Ottawa

Site: Frank Clair Stadium, OttawaTime: 1:30 p.m.Line: Baltimore by 6Radio: WJFK (1300 AM)Records: Baltimore 7-4, Ottawa 4-7Last week: Baltimore beat Saskatchewan, 35-18; Ottawa beat Toronto, 40-32On the sidelines: Baltimore's Don Matthews has a career regular-season record of 98-57-1 in 10 CFL seasons. Adam Rita is in his first season as coach at Ottawa, but he has a 20-20 regular-season record and won the 1991 Grey Cup while at Toronto.Roster changes: Baltimore -- MLB Earnest Fields replaces waived DT Brent White; FB Robert Drummond replaces injured WR Mike Alexander.

1 Vote early: and often: Today's election is going to be a horse race, right? Good enough to make it No. 1 in the 5 things. 2 Semi-tough: The MIAA A Conference is down to the soccer semifinals (both at 3 p.m.): No. 9 Archbishop Curley at No. 1 McDonogh and No. 5 Gilman at No. 7 Mount. St. Joseph. 3 Not that one: Miami at Buffalo sounds like a pretty good AFC East matchup, but tonight's game on ESPN2 (7:30) is a Tuesday night college game. 4 Capital idea: It's some kind of karmic scheduling: On the night of the election, Washington's hockey team (left)

Site: Memorial StadiumTime: 7:30Tickets: 36,000 sold as of yesterday.Line: Baltimore by 12TV/Radio: HTS/WJFK (1300 AM)Records: Baltimore 8-4, Ottawa 4-8Last week: Baltimore scored two touchdowns off botched punts to beat Ottawa, 42-27.On the sidelines: In his first year at Ottawa and third overall as head coach, Adam Rita is 20-21 in the regular season. Baltimore's Don Matthews goes for his 100th career regular-season victory (he's 99-57-1) in 10 CFL seasons. Matthews has 104 wins overall in the CFL.Roster changes: Baltimore--PK Donald Igwebuike replaced waived Charlie Baumann; SB Reggie Perry replaced WR Joe Washington.

College basketball Kansas @ Georgia Tech 7 p.m. [ESPN] The Jayhawks are 10-0, and some of that was done without their starting lineup intact. No. 3 Kansas takes its show on the road against the 4-4 Yellow Jackets. The Jayhawks have been tested just twice, by Arizona and Southern California, and have rolled over everyone else. NHL Ottawa @ Boston 7 p.m. [Versus] A Northeast Division battle between the first-place Senators and the second-place Bruins. The toast of the Great White North, the Senators are on a five-game winning streak.

This was the season when many expected Daniel Cabrera to go from tantalizing talent to ace starter, but instead, Cabrera's spotty control and waning confidence became growing concerns to the Orioles, and the club optioned him to Triple-A Ottawa on Friday in hopes that he will rediscover his dominating form. Team officials said the move was more about repairing Cabrera's mind and mechanics than addressing the club's flaws. "We felt like Daniel was going a little backwards on us," manager Sam Perlozzo said.

Few places this cold offer so much warmth.Until 20 years ago, February was just another frigid month in Ottawa, notable mostly as a kind of halfway point through the long Canadian winters. Since the 1970s, however, February has been party time in Ottawa.Sure, it's cold during the Winterlude festival, but it has to be. Otherwise, you couldn't enjoy snow golf, snow mazes, two-story-tall ice slides, horse-drawn sleigh rides, barrel-jumping competitions, dog-sled and snowmobile races, ice skating on frozen lakes and canals, hot chocolate and hot buttered rum around bonfires and ice sculptures catching the light from fireworks displays.

OTTAWA -- The Baltimore CFLs' offense was rendered one-dimensional yesterday when the passing game went underground.Faced with man-to-man matchups and a blitzing Ottawa Rough Riders' defense, Baltimore quarterback Tracy Ham threw for a season-low 142 yards and endured a season-high three sacks."

This was the game they had been waiting for, the one that proved they had a killer instinct.All the Baltimore CFLs needed was a drenching downpour, another big night for the special teams, and the return of Donald Igwebuike to set the stage.Igwebuike kicked four field goals and the CFLs crushed the Ottawa Rough Riders, 40-13, last night at Memorial Stadium to clinch an Eastern Division playoff berth in their first Canadian Football League season.A rain-splattered crowd -- announced at 36,187 -- cheered Igwebuike's return after a two-week exile.

All things considered, it's generally a formidable task to work up any compassion for professional athletes what with their often abhorrent behavior and attitude in the face of fantasy lifestyles.Pity comes easy, though, when the subject is the Ottawa hockey team, aptly named the Senators. Apt because of the link with their late, lamented baseball namesakes, who used to hang out in Washington, religiously living up to the motto, "First in war, first in peace and last in the American League."

