Expansion Draft

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Arizona Cardinals coach Buddy Ryan, intent on restructuring his team's offense before next season, plans to make three prominent veterans available to the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL expansion draft in February.Two days after the Cardinals ended their season with a 10-6 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, Ryan informed quarterback Steve Beuerlein and wide receivers Gary Clark and Ricky Proehl in private meetings yesterday that he plans to include them among the six players the team exposes in the veteran allocation draft.

Howard County restaurateurs want to let patrons take home beer in growlers. Now, one hopes to offer the same option to the wine-sipping set. Pouring cabernet from a tap into a bottle might seem a bit odd, but draft wine, as it's called, is gaining popularity around the country. And wine connoisseurs could have a chance to enjoy favorite seasonals or small-batch finds in the same way beer drinkers can — in a refillable container to take home. "Wine on tap is a new concept. It's quite popular.

As bad as things are for the Orioles, if the expansion draft were held tomorrow, they'd engage in a heated debate over which 15 players to protect.Alas, the draft isn't until November 1992, so it's too early to project Juan Bell as the Florida Marlins' shortstop or Jeff Ballard as the Denver Grizzlies' No. 3 starter.Still, it will be fascinating trying to guess which players each team will make available -- especially for the Rotisserie addicts, who already are panicking over their 1993 rosters.

In their pre-game notes, the Bayhawks include a feature called "This Time Last Year," which serves as a reminder of the team that won its second Major League Lacrosse championship last summer and was considered to have one of the greatest professional rosters of all time. But it also illuminates how frustrating this season has been. The Bayhawks (3-5) have matched their highest loss total in the franchise's six years and likely will miss the playoffs for the first time. A team that set a league record with a 31-9 win last June struggled through a 9-6 loss last month in the lowest-scoring game in MLL history.

The NFL's two expansion teams will have trouble finding any nuggets today when they sift through the sand of the league's first stocking draft in 19 years.Carolina and Jacksonville can choose up to 84 -- a maximum of 42 each -- of the 168 players the 28 existing teams have left exposed, but they're not likely to select many more than 30 they're required to take."We have to be very much aware of the financial aspect of our picks," said Tom Coughlin, the Jacksonville coach.That means they're responsible for any prorated share of signing bonuses left in the contracts of the players they select, even if they eventually cut them.

Equipped with his own private library on recent NFL expansion, general manager Charley Casserly needs only to roam the halls of the Houston Texans' offices to find a ready answer for virtually any sticky question. That's because the Texans' head coach is the same Dom Capers who coached the Carolina Panthers through their infancy in 1995. And their offensive coordinator is none other than Chris Palmer, who was head coach of the reborn Cleveland Browns' expansion team three years ago. That gives Casserly a treasure trove of expansion perspective at his elbow, and he is quick to utilize it. "One of the fun things here is that if I personally have a question about what happened with an expansion team in the past, I don't have to pick up the phone, I just walk down the hall," Casserly said.

CLEVELAND -- Pardon Jeremy Zabell for not doing cartwheels at the sight of yesterday's Cleveland Browns expansion draft.Sure, Zabell's feelings for the Browns run deep with passion. As a youngster, he shivered and wore face paint with the sellout crowds that gathered regularly at old, broken-down Cleveland Municipal Stadium, rooting tirelessly for the likes of Bernie Kosar, Earnest Byner, Ozzie Newsome and Hanford Dixon. Those back-to-back, AFC title losses to Denver, featuring John Elway's famous drive and Byner's infamous fumble, still resonate with him.And if you think time has helped Zabell to forgive owner Art Modell for moving the Browns to Baltimore three years ago, forget about it.Football is back in Cleveland, expansion-style.

The Houston Texans performed their salary cap relief work as expected yesterday, bailing out fiscally troubled NFL teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets and Ravens. But by the time the Texans closed down a $40 million-plus expansion shopping spree, they proved to be much more than goodwill ambassadors. That was no rummage sale, and this is no pushover expansion team. The Texans poured an impressive foundation with yesterday's expansion draft. General manager Charley Casserly had identified four positions as the toughest to fill for a new team - cornerback, offensive line, defensive line and quarterback - and then proceeded to do a masterful job filling at least three of them.

One of these days, while practicing my insomnia in front of one of those late-night comedy club shows, I expect the familiar face of Larry Lucchino of the Orioles to appear on stage rattling off tired old jokes about the traveling salesman and the farmer's daughter.Lucchino, in the typical under-stated and over-dressed style of an attorney, isn't quoted often. But when he is, he's a combination Robin Williams, Jay Leno and George Burns (for you golden oldies).In Larry's latest venture into newsprint, he detailed what a long and arduous task it has been preparing the team's 15-player protected list being submitted to the expansion Florida and Colorado teams this very day for next week's expansion draft.

QUEBEC CITY -- The Washington Capitals came out of yesterday's NHL expansion draft in pretty much the same shape they entered it.And that's exactly the way general manager David Poile wanted it.Poile left slim pickings for Anaheim and Florida when he traded Reggie Savage, Paul MacDermid and Paul Cavallini on Sunday. The expansion clubs' enthusiasm -- or lack of it -- was evident as the draft unfolded at the Octave-Cremazie Hall of the Grand Theatre. The Capitals lost no one off their 1992-93 roster, and were the second-to-last team to have a player selected.

