Sports in brief: Vick takes lumps from cagy camel

NFL: Philadelphia Eagles fans thirsty for predictions on whether their team will win or lose each week won’t get them from a New Jersey pigskin- prognosticating camel.

Princess, the star of Popcorn Park Zoo in Lacey Township, N.J., won’t predict the results of any Eagles games this season to protest the signing of quarterback Michael Vick. Vick spent 18 months in prison for organizing a dogfighting ring.

The 2,600-pound camel went 17-4 last year and correctly picked the Pittsburgh Steelers to defeat Arizona in the Super Bowl.

The zoo’s manager places a graham cracker in each hand, and writes the name of a competing team on each hand. Whichever hand Princess eats from is her “pick.”

Meanwhile, a suburban Philadelphia animal welfare group, Main Line Animal Rescue, announced that it plans to donate dog food for every time Vick is tackled.

Associated Press

Rogers downs Shadle Park

Prep football: Rogers scored on its first drive of the game and kept the lead the rest of the way as the Pirates defeated the Shadle Park Highlanders 20-6 in a Greater Spokane League game at Albi Stadium Thursday night.

Jordan Burns grabbed a deflected pass from Tyler Lehmen and carried it into the end zone for a 68-yard score. Octavio Blanco followed with the PAT kick.

The Pirates (1-1) held a 7-6 lead at the half after Shadle running back Danny Rowton (95 yards on 12 carries) finished a second-quarter drive with a 6-yard run. However, the PAT attempt was blocked.

Burns scored in the third quarter from 11 yards out on another pass from Lehman, who threw only 10 times but completed eight for 163 yards.

Rogers’ final score came on Justin Meusy’s 4-yard run.

Rogers won one game last year to break a 40-game losing streak.

Shadle fell to 0-2.

No blackout in dead of night

NFL: NFL fans whose local teams’ games are blacked out will be able to watch replays online for free – though not until after midnight.

The recession has left several teams in danger of having games blacked out this season.

The league announced Thursday that home fans will be able to view the delayed broadcasts on NFL.com for 72 hours, except during “Monday Night Football.”

A game is not aired in the home market if it does not sell out 72 hours in advance.

Although just nine of 256 games were blacked out last season, many more are expected to be off the local airwaves this year because of lagging ticket sales and season-ticket renewals.

From wire reports