BEREA, Ohio - Sarah Thomas starts the day at her second job by tucking her long blond hair inside her cap, so she doesnt get noticed. On a football field, thats impossible. Thomas doesnt consider herself a pioneer, just "one of the guys." But as one of two female officials in the NFLs officiating development program, Thomas has a chance to break barriers in a male-dominated profession. This week, Thomas, a former college basketball player, current college official and mother of three whose full-time job is as pharmaceutical sales representative, worked with a crew of officials during Browns mini-camp. Like the players, she worked on improving her skills and honing her craft. One day, she hopes to be on the field with the pros. But not because of her gender. "I am a female, but I dont look at myself as just a female," she said. "I look at myself as an official." Thomas began her officiating career in 1996, when an NFL scout spotted her working a high school game. From there, she joined Conference USA and was invited to join the NFLs developmental program, now in its second year. Thomas worked some training camps and preseason games last season. The next step is a regular-season game, and the earliest that can happen is 2015. Its not her call, so to speak, but Thomas believes shes ready. If this week was any indication, Thomas could be on her way. "Shes done a good job," Browns coach Mike Pettine said after practice Thursday. Pettine believes its time for the league to welcome female officials. "If shes efficient and good at what she does, I have no issues with it," Pettine said. "I think the best compliment somebody paid to her was when someone said, What did you think of the female official? And they said, Theres a female official out here? I thought she was on point." Browns cornerback Joe Haden joked that Thomas was a little whistle happy. "She was calling everything," Haden said, smiling. "I couldnt snap on her. I was chilling." Thomas said her goal is to blend in. She doesnt want to stand out because of her sex — or worse, because shes not competent. Shes dedicated to being a solid, fair and mostly unseen, which is why she pulls her hair up under her cap. Still, sometimes players do a double take when they see her on the field. "I think sometimes they go What is that?" she said. "Yes, I do tuck my hair and at first I really wasnt too sure why. But I get it. We dont want to be noticed and anything I can do to blend in — I like it when I leave the field and people go I told you that was a girl." Thomas has two boys and an 18-month-old girl. She said her sons are most interested in her nabbing some NFL attire or autographs, "I cant do that," she said. Her children have never thought about their mom being anything other than an official, so they dont really grasp that she could make history as the NFLs first female official. "They just know mom officiates and its nothing foreign to them or pioneering or anything," she said. "I do this." ___ AP NFL website
www.pro32.ap.org . -- Andy Granatelli, the former CEO of STP motor oil company who made a mark on motorsports as a car owner, innovator and entrepreneur, has died. . For one, he still gets to crank the intensity to the max. "I push pretty angry. I ran pretty angry too though, but I have fun doing it," Lumsden said. . In the other Group A game, the Czech Republic stunned Canada, 5-4 in a shootout. Dominik Simon scored the deciding goal in the tiebreaker. The United States scored its first three goals on power plays. "Overall, I love to see the power-play goals we were able to get tonight," said U. . -- Center Max Unger and tight end Zach Miller are both probable for the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday against the New York Giants and Percy Harvins recovery continues to be slow. .Y. -- The Buffalo Bills will head into the regular season short on experience at quarterback after trimming the roster on Friday.ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Anaheim Ducks have achieved the best record in the NHL by winning close games and wearing down their opponents along the way. The Nashville Predators found that out the hard way in their first meeting of the season.Defenceman Francois Beauchemin scored the tying goal with 2:17 left in regulation and Ryan Kesler got the deciding goal in the shootout, giving the Ducks a 4-3 victory Sunday night after they outshot the Predators 14-3 in the third period. Seventeen of Anaheims last 19 victories have been by one-goal margins, including four in overtime and four by shootouts.Its not the way we draw it up, the Ducks Corey Perry said. Theyre a heck of a hockey team. They can skate, they can make plays, and it was a battle out there tonight. They play really hard and battle for every inch.Perry and Matt Beleskey also had goals in regulation for the Ducks, who have a league-best 58 points, and Frederik Andersen made 27 saves in a matchup of division leaders.Good teams know how to win those one-goal games, Kesler said. Thats how they are in the playoffs. Playoffs are one-goal games. So if we know how to win them now, its going to make it that much easier then.Seth Jones and Craig Smith had power-play goals in the second period and Mattias Ekholm also scored for the Predators. Backup goalie Carter Hutton stopped 30 shots, but remained winless in five starts this season — all on the road.The Ducks got the tying goal when Beauchemin poked the puck past Huttons right skate during a goalmouth scramble for his second goal of an injury-plagued season.When he wants to go after the puck, nothing gets in his way, Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. It was good for him to be able to score the goal because you know hes going to the front of the net in those situations.The Predators, who blew a three-goal lead against the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings in the final 2:01 of regulation on Saturday before winning in overtime, slipped into a tie atop the Central Division with Chicago after the Blackhawks beat Dallas in overtime.Weve had a tough last couple minutes the last couple games, but its nothing we cant fix and move on from, Smith said. You can see why Anaheims one of the best teams.They know how to play thheir systems well.dddddddddddd A lot of the guys on their team are really going right now. Same with us.The Ducks had four penalties called against them during a 6:37 span of the second period, after playing the first 35 1/2 minutes without getting one. Two of those infractions led to the power-play goals that gave Nashville a 3-2 lead.Jones tied the score with 6:10 left in the period on a double deflection off Keslers stick and Ben Lovejoys leg after taking long wrist shot with Beauchemin serving a holding-the-stick penalty. Smith put the Predators ahead with 2:46 to go, converting a rebound while Perry was off for tripping Shea Weber.Even though we were down 3-2, I thought we were the better team, Kesler said. Other than giving up a couple of power-play goals, I thought we took it to them 5-on-5.Beleskey opened the scoring with 7:45 left in the first with his team-high and career-best 17th goal, beating Hutton with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle after Kesler knocked heralded rookie Filip Forsberg off the puck in the neutral zone. Forsberg, who leads all rookies with 36 points, entered the game with a plus-23 rating.Ekholm tied it at 1:38 of the second with a slap shot from the top of the left circle. Anaheim regained the lead 74 seconds later on a sharp-angle shot from the right circle by Perry, his 15th goal this season and first in three games after missing the previous 10 because of a sprained knee.NOTES: Hutton received a Stanley Cup ring from the Chicago Blackhawks after the 2012-13 season despite playing in only one game for them because Ray Emery was too ill to play. It was a 3-1 loss at St. Louis in his NHL debut. ... The Ducks have been short-handed 17 times over their last three games, after a four-game stretch in which they were a man down just six times. ... Forsbergs assist on Ekholms goal was his 37th point, the most among rookies, and tied Alexander Radulovs franchise rookie record. ... The Ducks are 23-2-6 when allowing fewer than four goals. The only losses were 2-0 to St. Louis and 3-0 to San Jose. ... The Ducks have already played 15 games past regulation, just three fewer than all of last season. ... Anaheim is 1 for 27 on the power play in its last nine games. ' ' '