The Baltimore Blast lost three players to the California Cougars in Wednesday afternoon's MISL Expansion Draft as goalkeeper Brian Rowland, defender Nevio Pizzolitto and forward Alejandro Moreno were selected. "Unfortunately, with an expansion draft, teams are going to lose valuable players," Blast general manager Kevin Healey said. "Brian is an excellent goalkeeper with a bright future and we wish him the best of luck. Nevio and Alejandro are also outstanding additions to the Cougars' roster."

The winds of today's expansion draft that will stock the NBA's new Charlotte Bobcats may sweep Baltimore native Juan Dixon out of the area. The Bobcats will begin compiling their roster for play this fall with today's draft, selecting up to 14 players from the 29 other NBA teams, which were permitted to protect eight players under contract for next season. That process began last night with a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers. The Bobcats shipped their fourth overall pick in Thursday's amateur draft and a second-round pick, the 33rd overall, to the Clippers for the second pick Thursday and a promise that Charlotte will take center Predrag Drobnjak in the expansion draft.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. When the Houston Texans selected left tackle Tony Boselli with their first pick in the expansion draft, they thought they were getting a five-time Pro Bowl player who would anchor their offensive line. Instead, they got an expensive rehab project with a pedigree. Boselli has had three surgeries on his left shoulder since November, two since the expansion draft in February. And no one knows when - or if - he will play for the Texans. Speculation is rampant the seven-year veteran will retire before ever taking a snap with the team.

The Houston Texans performed their salary cap relief work as expected yesterday, bailing out fiscally troubled NFL teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets and Ravens. But by the time the Texans closed down a $40 million-plus expansion shopping spree, they proved to be much more than goodwill ambassadors. That was no rummage sale, and this is no pushover expansion team. The Texans poured an impressive foundation with yesterday's expansion draft. General manager Charley Casserly had identified four positions as the toughest to fill for a new team - cornerback, offensive line, defensive line and quarterback - and then proceeded to do a masterful job filling at least three of them.

The anticipated off-season purge by the Ravens begins today. Houston will pluck linebacker Jamie Sharper and return specialist Jermaine Lewis off the Ravens' five-man unprotected list in this afternoon's expansion draft, Texans general manager Charley Casserly confirmed late last week. Sharper and Lewis' imminent departure will clear $7.7 million off the Ravens' salary cap, leaving the team roughly $15 million over. Soon, the Ravens will begin restructuring contracts of some of the more high-priced veterans - including quarterback Elvis Grbac - and decide what to do with some of their older players like Rod Woodson and Shannon Sharpe in an effort to get under the $71 million cap. "As we've talked about now for the last two months, we have issues with our salary cap," Ravens senior vice president of football operations Ozzie Newsome said.

Equipped with his own private library on recent NFL expansion, general manager Charley Casserly needs only to roam the halls of the Houston Texans' offices to find a ready answer for virtually any sticky question. That's because the Texans' head coach is the same Dom Capers who coached the Carolina Panthers through their infancy in 1995. And their offensive coordinator is none other than Chris Palmer, who was head coach of the reborn Cleveland Browns' expansion team three years ago. That gives Casserly a treasure trove of expansion perspective at his elbow, and he is quick to utilize it. "One of the fun things here is that if I personally have a question about what happened with an expansion team in the past, I don't have to pick up the phone, I just walk down the hall," Casserly said.

When the Carolina Panthers made cornerback Rod Smith of the New England Patriots their first pick in the expansion draft last week, ESPN started showing what were supposed to be his best plays.But the first two showed him getting beaten on touchdown catches by Carl Pickens of the Cincinnati Bengals and Andre Reed of the Buffalo Bills.Announcer Joe Theismann, trying to put his best spin on the passes, said of Smith's play on the Reed catch, "He doesn't get beat real bad, although he does wind up giving up a touchdown."

This seems to be the proper time of the year to muse about All-Stars and potential free agents, so let's fast-forward for a moment.One year from tomorrow, July 13, 1993, baseball's new showplace, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, will play host to baseball's midsummer extravaganza. Elaborate preparations already have begun, hotel rooms have been blocked off and parties planned.Which leaves the most impertinent question of this, or any other, week: What would the reaction be if the reigning American League All-Star shortstop were introduced wearing a uniform other than that of the Baltimore Orioles?

Expansion draft list RAVENS-DE Rob Burnett, LB Brad Jackson, WR Jermaine Lewis, LB Jamie Sharper, G Kipp Vickers. ARIZONA-DE Jabari Issa, WR Rob Moore, DB Jacoby Rhinehart, LB Johnny Rutledge, G Yusuf Scott. ATLANTA-RB Jamal Anderson, DB Ronnie Bradford, QB Chris Chandler, TE Derek Rackley, RB Rodney Thomas. BUFFALO-RB Avion Black, T John Fina, DB Raion Hill, DB Ken Irvin, QB Rob Johnson. CAROLINA-RB Tim Biakabutuka, DB Doug Evans, DT Sean Gilbert, DB Jimmy Hitchcock, LB Dean Wells.

PHOENIX - David Dellucci knows exactly what's missing each time he hears the national anthem before the start of an Arizona Diamondbacks game. The "O." "There's nothing like hearing the Baltimore fans say it," said Dellucci, who spent three years in the Orioles organization. "It sent chills down my spine. I still think about it today every time I hear it played." Dellucci was the Orioles' No. 10 pick in the 1995 draft, the year the team made pitcher Alvie Shepherd its top selection. The outfielder rose quickly through Frederick and Bowie, and was the Double-A Eastern League MVP. He was called up to Baltimore in May 1997, after Eric Davis became ill and was diagnosed with colon cancer.