The long-suffering Ottawa Senators have changed coaches for the second time this season. It's an obvious sign of desperation, but it is not as rare as it seems at first.During the NHL's 78-year history, it has been done 15 times by 11 teams.L The last team to do it was the Los Angeles Kings in 1987-88.The Buffalo Sabres, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals have each done it twice. The Blues did it in back-to-back seasons (1974-75 and 1975-76).The Chicago Blackhawks were the first to do it, and they must have created quite a stir in 1932-33.

Gary Allenson once served as backup catcher to Carlton Fisk in Boston. Now he's set to manage Triple-A Norfolk after spending last season guiding Rookie-level Bluefield. Allenson got his start managing in the New York Yankees' system and led the Orioles' former Triple-A affiliate in Ottawa to the International League playoffs in 2003 before leaving the organization for two years. What did it mean to you when the 2004 Red Sox ended The Curse? -- I'm happy they won it. New England fans are real tough on you when you play there.

The nightmare still isn't finished for Maher Arar and, through him, for those who care about what is happening to what once were considered bedrock American values - such naive concepts as liberty, trial by jury and innocent until proved guilty. The latest spasm showed up this month, four years after something that never should have happened had long passed the stage where it should have been over. One of the reasons too many of us are willing to look the other way as these democratic frills are scrap-heaped in the so-called war on terrorism is that the people who are most affected have no names or faces.

After four years in Ottawa, the Orioles' Triple-A affiliate is moving closer to home. And to a warmer spring climate. Team officials confirmed yesterday that the Orioles have reached agreement on a player development contract with the Norfolk Tides that begins next season. The Tides have arranged a news conference for Monday at Harbor Park, which Orioles vice chairman Joe Foss and executives Mike Flanagan and Jim Duquette are expected to attend. The length of the agreement is the final detail that must be worked out. The Orioles would like a maximum four-year deal, rather than the standard two. The Tides were affiliated with the New York Mets for 38 years before their association ended this summer.

There was a time when the Orioles used Triple-A as a final gantlet for their finest prospects. But that wasn't so much the case this season, as most of the club's flashiest prospects played elsewhere, and some, such as Nick Markakis and Adam Loewen, reached the majors with little or no time at Triple-A Ottawa. Instead, the Orioles used Ottawa as a holding tank for minor league veterans who could be called up to patch the major league roster in case of injury or ineffectiveness. Starter Hayden Penn was the biggest exception to that practice.

Hayden Penn was named the International League's Pitcher of the Week after winning both of his starts, the last in dominating fashion. Penn allowed one run and struck out 18 in 13 2/3 innings. His finest work came in his most recent appearance - and his last with Ottawa - when he blanked Syracuse over eight innings and struck out 10. In August, Penn is 4-1 with a 1.98 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 36 2/3 innings. Give the Orioles a few more days and he'll be wearing a major league uniform again.

Kris Benson's ERA is 4.88 after a rough outing Thursday night, but manager Sam Perlozzo said he'd be thrilled to have Benson back next season. The right-hander has the option to ask for a trade because he has more than five years experience and was traded in the middle of a multi-year contract. Benson, who will make $7.5 million in 2007, has said that he's not sure what he'll do but that he likes his situation in Baltimore. "I would love to have him," Perlozzo said. "I don't know what his thoughts are."

LANDOVER -- Washington defenseman Kevin Hatcher isn't always the most appreciated player in the Capital Centre. But last night he was, as he saved the Capitals from what could have been an embarrassing loss.The 17,793 fans here didn't expect to be sitting on the edge of their seats with less than a minute to play. Not when the Capitals were playing the Ottawa Senators, who hadn't won or tied a road game in 24 previous tries.But this is the NHL, where fortunes change in the blink of an eye. Last night, the Caps seemed about to blink.

Peter Bondra left the ice a good half hour before his teammates yesterday, but the smile on his face said more than his early departure from practice."

If Daniel Cabrera is going to be part of the Orioles' future, they've decided that he needs to start pitching for them. Tomorrow's game in Toronto seems like the right time and place. The Orioles continue to list their starter as "undecided," but Cabrera is expected to be recalled from Triple-A Ottawa, where he's 3-1 with a 4.07 ERA in four starts since being optioned. His last appearance came Thursday, when he tossed six scoreless innings for the Lynx. He'd be working on normal rest tomorrow.

The Orioles are eager for Daniel Cabrera to pitch his way back to Baltimore. But the young right-hander continued to battle command problems in his first start for Triple-A Ottawa on Tuesday. "His velocity was good, but he still didn't have command of his breaking ball," manager Sam Perlozzo said yesterday. "It also sounded like he had some shaky defense behind him at one point. It's a step. We get that game behind him and see how he does next time." He allowed four runs (three earned)