A couple of former Southeast Texas quarterbacks who have made it big in coaching — PN-G’s Wade Phillips and TJ’s Todd Dodge — will be the coverboys for the Port Arthur News’ Football 2007 due Aug. 30. Making that idea work could have been complicated if Phillips wasn’t such a good guy. Apprised that we were trying to work out the logistics of getting he and Dodge together, either at the Dallas Cowboys Valley Ranch site or at North Texas’ new practice facility, Phillips volunteered to go to Denton. With the help of another former Southeast Texas QB — TJ’s Damon West — who provided transportation to what was his college stomping ground at North Texas, the shoot came off without a hitch. Wade even agreed to pose for some publicity photos for the Mean Green with some of the kids attending Todd’s summer camp. The cover shot, meanwhile, is a unique one of an offensive genius going head-to-head on the chalkboard with a defensive whiz . . . Dodge, by the way, apparently is going to wind up with the state’s No. 1 QB in the 2008 recruiting class. His son, Riley, who earlier made a verbal commitment to Texas, has backed off and intends to sign with North Texas. According to quotes from the Southlake Carroll senior on a UNT message board, he told Longhorn coach Mack Brown this past week that he’s decided he wants to play for his dad. The addition of Riley means Todd now has nine early verbal commitments for next year, something that is totally unprecedented at North Texas. While it’s nothing for upper level Division 1A schools like Texas, Texas A&M; and Oklahoma to load up on early commitments, it rarely happens for schools at the mid level. Dodge has created quite a buzz in recruiting circles with the pledges he’s received. They are, of course, non-binding, but my guess is he’ll retain most and maybe all of them.

Now that Craig Biggio has become only the 27th player major leaguer to crack the 3,000-hit barrier, on one of the most memorable nights in Astros history, it’s going to be interesting to see how his playing time is addressed for the rest of what seems certain to be his final season. Biggio is obviously not part of the team’s future, and the Astros seem headed toward a youth movement, so it makes sense to cut back on his starts and give Chris Burke a chance to play regularly. That may be easier said that done, however, given what a favorite Biggio is of Astros fans and owner Drayton McLane . . . Depending on how much he plays the rest of the season, Biggio could move as high as 20th on the all-time hit list. Ricky Henderson is currently No. 20 at 3,055. Others within the 41-year-old Biggio’s reach are Al Kaline (3,007), Wade Boggs (3,010), Rafael Palmeiro (3,020), Lou Brock (3,023) and Rod Carew (3,053). All but Palmerio, who is not yet eligible, are in the baseball Hall of Fame. There is little doubt Biggio is going to join them at some point . . . Much has been made of the fact that Biggio has spent his entire 20-year-career with the same team, something that will probably never be duplicated in the moneyball era of sports. Pretty much overlooked is the fact he was very close to signing with Colorado as a free agent after the 1996 season. If Rockies GM Bob Gebhard had guaranteed an option year, on top of a four-year, $20 million offer, Houston’s No. 7 would have become Colorado’s No. 7. Gebhard said no to the option, Biggio signed a four-year, $22 million contract with Houston and the rest is history . . . Now that my vacation is pretty much over, Sportsrap will air regularly Mondays at 7:05 p.m. on KLVI. I’ll be giving away a pair of $37 field box tickets the next three weeks for the Astros July 23 game against Cincinnati on trivia.

Things seems to have taken a turn for the worse with Lamar University and unpredictable 7-footer James Davis. Davis, who needed to pass a couple of courses in summer school to be eligible, missed several classes and wound up withdrawing. He did tell the Port Arthur News that he intends to enroll for the second summer semester. LU coach Steve Roccaforte, who is not pleased with the latest development, says he won’t comment on the Davis situation until mid July when the second semester begins . . . One strong indication that Davis probably isn’t returning is that Roccaforte was back on the recruiting trail in June and has apparently bagged 6-7, 235 pound Thomas Brown from Los Angeles City College. Brown visited Lamar last week and told The News he intends to sign with the Cardinals. Brown, who played high school basketball in Griffin, Ga., averaged 20 points and 12 rebounds at LA City College and was the MVP of the conference he played in . . . Oregon State’s repeat NCAA baseball championship was another triumph for a member of the original Beaumont Golden Gators baseball team. The Beavers are coached by Pat Casey who was the first baseman for the first Golden Gators team in 1983. Casey once came up to the press box in his spikes to question a ruling I made as the official scorer. He wanted an error changed to a hit, but it didn’t happen.

In case you missed it, Roger Clemens suffered more than his third loss for the New York Yankees Wednesday night in Baltimore. Clemens, who is now 1-3 with a 5.63 ERA, failed to record a strikeout for the first time in 200 starts spanning seven years. The last time it happened he was knocked out in the first inning against Boston. On this night, he pitched six innings and allowed all four runs in a 4-0 Yankees’ setback. Since the $1 million-a-game pitcher arrived to rescue George Steinbrenner’s team on June 9, they have compiled a lackluster 9-9 record. What a shame . . . Baseball remains a safe, lucrative haven for 40-something pitchers. Had Detroit’s 42-year-old Kenny Rogers not been rained of his start against Texas Wednesday night, a record seven pitchers in their 40s would have taken the mound on the same day. Three of the six who made their starts — Greg Maddux (41), Tom Glavine (41) and John Smoltz (40) recorded victories. Woody Williams (40) and Jamie Moyer (44) pitched six strong innings but got no decision. Clemens (44) was the only loser. Throw in Randy Johnson (43), David Wells (44) and Orlando Hernandez (41) and there are 10 starters 40 or older . . . Most alarming baseball stat of this or any other season is how many kid pitchers are undergoing Tommy John reconstructive surgery. From 1995-98, Dr. James Andrews, the noted sports surgeon from Birmingham, Ala., performed the arm surgery 119 times. A mere nine of those were on high school-aged kids. But from 2003-06, he did 619 of the surgeries and 148 of them (24 percent) were on high schoolers. What those numbers say is if your kid is a pitcher, be very, very careful with how much and what he throws. “We’re seeing an epidemic of arm and shoulder injuries that’s appalling,” Andrews said.

Opening kickoffs in the NFL regular season are still over two months away but the betting line on season openers has already been set. The Cowboys are four-point favorites over the NY Giants in Wade Phillips’ coaching debut at Texas Stadium while the Texans are rated a tossup against Kansas City at Reliant Stadium. As far as Super Bowl odds, BetUS.com has the Cowboys at 18/1 and the Texans at 100/1. In the NFC, only the Bears at 15/1 have lower odds than Dallas. New England, at 3/1, is the betting favorite, followed by San Diego at 6/1, Indianapolis at 7/1 and the Bears. New Orleans is lumped with Dallas at 18/1 . . . Looks like former TJ coach Mike Owens might be on the move. Owens, who has had tremendous success at Tyler Lee, including winning a 5A state championship, is one of the finalists for athletic director in Plano. Owens has competition from Plano head coach Gerald Brence and Plano West head coach Mike Hughest . . . There’s a familiar name in the next class of high school quarterbacks being heavily recruited. Jack Elway, son of Broncos great John Elway, is a 6-3, 200 senior at Denver’s Cherry Creek High School. Elway, who has not yet made a commitment, has been offered by LSU and Oregon and is also being recruited by his dad’s alma mater, Stanford, as well as Cal, Louisville, Colorado and Colorado St.

Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest@usa.net. His Sportsrap radio show airs Mondays at 7:05 p.m. on KLVI (560-AM).