Ducks

Only one company wants to operate amphibious vehicles on the Schuylkill River and that's Ride the Ducks. Still, city officials stressed yesterday that a contract for the company with boats full of kazoo-playing tourists is not a done deal. "The city is not definitely going to award a contract," said Brian Abernathy, chief of staff to Managing Director Rich Negrin. Back in October, the city announced that Ride the Ducks would be moving to the Schuylkill in March. The boats, which previously toured the Delaware River, have not been in operation since a July 7 accident in which two tourists were killed.

The Long Island Ducks captured the Atlantic League championship last night with a 4-3 victory over the Camden Riversharks at Campbell's Field. The win completed a three-game sweep of the best-of-five series. Minor-league champions this season included Buffalo (International League), New Hampshire (Eastern League) and Hickory (South Atlantic League).

The Cincinnati Mighty Ducks scored four times in the second period and coasted to a 5-0 AHL win over the Phantoms last night, ending Philadelphia's four-game winning streak. Phantoms goalie Antero Niittymaki, coming off back-to-back shutouts, had his scoreless streak end at 153 minutes, 45 seconds. His streak dated back to Feb. 12.

Although they managed a season-high 42 shots Thursday night, the Flyers continued to stumble at the Wells Fargo Center. They were frustrated by their anemic power play - and by Anaheim's backup goalie Curtis McElhinney. Oh, and by Ryan Getzlaf. Taking a crossing pass from Matt Beleskey, Getzlaf poked in a goal during a goalmouth scramble with 1 minute, 46 seconds left, snapping a 2-2 tie and sparking the Ducks to a 3-2 win. The Flyers have lost three straight - all at home, and all to teams that were playing the second game on back-to-back nights.

The tragic duck-boat accident near Penn's Landing should prompt officials to consider changes in the safety guidelines for these amphibious craft. Two people are feared dead and 35 were rescued after one of the popular tour boats was struck by a barge and capsized Wednesday in the Delaware River. The duck boat had developed engine trouble and was floating without power when the collision occurred. The owner of the tour boats, Ride the Ducks, on Thursday took the only sensible action by suspending operations in Philadelphia and at its five other locations nationwide.

QUICK STORY: When we were 10 or so, we visited a neighbor kid. Many children were romping in the back yard, all young and carefree. We had been to that yard often, blissfully ignorant of the true cruelties of life. And then we met . . . the ducks. We knew nothing more of ducks than what we'd seen on TV. Donald, Huey, Dewey. You know them. Wouldn't hurt a fly. And then . . . the real ducks attacked. Quack. Quack. Bite. Quack. Quack. Bite. And they attacked only us. The other kids, hooligans one and all, stood and laughed as we tried to climb a clothesline pole.

TIRED AT THE end of a lengthy shift, Anaheim's Matt Beleskey saw a familiar No. 8 out of the corner of his eye, flipped the puck in that general direction and hoped for the best. When it comes to Teemu Selanne, the best tends to happen. Selanne took Beleskey's feed and beat Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury with a nifty backhand midway through the third period to lift the surging Ducks over the host Penguins, 2-1, last night. "There's a reason he's got a jillion goals in this league," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said.

SO THE BIG news in the second week of the BCS standings, or probably the only real noteworthy item, was that Oregon dropped for the second week despite a 43-21 win at 5-2 Arizona State that wasn't nearly as close as that score suggests. Guess a 52-14 win at West Virginia, which was coming off a 49-14 loss at Texas Tech, was more head-turning, because Kansas State moved past the Ducks, from No. 3 to 4. Defending national champion Alabama and Florida, not shockingly, continued to be first and second, respectively.

It was the kind of game only a coach could find exciting, and sure enough, Terry Murray loved it. "We emphasized the defensive part of the game," Murray said after the Flyers allowed the not-so-Mighty Ducks of Anaheim all of 12 shots on net in a 3-0 Flyers victory. It was the Flyers' third successive win - two of them coming against the Ducks - and it raised their record to 5-4, without team captain Eric Lindros. Lindros appears likely to miss at least a few more weeks with a right groin pull.

When he ran for district attorney in 1985, Ronald D. Castille made a big deal of the fact that his Democratic opponent, Robert W. Williams Jr., refused to debate him and virtually hid from the voters because he was black. So as an incumbent, Mr. Castille is taking some deserved ribbing for his own reluctance to spend more prime time with Democratic challenger Walter M. Phillips Jr. Mr. Phillips wants more than one debate, but the district attorney says one is "plenty to air any issues we have.

