Xfl

So now we know why World Wrestling Federation boss Vince McMahon decided the XFL was no place for scripted games. Who needs scripts when XFL truth can be so much stranger than even WWF fiction? You want strange? Try a Pacific Bell Park sellout crowd of 38,000 screaming their heads off for a San Francisco Demons team filled with players few fans had ever heard of before yesterday. Now that's strange. Try a stadium packed with fans wearing Demons No. 1 jerseys - the team has no No. 1 - and cheering for strangers in a strange new league, a bizarre cross between the WWF and the defunct United States Football League.

The San Diego Chargers agreed to a six-year, $40 million contract with free-agent defensive end Marcellus Wiley, agent Brad Blank said yesterday. Wiley, who had spent his first four years in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills, will receive a $9 million signing bonus as part of the agreement, Blank said. Wiley, 26, was considered one of the top free agents available after a season in which he led the Bills with 10 1/2 sacks and had 65 tackles. The 6-foot-4, 275-pounder started 15 of 16 games at right defensive end last season.

Joe Panos, an injury-plagued guard, signed yesterday with the New England Patriots. Panos, 30, played four seasons for the Eagles, who selected him in the third round of the 1994 draft. He signed with the Buffalo Bills in 1998 and started every game that season, but missed all of '99 after surgery to repair a bulging disk in his neck. He missed three games last season with injuries in his right heel and knee. Packers. Green Bay re-signed Rob Davis, who has been the long snapper for four years.

It looks like the NFL will have a television camera on the field - affixed to the cap of one of the officials. The camera, called "UmpireCam," was used by Fox in its coverage of NFL Europe's World Bowl on Sunday. "I think it's going to work well," NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said during the telecast. "We're going to experiment with it during the preseason and if it works well, probably use it during the regular season. " The NFL also is considering a plan to let its broadcasters put miniature cameras inside helmets and wire its players with microphones during exhibition games.

Bill Walsh, who coached the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl victories during the 1980s, will step down as the team's general manager today. Top assistant Terry Donahue will become GM and Walsh will assume a position as a vice president and consultant in the organization, the 49ers said. Walsh spent 10 seasons as coach and general manager from 1979 to '89, when he built the 49ers into a dynasty. San Francisco won three titles with Walsh as coach and then two under George Seifert.

Roy Jones Jr. successfully defended his undisputed light-heavyweight title Saturday in Tampa, Fla., with a 10th-round TKO of unheralded Derrick Harmon. Jones, improving to 44-1 (36 knockouts), dominated Harmon for nine rounds, then broke the challenger's right eardrum in the 10th. Harmon was never off his feet, but the bout ended abruptly when he failed to answer the bell for Round 11. "I can't hear," Harmon (20-2) said before leaving the ring and going to a hospital. Jones defended his decision to give Harmon a shot at the title, even though the challenger had never beaten a top contender and was ranked only No. 4 by the WBA, No. 8 by the IBF and No. 9 by the WBC. The champion called Harmon a tough competitor who never gave up. But Jones was peppered by questions about when he was going to take on a "real" opponent.

Jerry Angelo has no easy solution for getting the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl. "I have no cliches, no quick fixes," said Angelo, who was introduced as general manager of the Bears yesterday. Angelo, the director of player personnel for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, signed a four-year contract and became the first person to hold the GM position with Chicago since 1987. Steelers. Pittsburgh signed Tommy Maddox, the MVP of the defunct XFL, to back up quarterback Kordell Stewart this season.

The Eagles select 14th in the first round of today's NFL draft and can only hope to fare better than the other three times they have picked in this slot since 1967, the first year of the combined NFL-AFL draft. On those three other occasions at No. 14, the Eagles got starting players, but they didn't have much staying power, at least in Philadelphia. The first was Southern Cal defensive end Tim Rossovich, who was eventually converted to an NFL linebacker. Rossovich was selected No. 14 by the Eagles in 1968 and became an immediate starter.

The Jacksonville Jaguars placed the franchise-player label on Donovin Darius again yesterday, the third straight season the hard-hitting strong safety has been tagged. The Jaguars are required to offer Darius a one-year contract equal to the average of the top five salaries at his position last season, or to give him a 20 percent raise, whichever is greater. Darius, a former star at Camden's Woodrow Wilson High and at Syracuse, can still negotiate with other teams. If he signs an offer sheet elsewhere, the Jaguars can match the offer or accept two first-round draft choices as compensation.

New York Knicks swingman Latrell Sprewell is an all-star again because NBA commissioner David Stern, his former adversary, says so. Stern chose Sprewell and Atlanta Hawks center Dikembe Mutombo yesterday as replacements for injured Eastern Conference all-stars Grant Hill and Alonzo Mourning. The commissioner suspended Sprewell for a year in 1997 for attacking his coach, and Sprewell went to arbitration and to court to have the suspension reduced. Stern might still get an additional pick or two if Shaquille O'Neal and Vince Carter remain injured.