Jankovich

If the recent Super Bowl site selections are any barometer, the National Football League's expansion derby is likely to be a free-for-all.When Miami upset Houston in the voting for the 1995 game last week, it was the third time in four years that the result was a surprise. Only Atlanta's selection in 1994 to play host to the game at the new Georgia Dome followed the form chart.Minneapolis in 1992 and Phoenix in 1993 -- although it lost the game to Los Angeles after Arizona voters had turned down a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday -- were surprise results.

Going winless in the NFL is almost as difficult as going unbeaten.While the Miami Dolphins became the only team to post a perfect season in NFL history when they went 17-0 in 1972, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the only team to go winless in the post-World World II era. The Dallas Cowboys went 0-11-1 in 1960 and the Baltimore Colts went 0-8-1 in the 1982 strike season. The Bucs, though, lost all 14 games in their first season in 1976.Since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1978, no team has man aged to go 0-16.

The University of Miami needed to do something about its moribund basketball program. The Hurricanes had sold 362 season tickets last season at the nearly 16,000-seat Miami Arena, and a change of coaches hadn't improved the prospects of generating more interest.The Big East Conference needed to do something to keep its membership intact. Despite unmatched success in basketball in its first 11 years, having only three of nine members playing Division I-A football had put the league on shaky ground.

BOSTON -- Until yesterday, the New England Patriots never had hired a proven NFL head coach.That changed with the hiring of Bill Parcells, the man friends and players affectionately call "Tuna."In the market glut of big-name NFL coaches, none comes with the credentials Parcells has -- two Super Bowl championships.The announcement Parcells will be coming to New England was made at a news conference at the upscale Westin Hotel-Copley Place by team owner James B. Orthwein, the St. Louis multimillionaire who purchased the Patriots in May."

There are lies, damn lies and draft tales.It may be difficult to tell one from another today when the National Football League begins its annual two-day college draft because rumors are coin of the realm, haggling is a way of life and the truth is purely optional.Jimmy Johnson, the wheeler-dealer coach of the Dallas Cowboys, kicked things off Thursday when he said "everything is off" in the trade talks for Raghib "Rocket" Ismail.The next day, the Cowboys traded for the first pick in the draft to take Ismail.

BaseballAL: Named Blue Jays P Roger Clemens Pitcher of the Month and White Sox 1B Frank Thomas Player of the Month and Player of the Week.NL: Named Reds SS Barry Larkin Player of the Week.Mets: Placed SS Rey Ordonez on 15-day DL. Designated OF Gary Thurman for assignment. Recalled IF Shawn Gilbert from Triple-A Norfolk. Purchased contract of IF Luis Lopez from Norfolk.Phillies: Recalled OF Ricky Otero from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Sent former Orioles minor-league P Calvin Maduro to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

PHILADELPHIA -- Temple's football program finally is going to get its wish tomorrow -- a conference to call its own.The Philadelphia Daily News has learned that athletic directors from Syracuse, Pitt, Boston College and Miami, the four Big East Conference schools with Division I status in football, will meet then in Washington and will vote to assimilate the Owls into a Big East football league along with independents Rutgers, West Virginia and Virginia Tech.Temple,...

Owners of five Havre de Grace homes purchased new in 1992 are suing the Havre de Grace builder and the Aberdeen concrete contractor, alleging that their driveways are pitted and show signs of scaling or disintegration.The civil suit, which seeks $350,000 in compensatory damages for breach of warranty, breach of contract and negligence, was filed last week in behalf of the homeowners, Sabrina Christian, Steve and Angelika Jankovich, Gregory and Dina Keech, Aaron and Katherine Kole Thompson, and Mark and Donna Vaillancourt.

BOSTON -- Bill Parcells may become coach of the Ne England Patriots today if final details in his contract can be worked out.The former New York Giants coach would come to New England on a multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal.Lawyers on both sides were going back and forth on the telephone yesterday trying to resolve some issues before Parcells would commit.Reportedly, some key elements, like salary and length of the contract, had been agreed upon. What had yet to be worked out was the makeup of the coaching staff, the money available to hire a coaching staff and a support staff, and how much input Parcells would have in the major decisions regarding the draft and signing free agents for next season.

For the better part of two decades, pro football in Baltimore has been hampered by Murphy's Law -- whatever could go wrong did go wrong.The latest example came when New York businessman Robert Tisch had a chance to buy half of the New York Giants earlier this year and pulled out of the Baltimore expansion picture.What were the odds that one faction of the Mara family suddenly would be willing to sell half the team? The team had been in the family for more than six decades.But it was typical of what has happened to football in Baltimore since Robert Irsay acquired the Colts in 1972.