THE UNIVERSITY of Oregon has acknowledged major NCAA violations in connection with football recruiting and proposed a self-imposed 2-year probation with the loss of one scholarship in each of the next 3 years, according to documents released by the school. The revelations were made in a summary disposition report included in the documents released Monday night. Oregon and the NCAA have failed to come to an agreement on the matter and the case is expected to go before the infractions committee at some point this year.

When the two men sat in a cafeteria at Bright House Field two springs ago, there was no acrimony. Ruben Amaro Jr. unveiled a three-year extension for Charlie Manuel, a contract that would make him one of the highest-paid managers in baseball. "More than likely," Manuel said then, "I'll stay around as long as they'll have me. " When a disappointing 81-81 season ended last October, the two men faced a row of cameras in the basement of Citizens Bank Park to explain what would change.

CHIP KELLY has been intentionally vague about his plans for the guys on his roster for a couple of reasons. One is that he's a football coach, and football coaches like to be intentionally vague. The other is that, until next Monday, when the league's collective bargaining agreement finally allows Kelly to talk X's-and-O's with his new players, the only thing he has been able to say to them is get plenty of sleep and keep eating your Wheaties. As we go along here in the next several months, we'll start to find out about the specifics of Kelly's offense and defense, and who fits in where and who doesn't fit in at all. One guy whose role I'm definitely eager to find out about is DeSean Jackson's.

  With their outside shots falling and their defense harassing Oklahoma State all afternoon, the Oregon Ducks played well above their disappointing seeding and into the next round of the NCAA tournament. Damyean Dotson scored 17 points and Arsalan Kazemi added 11 points and 17 rebounds to help Oregon, the Midwest Regional's 12th seed, extend a run that began in the Pac-12 tournament by beating the fifth-seeded Cowboys, 68-55, in the second round on Thursday in San Jose, Calif.

DOMINIC ARTIS anticipated Marcus Smart's pass and took the interception the other way for a layup early to set the tone for Oregon. Despite the seedings and the all the pregame hype surrounding Oklahoma State's star, the Ducks had the better team and the better freshman point guard Thursday night in San Jose, Calif. Artis had 13 points, four steals and helped slow down Smart while fellow freshman Damyean Dotson led the way with 17 points to help 12th-seeded Oregon (27-8) extend a run that began in the Pac-12 Tournament by beating the fifth-seeded Cowboys (24-9)

The NHL suspended Anaheim Ducks right winger Corey Perry for four games without pay for a high, late check on Minnesota's Jason Zucker. Zucker was leveled Tuesday by a violent hit from Perry nearly a full second after he passed the puck. Montreal wins shootout Shootout goals by Alex Galchenyuk and Lars Eller lifted the Montreal Canadiens to their fourth consecutive win Wednesday night, a 4-3 victory over the visiting Ottawa Senators. Eller also scored in the first period, and Brendan Gallagher and P.K. Subban added power-play goals in the second for Montreal.

Dennis Dixon is already on the Eagles roster. Five members of Chip Kelly's coaching staff followed him from Oregon. The draft is saturated with NFL-worthy Oregon prospects, and former Ducks will hit the free-agent market. If Kelly wants to continue bringing his former players to Philadelphia, it's understandable. But one of the challenges for any new coach - especially one coming from college to the NFL - is being objective about players he recruited and developed from teenagers to professionals.

A Jimmy Kimmel/Morrissey catfight over a show about duck-call manufacturers has handed A&E network its biggest audience ever. Nearly 9 million people watched Wednesday night's third-season debut of Duck Dynasty - one night after DD family members appeared on Kimmel's ABC late-night show, getting Morrissey's knickers in a knot. Duck Dynasty is now the No. 1-rated nonfiction series on cable this year. In case you're among the uninitiated: Duck Dynasty follows the Robertson family, whose business making products for duck hunters (primarily a duck call)

When it came time for West Jersey Football League schools to vote on a potential merger with the Cape-Atlantic League, more than a few folks referred to St. Joseph of Hammonton as "the elephant in the room. " That's funny, because Wildcats coach Paul Sacco figures his team is more like the mouse that scares the elephant in those old-time cartoons. "The last thing I remember is that I'm allowed to put 11 on the field and you're allowed to put 11 on the field," Sacco said Thursday night after WJFL members voted overwhelmingly to deny the Cape-Atlantic League's efforts to merge with the 66-team superconference for the 2014 season.