where -- Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Gainesville, Va. (Prince William County) When -- Today, 11:30 a.m.; tomorrow, 7:20 a.m.; Sunday, noon What now? -- If you're willing to make the short drive, tickets from $60 (today) to $80 (Sunday) are available at the gate. You'll get all the excitement of the international match-play event, without the commentary from Johnny Miller. For information, call 703-918-4882. Online -- pgatour.com/tournaments/presidentscup Baseball Red Sox vs. Orioles Where -- Camden Yards When -- Tonight, 7:35; tomorrow, 4:35 p.m.; Sunday, 1:35 p.m. What now?

Wheldon gets title; Dixon earns victory Dan Wheldon finally got to celebrate his first Indy Racing League League title. Scott Dixon simply was happy to finally celebrate a win. Dixon gained the lead with 12 laps to go at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International and won the inaugural IRL Indy Grand Prix for his first victory since he won at Richmond in 2003 en route to the series championship, a span of 40 races. Wheldon, a 27-year-old Englishman, secured the title when the third and final road race on the IRL schedule became official at the halfway point.