Referee

Are World Cup finalists Italy and France the two best teams in the tournament? Germany had home-field advantage, Brazil had the pedigree, but only Italy and France excelled at every facet of the game throughout the knockout rounds. Michael Kinstlinger Pikesville Does it matter? Like any sport they were better than their opponents when it counted and, therefore, are in the final. Rick China Stevensville With a referee call here or there, or better acting job on a "dive," any one of five or six teams could have made this final, but France and Italy deserve to be there.

Aaron McCown, a popular youth football coach with a criminal past, pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court to using a loaded pistol to intimidate a referee at a Pop Warner game in September in Montgomery County. McCown, 31, of Baltimore, who won a prestigious community service award from the Johns Hopkins University five years ago, could receive a maximum prison sentence of 10 years after signing a plea agreement with the Maryland U.S. attorney's office. He could end up with a shorter term than that, depending on how his case and background are evaluated by authorities before sentencing May 12, said officials involved in his case.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- It lacked the lowbrow comedy of their first fight, but heavyweight title contender Riddick Bowe, of Fort Washington, Md., made good on his promise of "controlled anger" at Convention Hall last night in stopping trialhorse Elijah Tillery, of Albany, N.Y., at 1 minute, 14 seconds of the fourth round of their scheduled 10-round bout.Tillery surrendered meekly after taking a standing eight count from referee Joe O'Neill.Bowe, ranked No. 2 by the World Boxing Council, raised his record to 28-0, with 24 knockouts.

One of the worst things in sports is having an important game decided by an official's call -- especially when the call is incorrect.That appeared to be the case in a vital Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference football game Saturday in which host Poly beat Gilman, 14-13.Gilman, trailing by a point with four minutes left, attempted a 21-yard field goal. Mike Allan's kick looked good from my 50-yard line seat at Lumsden Stadium. It also looked good to all the people sitting around me -- Phil Lohrey, Dave Palmer, Larry Naylor.

IF THERE'S ONE question that troubles every thinking person, it's this: Does cheating go on in professional wrestling?In an effort to find an answer, I recently attended a tournament sanctioned by Florida Championship Wrestling. I chose FCW for two solid journalistic reasons:* It is a venerable circuit in the minor leagues of professional wrestling, where the potential stars of tomorrow learn the ground rules, the do's and don't's, that make up the ethical standards of the sport.* It is near my house.

Experience as a fighter and now a referee, counting up to 52 years, has enabled Ray Klingmeyer to become immersed in boxing, enjoying the excitement of the arena yet disturbed by the clutter of too many champions caused by a proliferation of associations, plus contrived weight classes. It makes for confusion and distraction.Klingmeyer is more than a casual observer. He fought extensively as an amateur, was a member of the elite Marine Corps boxing team at Cherry Point, N.C., and then had a record of 39-8-3 as a professional welterweight.

MELBOURNE, Australia - The whistle blew, the match was over, and as the Americans trudged off the field yesterday, the Chinese trotted toward their throng of flag-waving fans, jumped over a fence, raised their hands and took a bow. In everyone's estimation, they had won a 1-1 tie. "We took note of their reaction," said Julie Foudy, who scored for the Americans while the spectacular Sun Wen scored for the Chinese. "I told the team, `They're celebrating, we're disappointed, and it was a tie. That tells you where we're at.'" It was a rematch of last summer's Women's World Cup final between these teams before 90,125 at the Rose Bowl, won by the United States on penalty kicks after 120 minutes without a goal.

Baltimore heavyweight Hasim Rahman gave new meaning to winning ugly in a lopsided 10-round decision over Mo Wilson at Martin's West last night in a fight that more closely resembled a wrestling match. Rahman (32-2), who claimed the hardly relevant Maryland state title in the process, could hardly be blamed for the lack of action. Wilson (11-32-3) was intent on keeping his record of never being knocked out and fought strictly in the survival mode after the first few rounds. A standing-room-only crowd of 2,200 lustily booed Wilson's holding tactics that resulted in two penalty points from referee Bill Holmes, who might have been wiser to disqualify the 44-year-old boxer.

Mike Flanagan and Jim Palmer aren't the only former Orioles pitchers to resurface on the baseball scene this spring.Tippy Martinez, a reliever with the O's from 1976-1986, is a volunteer coach with the Towson State baseball team.There's a special reason for Martinez's involvement. His son, Jacen, is the Tigers' second baseman. Over his first nine games, Jacen, who transferred to Towson this year from a junior college in Arizona, was hitting .278.Tippy, at 40, is only a year older than Flanagan, but Martinez has no plans to leave the coaching staff of fourth-year Towson skipper Mike Gottlieb to try a big-league comeback.

A referee's alertness preserved No. 2 Severna Park's 1-0 victory over upset-minded Chesapeake in last night's Class 4A East Region final at George Roberts Field.Severna Park, seeking its fifth state title since 1988, will play host to the 4A state semifinals Friday and play the 7.30 p.m. game against the Bowie-Oxon Hill South Region winner. The West winner (Wootton or Whitman takes on the North winner (Dulaney or Perry Hall) in the other semifinal at 5 p.m.Meg Miller's goal eight minutes into the game off a cross from Cate Keller was the difference, but not before the 12th-ranked Cougars (10-4)