European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 18, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 42 stars and stripes sunday March 18 2007 Tiger tumbles mediate on top at Bay Hill the associated press Orlando Fla imagine How Rocco mediate Felt the first time he met Arnold Palmer on a Golf course he was 19 when friends secretly arranged a Golf game at Latrobe and the kid was so overcome by seeing the King that he nearly turned and ran imagine How he would feel 25 years later to see Palmer waiting for him sunday afternoon on the 18th Hole at Bay Hill it would be pretty interesting to see if i could even talk said mediate a Guy who rarely shuts up mediate chatted away through wind and rain Friday making Birdie on two of the toughest holes during his 5under 65 that gave him a three shot Lead in the Arnold Palmer invitational Tiger Woods was Lucky to still be in the mix tied for the Lead after a 64 in the first round Woods hooked one tee shot into the water and hit plenty of others into the rough he closed with four Tough pars for a 73 leaving him six shots be Hind asked for any positives to take out of a bad Day Woods replied i broke 80 it was pathetic he said i struggled All Day at least in still in Contention mediate was at 9under 131 and gets to spend a third straight Day with Paul Casey who gladly exchanges the banter Casey shot 70 and was at 134 with John Roll ins who played with Woods and shot 65 the group at 5under 135 Fea tured former British open Cham Pion Ben Curtis former pea Champion Shaun Micheel players Champion Stephen Ames Sergio Garcia 69 and Vaughn Taylor who bogeyed his last two holes for a 71 eagles agree to terms with wide receiver Curtis wide receiver Kevin Curtis agreed to a six year contract with Philadelphia on thursday giving the eagles a potential replace ment for Donte Stallworth Curtis Deal could be Worth up to million and includes million in guaranteed Money a person familiar with the negotiations told the associated press on condition of anonymity be cause terms of the contract we rent released a third round pick in 2003 the 28yearold Curtis spent his first four seasons with the St Louis rams serving mostly As the no 3 hideout behind Tony Holt and Isaac Bruce he has 136 receptions for 1714 Yards and 12 touch Downs in 51 games Curtis had his Best season in 2005 when Bruce missed five games catching 60 passes for 801 Yards and six ads coming off his first healthy sea son since 2003 free agent run Ning Back Correll buckhalter resigned with the eagles on Fri Day after missing three of the last four seasons due to knee injuries buckhalter rushed for 345 Yards and two touchdowns last season As Brian Westbrooks backup he missed All of the 2004 and 2005 sports briefs seasons with a torn Tendon in his right knee and sat out the 2002 season with a torn ligament in his left knee buckhalter a fourth round draft pick out of Nebraska in 2001 has averaged 44 Yards per carry for his career he caught a career High 24 passes for 256 Yards and one touchdown last sea son quarterback a Feeley safety Quintin Mikell defensive end Juquan Thomas and Corner will James have All resigned with the eagles Browns sign do Robaire Smith Cleveland defensive lineman Robaire Smith signed a fou year contract with Cleve land on Friday Smith has played seven sea sons with Tennessee and Houston and started 44 games the last three seasons he has 46 tackles and 17 sacks in 97 games at both end and tackle the defensive line was one of the Browns biggest concerns this of season and Smith fits in with the teams 34 defense Smith will Likely be used As an end opposite orpheus Roye and could move in Side to tackle on passing Downs Smith was a sixth round Choice by Tennessee out of Michigan state in 2000 he signed with Houston after four seasons and set career highs with 100 tackles in 2004 and 102 tackles in 2005 Smith 6foot4 314 pounds started Only 12 games after re turning to Tennessee last season and his tackles dropped to 76 with just half a sack wizards Forward Butler to miss 710 Days Washington Washington wizards Forward Caron Butler will miss a week to 10 Days with a left knee injury and wont travel with the team on its March 2026 Road trip Jarvis Hayes probably will Start in butlers place coach Eddie Jordan said after practice Friday Butler Hurt the knee March 7 but continued to play he left Washington last game a win at the Indiana pacers on wednes Day Early in the second Quarter Butler had an Fri exam on the knee thursday that showed no structural damage and team Doc tors said he should rest Butler is averaging career highs in most statistical categories this season including Points rebounds assists 37 and steals the wizards entered Friday with a Hal game Lead Over the Miami heat in the Southeast Divi Sion Austria wins team event in world cup finals us sixth Lenzer Heide Switzerland Austria demonstrated its Domi Nance and depth Friday by win Ning its third straight nations team Competition without its top skiers Only Ted Ligets win in the John after sharing the Lead at 6 under after thursdays round off the Arnold Palmer invitational Tiger Woods stumbled to a 3over 70 on Friday final heat prevented the Ameri cans from