*****************************('70','Ready for a different Erie Otters\' team?','Mark Seidel did not hesitate for a second. \"You\'ll see some surprises,\" the Erie Otters\' assistant general manager said Thursday, referring to the potential for new faces on this season\'s roster. Several young prospects have caught the attention of club officials.
Three free-agent goaltenders, including Erie native John Mioduszewski, 2005 draft picks Samuel Coyne and Shayne Taylor, free-agent defenseman Mark Liambas and others have pushed their way into the picture. At least a couple could push their way onto the roster.
That has club officials excited, and rightfully so. This team needs an infusion of energy. It needs new faces, and new blood. The Otters need a new direction, because they headed south in the four seasons since winning the 2001-02 OHL championship.
This club is starting over. That means starting from the bottom and building up, even if it means casting aside certain veterans. Don\'t be surprised if that happens between now and the Sept. 22 season opener in Windsor.
Which prospects should stay? Which veterans should they replace? Let me know at victor.fernandes@timesnews.com.
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*****************************('71','Ranking the NFL\'s coaches','Below are the NFL coaches rankings by Chris Harry of the Orlando Sentinel, sure to create plenty of discussion in rabid NFL fan circles.
A couple of observations.
-- I\'m not sure you can rank Bill Belichick at the top of this list anymore. The departures of Romeo Crennel and Charlie Weis and, now, Eric Mangini, are catching up with Belichick, whose genius might have been more in surrounding himself with great help than in working magic with his players.
-- Lots of people will argue, but Bill Cowher deserves the top spot right now based on his leadership of the Steelers late in the regular season and in the playoffs. Any NFL coach will tell you the only thing tougher than winning on the road in the playoffs is winning a series of elimination games, and the Steelers did both last year.
-- I like Joe Gibbs, but I need to see more from him in his second go-around before I would put him this high on the list. The Redskins had a good half season last year, not enough to merit this ranking.
-- Mike Shanahan is too high, a guy who, like Belichick, looks better because he has had great assistants. He deserves a lot of the blame for not having the Broncos ready to play in last year\'s AFC championship game.
Feel free to share your comments. Send me an e-mail at john.dudley@timesnews.com.
Here are the rankings...
By Chris Harry
The Orlando Sentinel
Rankings: Coaches
Rank . . . Team . . . Coach . . . The buzz
1.New England . . .Bill Belichick . .. Looks to face most difficult season since run of Super Bowl titles.
2.Pittsburgh . . . Bill Cowher . .. Monkey is off his moustache. Let\'s see how he handles prosperity.
3.Washington . . . Joe Gibbs . . . Inspired incredible late-season run to playoffs. He\'s 65 and still has it.
4.Seattle . . . Mike Holmgren . . . Answered any doubters by guiding Seahawks to first Super Bowl.
5.Denver . .. Mike Shanahan . .. Dethroned New England in playoffs, then choked at home vs. Steelers.
6.Tampa Bay . . . Jon Gruden . . . One of his best coaching jobs last season. Bucs have big expectations again.
7.Carolina . . . John Fox . .. Manages to hold team together through injuries better than anyone.
8.Dallas . . . Bill Parcells . . . \"Big Tuna\" headed for T.O showdown. It\'s inevitable - and should be fun.
9.Indianapolis . .. Tony Dungy . .. Still has a scarlet letter (\"P\" for playoffs) on his bib.
10.Philadelphia . . . Andy Reid . .. His star dimmed with T.O. fiasco last season.
11.Tennessee . .. Jeff Fisher . . . First time on the hot seat, and he has a quarterback controversy.
12.N.Y. Giants . . . Tom Coughlin . . . Still can\'t inspire his players to look past his caustic ways.
13.Cincinnati . . . Marvin Lewis . . . Good coach, horrible judge of character.
14.Miami . .. Nick Saban . . . We\'ll know a whole lot more about this guy after this season.
15.Baltimore . . . Brian Billick . . . Remember when he used to be known as an \"offensive genius\"?
16.San Diego . . . Marty Schottenheimer . . . Oversaw one of most disappointing 9-7 seasons ever in \'05.
17.Kansas City . . . Herman Edwards . .. Emotional wreck at times, but now he has an offense.
18.Arizona . . . Dennis Green . . . His Cardinals teams look like all the others, and that\'s a little surprising.
19.Jacksonville . . . Jack Del Rio . . . The Jaguars take after their coach - not much personality.
20.Chicago . . . Lovie Smith . . . Went 5-11 (last place), then 11-5 (first place). Which is he?
21.Oakland . .. Art Shell . . . Gets benefit of the doubt based on last time, but his \'06 team will be awful.
