Jim Brown

With his team holding a two-goal lead at halftime of yesterday's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference tournament quarterfinal, St. Paul's coach Mitch Whiteley issued a warning."

Standing on the Loyola field after the top-ranked Dons' 5-4 victory over No. 3 St. Mary's, Dons defender Chris McGlone epitomized the lacrosse battle that had just taken place."

"Put it on the line or take a seat."That's the ultimatum printed on the T-shirts that Mount St. Joseph's players wear under their lacrosse jerseys.Yesterday afternoon at Weems Whalen Field in Annapolis, the Gaels appeared to have opted to sit it out.No. 8 Mount St. Joe came out flat and third-ranked St. Mary's practically put the game away by halftime before claiming a 14-3 victory in what most thought would be a highly competitive Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference game.

On March 11, Jim Brown -- the greatest of all football players, and a self-proclaimed apostle in the war on violence -- will provide color commentary for something called The Ultimate Fighting Championship II. For $14.95, cable viewers will be able to gorge themselves, a visual feast of broken bones and blood. There are no gloves allowed, as these are bare-knuckled contests between experts of various fighting disciplines.The fights, staged in a ring enclosed with chicken wire, are nothing short of gruesome.

ATLANTA -- On any other team, Leroy Kelly would have been revered for his unique talents. With the Cleveland Browns, he was always second to the great Jim Brown.Kelly finally stepped out from behind Brown's long shadow yesterday, when he was selected with six other players to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.The Morgan State alumnus will be joined by former Maryland standout Randy White and running back Tony Dorsett of the Dallas Cowboys, defensive back Jimmy Johnson of the San Francisco 49ers, tight end Jackie Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals and coach Bud Grant of the Minnesota Vikings in induction ceremonies July 30 in Canton, Ohio.

IRVING, Texas -- "It was a utopia I was in," quarterback Mark Rypien said to describe his first seven years with the Washington Redskins."The whole organization has treated me with class over the years," he said.It all changed this year."I don't want to bite my neck off and say something," he added.Besides saying that he knows he's gone, he said enough to show how unhappy he's been this year."You sacrifice your career and everything else and you think things are going to be taken care of," he said in reference to the fact he came back early from a knee injury and then fell out of favor when he performed poorly while playing hurt.

The TV Repairman:"SportsCenter" the other night referred to Walt Dropo as Drop-Oh. . . It was probably to Marv Albert's advantage that Bryant Gumbel took him off the "Today Show" Wednesday. Marv, it seems is always pushing something, in this case his book and a video, and he's on too much.* Jim Brown is right: Too many guys lugging the ball in the NFL go out of bounds when they might be able to make more out of the play.* Best Bet: This weekend's must-see is the Burbank (Calif.) K.C. Dog Show Sunday evening at 6 on ESPN (taped Sept.

The St. Mary's boys lacrosse team has established itself as one of the Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference powers over the past decade, but Saints coach Jim Moorhead has always had to live with the fact that his team had never won the conference title.That all changed last night at UMBC as the defense-minded and fifth-ranked Saints captured their first conference crown with a 5-1 upset of No. 1 Loyola."No one expected us to win this," said Moorhead. "No one expected us to beat St. Paul's and no one expected us to beat Loyola, but our coaching staff believed strongly that we had the capability of beating these guys and proving that we're No. 1."

Junior midfielder Scott Meushaw scored three goals, including the game-winner with 28 seconds remaining, as No. 7 Calvert Hall came from behind to upset fifth-ranked St. Mary's, 6-5, yesterday in a Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference matchup.The visiting Cardinals (2-1) went ahead, 2-0, in the opening period, but were held scoreless in the next two quarters, allowing the Saints (2-1) to build a 5-2 lead.However, Calvert Hall scored four goals in the final period, the first on an unassisted shot by Marty Kane on a man-up opportunity that pulled the Cardinals to within two with 6:07 left to play.