finishing last again among the seven teams of six ski ers who competed in the world cup finals two men and two women raced one super each and four raced in the slalom heats placing sixth after the super heats the americans needed a Strong slalom showing but Resi Stiegler finished fifth and Bode Miller was sixth the us team entered its Best men yet the top two women were absent olympic giant slalom Champion Julia Mancuso who is still trying to catch two austrians in the Chase for the world cup Overall title skipped the team event to rest for the weekends Sla Lom and giant slalom Lindsey Kil Dow is out for the season after in Juring her knee in slalom training at the world championships Austria which took the Lead in the opening heat and stayed there finished with 23 Points Italy had 29 followed by France with 31 the United states finished sixth with 35 Points 11 world cup veterans on us mens soccer roster Chicago Hawaii Brian Ching is among 11 world cup vet Erans picked thursday for the us roster for exhibition games against Ecuador and Guatemala goalkeeper Kasey Keller mid fielder Damarcus Beasley As Well As defenders Oguchi Onyewu Carlos Bocanegra Steve Cherun Dolo and Jimmy Conrad were selected by interim coach Bob Brad Ley for his 24man roster also chosen were midfielder Clint Dempsey forwards Landon Dono Van Ching and Eddie Johnson and goalkeeper Tim Howard three players were chosen who have never played for the National team defenders Jay de Merit and Frank Simek and mid fielder Benny Teilhaber thirteen of the players Are based in Europe including seven in England players will Start training Mon Day in Bradenton Fla for games against Ecuador on March 25 in Tampa Fla and Guatemala on March 28 in Frisco Texas top european leagues Are off the weekend of March 2425 to enable players to join up with their National teams the United states has played just twice since last years world cup a 31 win Over Denmark on Jan 20 and a 20 Victory Over Mexico on feb 7 Howard Bocanegra and Dempsey also re turned from Europe for the mexi co match Boxer Tapia released from Hospital Albuquerque no five time world Champion Boxer Johnny Tapia was released from the Hospital after a three Day stay that began with an apparent co Caine overdose Tapia was upgraded from Seri Ous to fair condition wednesday at presbyterian Hospital and re leased later in the Day it has been a tragic week for the Tapia family after Tapia was hospitalized two relatives on their Way to visit the ailing Boxer were killed in a car crash state police said Tapias Broth Erin Law 39yearold Robert Gutierrez was killed along with his Nephew 23yearold Ben Gar Cia before Dawn tuesday when their car went off a Highway South of Bloomfield and rolled ejecting both men state police were investigating whether alcohol was a Factor investigators found empty bottles and partially consumed bottles at the scene Johnny Tapia who turned 40 last month was taken monday to the Hospital after paramedics responded to an Early morning Call about someone who want breath ing at a hotel room Albuquerque police said it appeared to be an overdose and Tapia would be charged with pos session of a controlled substance police had discovered a plastic bag containing cocaine Tapia won five titles in three weight classes including the Aba bantamweight title the if and who Junior bantamweight titles and the if featherweight Belt two goalies top list of Hobey Baker finalists Minneapolis notre Dame goalie David Brown and Boston University counterpart John Curry top the 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker award As the top College hockey player the Only two goalies to win the award Are Minnesota Robb stauber who led the gophers to a Cha championship in 198788 and Michigan states Ryan Miller who had 10 shutouts for the spartans in 200001 North Dakota Forward Ryan Duncan also was among the final 10 along with St Lawrence defend Seman Drew Bagnall Miami of Ohio Forward Nathan Davis air Force Forward Eric Ehn St Cloud state goalie Bobby Goepfert Michigan Forward to Hensick Dartmouth Forward David Jones and Nebras Kao Maha Forward Scott parse Davis Ehn and Jones Are juniors Duncan is a Sophomore the others Are seniors tar heels to Edwards suspended indefinitely Chapel Hill no North Carolina tailback Barrington Edwards has been suspended indefinitely from the tar heels football team for violating team rules and University policies the school said Friday Edwards will not participate in Spring practice but will remain on scholarship through the Spring semester the school said in a news release Edwards rushed for 103 Yards in 10 games in the 2006 season As the backup to Ronnie Mcgill Duckett officially a lion Allen Park Mich free agent running Back to Duckett signed a oneyear contract Friday with the Detroit Lions an agreement on Duckette con tract was reached a week ago the 6foot 254pound Duckett played last season with the Washington redskins after four years with the Atlanta Falcons he had just 38 carries last season for Washington finishing with 132 Yards on the ground and two touchdowns Duckett was selected 18th Over All by the Falcons in the 2002 nil draft after finishing at Michigan state with 3379 Yards