Landeta

Sean Landeta and Dave Meggett would like to be in the Chesapeake Room at Towson State's University Union Thursday afternoon. They would tell the Intercollegiate Athletic Committee what playing football at Towson meant to them. They would argue vehemently for the continuation of the sport.But they won't get the chance. Not in person, anyway.At 2:35 p.m. Thursday, five minutes after an open forum on the state of Towson football starts, Landeta and Meggett will begin punt return practice for the New York Giants in the Meadowlands -- Landeta kicking, Meggett catching.

Word has trickled down that if the Orioles do decide to make a managerial change, the club would be interested in a familiar name -- Dave Johnson.Not Dave Johnson, the pitcher who's now on the disabled list, but Davey Johnson who was the second baseman here during the O's glory years and went on to manage the Mets to a World Series championship in 1986.Johnson was fired by the Mets last year, but some of the New York writers who were here for the Preakness last week said the Mets were better managed by Johnson.

ASHBURN, Va. -- It was only eight months ago that punter Sean Landeta helped sell Carlton Bailey on the idea of signing with the New York Giants.Talking as one Baltimore native to another, Landeta told Bailey the Giants are a good organization and how convenient it is to play for a team close to home.That's why Bailey was stunned Tuesday when the Giants waived Landeta."It was a very big surprise to me," he said. "I still almost can't believe it."In a way, though, Bailey could understand the move.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Enumerating the mechanical factors that go into punting a football -- meaning angle of the drop, thrust with the kicking leg and how high and far it spirals -- can lead to a case of paralysis by analysis. But not for Sean Landeta, the verbose specialist of the New York Giants, who follows a simplistic method that he is pleased to say is self-taught.That makes Landeta, the leading punter in the National Football League with an average of 44.1 yards this year, an absolute natural.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Sean Landeta is getting married. It's the final blow.Juicy sports gossip is virtually nonexistent these days, except when someone gets indicted, suspended or sued. But in his heyday, Landeta was a one-man National Enquirer. The original playboy punter.He got Donna Rice's phone number before Gary Hart. He dated Marla Maples before Donald Trump. He charmed fashion models and centerfolds, and now he's marrying Pamela Schmidt, a former paralegal from Long Island he swears is "the prettiest of them all."

Sean Landeta never thought he would have a day like yesterday.He realized that someday his career as a National Football League punter would end. He just had no idea that now, at the age of 31, he would be fired by the New York Giants.And so he relaxed yesterday at his handsome, new white brick home in Lutherville. He wore shorts and a T-shirt and over-the-calf athletic socks. In his hand he held a portable telephone that wouldn't stay silent for more than three minutes at a time as friends called to ask how he was doing.

In a surprise move, the New York Giants waived veteran punter Sean Landeta yesterday and replaced him with Mike Horan, who played for Giants coach Dan Reeves when both were with the Denver Broncos.Landeta, a Division II All-American at Towson State who played at Loch Raven High, averaged 42.1 yards this season with one punt blocked.But he averaged only 39.6 yards on seven punts in Sunday's 31-9 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, and several were low, allowing the Cowboys returns for good field position.

On the day Towson State honored one of its former punters, the present kicker almost became obsolete. And probably a little bored.The Tigers celebrated their homecoming yesterday by racking up a school-record 670 yards in total offense and reducing Ben Gossard to little more than a spectator in a 54-14 romp over St. Francis (Pa.) before 6,148, the largest crowd to watch football at Minnegan Stadium in 10 years.Gossard, a junior punter, didn't see the Tigers retire Sean Landeta's number at halftime, but he did plenty of watching otherwise.

Organizers of the Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame are looking for ways to rejuvenate a proud institution that has been around since 1956. They're hoping this helps: one of the Hall's most star-studded classes will be inducted at an upcoming ceremony Nov. 10 at Michael's 8th Avenue in Glen Burnie. This year's inductees include former NBA All-Star Sam Cassell (Dunbar High, Florida State), former NFL punter Sean Landetta (Loch Raven, Towson University), PGA golfer Fred Funk (University of Maryland)

PHILADELPHIA -- One of the Eagle fans hung a banner at Veterans Stadium last night that read: "McNabb is no Couch Potato."For one night at least, he's wasn't a Couch, either.The second player picked in April's draft after Couch, McNabb failed to duplicate the fine showing Couch had in his debut for the Cleveland Browns on Monday night against the Dallas Cowboys, as the Eagles lost to the Ravens, 10-7, in a typical, sloppy first exhibition game.McNabb got a rousing welcome from the Eagles fans, who booed when the Eagles selected him over running back Ricky Williams, when he came into the game with 12: 32 left in the second period for starter Doug Pederson.