22.Atlanta . .. . Jim Mora . . . The Falcons just might have a crazy man on their sideline.
23.Cleveland . . . Romeo Crennel . . . If the bad Browns win this season, Crennel shoots way up the list.
24.Houston . . . Gary Kubiak . . . Still can\'t believe Kubiak signed off on bypassing Reggie Bush.
25.New Orleans . . . Sean Payton . . . He still can\'t believe he got Bush, but the Saints have no defense. None.
26.Buffalo . . . Dick Jauron . . . The league\'s No. 2 retread for \'06 - behind new Bills GM Marv Levy.
27.San Francisco . . . Mike Nolan . . . Overrated ex-defensive coordinator has way too much power with 49ers.
28.St. Louis . . . Scott Linehan . . . Ideal fit for offensive coach, but the Rams need to start stopping people.
29.Minnesota . . . Brad Childress . . . Came on kind of strong for a guy with no head-coach pedigree.
30.Detroit . . . Rod Marinelli . . . Former Bucs defensive-line mentor looks like a boom-or-bust guy.
31.N.Y. Jets . . . Eric Mangini . .. Young, paranoid and in New York. Stay tuned.
32.Green Bay . .. Mike McCarthy . . . So in over his head, he better hope the water doesn\'t freeze.','','1','','1157297791','','','','text','1','1','1','69.163.30.153','1','1','0','1','1');
*****************************('72','Hinkel among Colts\' final cuts','Ed Hinkel nearly made it.
Hinkel, an Erie native who played football at Cathedral Prep and Iowa, was among the final 25 cuts made by the Indianapolis Colts. The NFL deadline for 53-player rosters was 6 p.m. Saturday, but the Colts did not make their cuts public until Sunday.
Hinkel, a wide receiver, signed with the Colts as an undrafted free agent. He stuck with the team through each round of cuts in training camp, appearing in two preseason games. He caught two passes, one each against St. Louis on Aug. 10 and against Cincinnati on Friday, for a combined 19 yards.
The Colts kept six wide receivers, including Hinkel\'s rival for a spot, John Standeford, a first-year veteran receiver who caught six passes for 89 yards Friday against the Bengals. Terrence Wilkins, who played in Indianapolis from 1999 to 2001, and who was out of football last year, also caught on as a receiver. Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Brandon Stokley and Aaron Moorehead are the others.
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*****************************('73','Italian player admits to provoking World Cup head-butt','ROME — Italy\'s Marco Materazzi said he insulted Zinedine Zidane\'s sister, revealing nearly two months after the World Cup final what provoked the French star to head-butt him in the chest.
In Tuesday\'s interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport, Materazzi disclosed that after he held his opponent\'s shirt, Zidane said: \"If you want, I\'ll give you the jersey later.\"
\"I responded that I preferred his sister, it\'s true,\" Materazzi said. \"It wasn\'t something nice, true. But luckily there have been dozens of players who have confirmed that a lot worse things are said on the field.\"
Zidane was sent off after receiving a red card for the head-butt. Italy went on to win on penalty kicks.
Materazzi received a two-game ban for the July 9 incident and will miss Wednesday\'s rematch of the final, a 2008 European Championship qualifier. Zidane received a three-match suspension, but he retired after the World Cup.
Materazzi said that the Italian federation, in the middle of a match-fixing scandal, told him not to complain about the incident during a FIFA hearing.
\"If accepting without raising my voice was the price to pay for having brought home the World Cup, I\'m pretty happy to have paid it,\" Materazzi said.
Asked if the two could make peace, Materazzi said: \"You sign a peace (agreement) after terrible wars, so why can\'t Zidane and I make peace?
\"A peace among men, without a lot of publicity. The door to my house will always be open for that. And if Zidane wants, he knows where to find my address.\"
-- Associated Press','','1','','1157472467','','','','text','1','1','1','63.174.21.30','1','1','0','1','1');
*****************************('74','Why wait until the weekend for football?','If you\'re a high school football fan, Friday never can arrive too soon.
So why wait?
Surf over to www.GoErie.com/football right now and check out The Zone, the new, weekly online District 10 football report from the Erie Times-News sports staff. Get a look at some of the week\'s big questions, plus our expert\'s picks for every Week 2 game involving a District 10 team.
Want to share your picks? Just go to to the message board at www.GoErie.com and enter them on the high schools forum. Registration is fast, simple and free, and allows football fans to hear your voice.
Let The Zone whet your appetite for the weekend, then get filled up on preview coverage Friday and four pages of game coverage Saturday in Blitz, the Times-News\' new District 10 football publication.','','1','','1157480518','','','','text','1','1','1','63.174.21.30','1','1','0','1','1');