If you've got all eights in poker, they'll tell you you're holding snowmen.

Four eights, man, that'll get you places.

But if you put together just three snowmen, well that's definitely beatable.

On Saturday morning in Syracuse, N.Y., they put together three snowmen, but that couldn't touch Bismarck's hand of snow angels.

Syracuse rallied 888 people, but for the second straight year came up short in its bid to break Bismarck's world record for simultaneous snow-angel making.

Bismarck created the Guinness World Records category and set the record mark of 1,791 angels on March 23, 2002. One of the angels present in the snow on the Capitol Grounds that day was Gerald Storebo. It just so happens that his daughter, Melissa Miller, now lives in Syracuse. Storebo encouraged Miller and her 10-year-old son, Christopher, to take part in Saturday's event.

At 9 a.m., participants plopped down on 6 inches of fresh powder near North Syracuse Junior High School, organizer David Zehner said.

"We had a fabulous time today, but unfortunately we did not break the record," Zehner said. "We have no excuses. We're thinking about next year already."

Miller was surprised when she heard Syracuse had fallen short.

"Only 888, that's it?" she said. "Well, we tried, you know. It was cold, there was a lot of snow. My son had a good idea of getting everyone in his school - it has like 3,000 kids - together to do it."

But Zehner said another shot at the mark likely won't take place until snow flies next year.

Meanwhile, Syracuse's attempts at the record - it also managed to get 644 angels together last year - have stirred local concern. Marilyn Snyder, curator of education for the State Historical Society and coordinator of Bismarck's record-setting event, said talk has started about raising the bar even higher.

"They didn't even get close," Snyder said good-naturedly on Saturday. "That's good news. We've been wondering if (the record) was going to go down. We want to know if there's enough interest out there to do it again (here)."

Storebo thinks competition for the snow angel record could be a long-standing friendly rivalry between the two cities.

"It's nice that we still have the record," he said. "I would like to see my grandson get in on it, though. If we would have lost it, I think we would have gotten it back next year."

Zehner wanted to thank Snyder for creating the first snow angel event.

"She inspired us to try it out here," Zehner said. "She got 888 people to come out, get together and have fun."

For now, then, the people in Syracuse are better Orangemen than snowmen. But watch out. With a population of 145,000, that city has about 90,000 more people than Bismarck. And it gets some good winter weather coming off the Great Lakes. The average yearly snowfall in Syracuse is 112 inches, compared to Bismarck's 35.5.

They've got enough paint and canvas to put together a record-breaker, and now it's just a matter of getting the artists together.

In Bismarck, it's time to rally again. The city just needs Bishop Paul Zipfel - head of the Bismarck Catholic Diocese and an independent witness at the 2002 record-setter - to pray for snow.

(Reach Tony Spilde at 250-8260 or tspilde@ndonline.com.)