Tackler

HAMILTON, Ontario -- The Baltimore Stallions flashed all of their familiar weapons last night, but their 41-14 dismantling of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats before a season-high 23,120 fans at Ivor Wynne Stadium mainly will be remembered as the Mike Pringle show.Pringle has been a focal point of Baltimore's offense since he arrived last year and broke the Canadian Football League rushing record.He entered last night's game as the league's rushing leader again, and against a wounded Hamilton defense that was missing end Marcus Cotton and linebackers Tony Bailey and Mike O'Shea -- the CFL's second-leading tackler -- the Stallions' strategy was simple.

It was unlikely enough that the Baltimore CFLs would emerge as a championship contender as an expansion franchise. That they would do so on the strong legs of their running game was pretty much off the probability charts.To say that the Canadian game is a passing game is putting it mildly. The CFL is all shotguns and no-huddles and spreads and shoots and six men going long. Roughly three of every four yards of CFL offense is gained by a pass. The running game is as irrelevant as it is essential in the American game.

He's the man in the middle, holding down a position that demands brains as well as brawn.Apparently, to make a living as a linebacker in the NFL, Earnest Fields also needed height, the one area where he fell short.Considered too small for the NFL at 5 feet 11, Fields has turned to the Canadian Football League.A workout with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers opened the door, and it led to a chance to play in Baltimore, for a coach who will take Fields just the way he is, at a muscular 240 pounds and with a nose for the ball.

Observing from the sidelines, while one of his best friends is caught in the cross-fire of a controversy he didn't instigate, causes Art Modell to go on the offense. He doesn't believe Al Lerner, like himself a poor kid from Brooklyn, who came up the hard way to become one of America's most respected business leaders, deserves to have his integrity impugned.Modell, owner of the Cleveland Browns and frequent visitor to Baltimore, is aware that Lerner has been anointed by Gov.William Donald Schaefer to lead Baltimore's effort to gain a National Football League expansion franchise.

Now you see him, now you don't. Bernard Fitchette, the phantom in cleats.He glides and slides, ducks and darts, dips his hip and gives the defense the slip, this Overlea High quarterback with lightning in his feet."

Linebacker Mike Johnson, the Cleveland Browns' top tackler four years in a row, will miss at least four weeks and possibly as many as eight because of his broken right foot.Coach Bill Belichick said yesterday that Johnson broke a bone in the front of his ankle Sunday. Johnson was placed on injured reserve and will be out at least four weeks, meaning he will miss at least three games. The Browns have a bye Sunday, which counts as Johnson's first week on the injured list.* RAIDERS: It started with a national television report speculating that rookie Todd Marinovich might soon replace Jay Schroeder as starting quarterback.

HTCCome, hear Uncle John's reprimandJohn Schuerholz, general manager of the Atlanta Braves, was not amused when two long-haired spectators -- wearing nothing but tennis shoes -- jumped out of the stands, ran along the first-base line and slid into home plate during a recent game at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium."

COLLEGE PARK -- The University of Maryland's depth on defense continues to be the primary reason for the Terps' success this season.It was evident in yesterday's 13-12 win against North Carolina State at Byrd Stadium.Maryland senior inside linebacker Glenn Page, the Atlantic Coast Conference's leading tackler (43 before yesterday's game), suffered a concussion in the first quarter and was taken to a Silver Spring hospital.The hospital trip was a precautionary measure, Maryland officials said, and Page later was released.