on the SIDELINES

In Cajun country, Delhomme delirium \nis in full swing\nBREAUX BRIDGE, La. -- At the edge of a park where Jake Delhomme played peewee football, there's a cypress sculpture of a crawfish about the size of a refrigerator.\nThere's no monument to the Carolina Panthers' starting quarterback, but that could change soon.\nAlready, a local bar in this Cajun town of 7,500 has named a hamburger steak special for him. A musician is working on a song in his honor. A bank is putting up a Delhomme billboard. The marquee outside a restaurant reads: "Congratulations Jake."\nAnd the conversation in Breaux Bridge, where drivers tap their car horns whenever they spot friends, has a familiar theme lately: the hometown kid's astonishing ride to the Super Bowl.\nDelhomme (pronounced deh-LOME) went all the way to NFL Europe before landing a spot with the New Orleans Saints. The Saints even cut him twice before making him a backup to Aaron Brooks in 2001. Delhomme won his only start of 2002, then signed as a free agent with Carolina.\nOn opening day this season, Delhomme came off the bench to rally the Panthers to a victory. Carolina continued to win, and the excitement in Breaux Bridge reached a crescendo when the Panthers defeated the Philadelphia Eagles for the NFC title.\nNext up is next Sunday's Super Bowl in Houston against the New England Patriots.\nDelhomme, who had an avid following in college at Louisiana-Lafayette, was the talk of his town when he made the Saints' practice squad six years ago. Now that he's the starter of a Super Bowl team, Breaux (pronounced BRO) Bridge is in a state of Delhomme delirium.\nRoddick, Agassi on track for semifinal showdown\nMELBOURNE, Australia -- Asked to pick a title favorite heading into the Australian Open's second week, Andy Roddick pointed to Andre Agassi.\nAfter all, Agassi has won this major four times and is on a 25-match winning streak here. Roddick likened Agassi's success at Melbourne Park to Pete Sampras' reign at the All England Club.\n"There's a lot of guys left ... take your pick," Roddick said. "But, you know, kind of like when Pete went on his big Wimbledon runs, I think it's Andre's title until someone takes it away from him."\nRoddick might get a chance to be that someone because he and Agassi are on course to meet in the semifinals. Both reached the quarterfinals with relative ease, winning fourth-round matches in straight sets Sunday.\nThe top-seeded Roddick slammed 14 aces in a 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 dismissal of No. 16 Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands. Agassi needed to save five set points in the opener before beating No. 13 Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4.\nRoddick will play 2000 U.S. Open champion Marat Safin in the quarterfinals, while Agassi must get past No. 9 Sebastien Grosjean. Safin eliminated James Blake.\nAgassi improved to 205-45 (a .820 winning percentage) in Grand Slam matches and sounded like someone who likes his chances for adding a ninth major title to his collection.\n"I feel like I've experienced every part of my game throughout this first week, and I've liked the levels I've hit," Agassi said, "and I'm in position to go further, to take it higher"