BRIEFLY : BASEBALL TALKS GO NOWHERE AS CONTRACT DEADLINE PASSES.

Byline: Associated Press 

Here we go again.

Get ready to watch baseball owners and players snipe at each other for a fourth straight winter while they operate under an expired labor agreement.

Owners made no effort to save a proposed contract as Thursday's midnight deadline passed, but put off a decision to OK next year's schedule without interleague play.

Acting commissioner Bud Selig said he intended to ``act expeditiously and bring this to a successful conclusion.'' But he failed to make a new proposal and didn't ask union head Donald Fehr to postpone the deadline for a deal.

With that, baseball was left to operate for another offseason under the rules of an agreement that expired in December 1993.

The collapse of the deal left baseball open to another work stoppage next season, which would be the sport's ninth since 1972.

One of Delino DeShields' agents denied reports that the Dodgers second baseman had agreed to a contract with the Cincinnati Reds.

``By no means are we committed to Cincinnati,'' Adam Katz said. ``Cincinnati is just one of the teams on our list.''

The Dayton Daily News reported that free agent DeShields had agreed to a two-year contract with Cincinnati that would be finalized today, the first day free agents are permitted to sign with new teams.

The Pittsburgh Pirates continue to deal off veterans for prospects, trading second baseman Carlos Garcia, outfielder Orlando Merced and pitcher Dan Plesac to Toronto for three minor-leaguers and three players to be named.

HORSE RACING

Serena's Song, a tough, gifted racehorse with earnings of more than $3 million, has been retired, ending a career in which she won more money than any other filly or mare.

The 4-year-old filly, currently at Churchill Downs, will be bred next spring.

BOXING

In no hurry to get back in the ring, Evander Holyfield was honored in a hometown parade, cheered by several thousand fans and praised by Atlanta's mayor as a ``classy champion.''

Holyfield spoke of his boxing plans in the wake of his victory over Mike Tyson on Saturday.

``I'm going to take as much time as necessary to know that everything is fine,'' Holyfield said during a brief news conference before the parade. ``. . . It looks like I probably will give (Tyson) a rematch because he deserves one.''

ETC.

The funeral for sports official Jim Isaac will take place Monday at 1:30 p.m. at Forest Lawn in Glendale. Isaac died Wednesday of cancer.

Troubled jockey Pat Valenzuela faces vandalism and drug charges stemming from a late-night Halloween arrest.

Valenzuela, 34, was charged with one count of vandalism and damages, and another count for being under the influence of a controlled substance, said Bill Walton, a court liaison officer with the Arcadia Police Department.

He was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.