BRIEFLY : JETS-PARCELLS DEAL GOES UNDER SCOPE.

The New York Jets will have to wait a few days to take advantage of Bill Parcells' advice. NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue has acknowledged Patriots owner Bob Kraft's request to review whether Parcells can work for the Jets as a ``consultant.'' He will take a couple of days before rendering a decision, and speculation is that the Jets will prevail.

That would mean Parcells - whom Tagliabue ruled last week is contractually prohibited from serving as coach or in a ``comparable position'' with any NFL team except the Patriots this season unless Kraft is given satisfactory compensation - can go on the Jets' payroll immediately.

HORSE RACING: Cigar was in Kentucky preparing to open the second phase of his career as a stallion, but officials of the racing community gathered in Bal Harbour, Fla., on Tuesday night to name him Horse of the Year for the second straight season. Cigar, now stabled at Ashford Stud in Lexington, Ky., won all 10 races in 1995 and 5 of his 8 in 1996, with two seconds and one third. He earned $9.9 million in his career.

BOXING: Pernell Whitaker and Oscar De La Hoya will fight indoors at the Nevada-Las Vegas campus arena April 12 instead of at a newly built outdoor stadium on the Las Vegas Strip.

BASKETBALL: Houston city officials, fearful the Houston Rockets might try to leave town, went to court to keep the team from wrestling out of its lease at The Summit sports arena. It's the latest move in the tussle between Rockets owner Les Alexander and Chuck Watson, whose Arena Operating Co., manages The Summit.

The city of Houston insists in papers filed Wednesday that Alexander's Rocket Ball Ltd. be forced to stay at The Summit until Nov. 30, 2003, when the company's lease expires. Rocket Ball is the limited partnership that owns the franchise.