A League

"TC An A-League team will play in the Baltimore area next season, whether the Carolina Dynamo moves here or not, both the leader of a group of Columbia soccer investors and the league's commissioner said yesterday."I think it's safe to say," Francisco Marcos said. He directs not only the A-League but all of pro soccer's American minor leagues."Our intention is to get an A-League franchise," Columbia businessman A.J. Ali said. His group is trying to move the Dynamo here. "If it's Carolina, that's fine.

The Orioles have added to their outfield surplus by announcing the minor league signing of Chris Dickerson. The 30-year-old Dickerson, who will receive a spring training invite, joins a crowded Orioles roster of veteran outfielders not on the 40-man roster:  holdovers Steve Pearce and Lew Ford, as well as Jason Pridie and infielder/outfielder Conor Jackson. In addition, Adam Greenberg, who made headlines last year with one at-bat for the Miami Marlins, was signed to a minor league deal.

The leader of a Columbia group trying to move the A-League's Carolina Dynamo to the Baltimore area next season said after negotiations here with the team's owner yesterday that "we're close to a final agreement."A.J. Ali, the 34-year-old businessman who heads the local group, said paperwork giving each of the partners half interest in the franchise should be completed by the end of this month, when A-League owners have their annual meeting. The A-League is pro soccer's top minor league, just below Major League Soccer.

'NBC Sunday Night Football' isn't just in a league of its own when it comes to NFL telecasts. It lives on another planet so far away from the nearest competition that it can't even be judged by the same standards. And last night's broadcast of the Baltimore Ravens 13-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers was another gold-plated example of that truth. There's a reason it's the highest rated prime-time program on network TV -- there is nothing else like it. If you started with the "Football Night in America" pre-game show at 7 p.m. Sunday, you were treated to five hours of the best highlights, perspective, analysis, pop culture conversation and live game coverage that you are ever going to see on TV on any one night -- five hours of excellence!

The owner of the Carolina Dynamo, one of the most competitive teams in professional soccer's top minor league, will be in Columbia today, hoping to make a deal that would move his franchise to this area next season.Neil Macpherson, the A-League team's owner and member of the league's executive committee, confirmed the talks. From Greensboro, N.C., yesterday, he said he wants to find in Maryland "a financial partner to share the load."The league, he said, already has approved the franchise move.

Columbia-based investors, who twice in recent weeks have said an A-League pro soccer team would be playing in the Baltimore area next season, have delayed their plans by a year.Instead of next spring, said A.J. Ali, spokesman for the investors, a local team in pro soccer's top minor league will begin play in 1999, probably in Howard County."We missed our window of opportunity for going ahead with a team for next year," Ali said. That meant satisfying the paperwork and investment requirements set by the league's management, as well as lining up a suitable field.

The Carolina Dynamo's owner is to meet Monday night with businessmen in High Point, N.C., interested in keeping his A-League team there and blocking its proposed move to the Baltimore area next season.Neil Macpherson, the Dynamo's sole owner, said late Wednesday night he had met with a group of 14 people who are trying to put together a proposal and would talk with them again on Monday.A sound financial package might mean Macpherson would keep the five-year-old team, which plays in pro soccer's highest minor league, in North Carolina's "Triad" area -- Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem.

The Maryland Mania will make its Baltimore-area debut in the A-League on May 9, Mothers Day, after having played the first league game in its history April 29 in Raleigh, N.C.The home opener for the new, local entry in pro soccer's top minor league will be a 4: 05 p.m. affair against the Charleston (S.C.) Battery at UMBC Stadium, the team's home for at least two seasons.Like all 30 A-League teams, the Mania will play 28 league games in a season that begins on the West Coast on April 9 and ends Sept.

The Maryland Mania and UMBC officials tentatively agreed yesterday that the new pro soccer team will play its A-League home games next season at UMBC Stadium.A contract formalizing the one-year arrangement, with an option for more, is expected to be ready for signing next week. Financial terms were not disclosed.Although the Mania expects to open its initial season in May on the Catonsville college's synthetic turf, team and UMBC spokesmen expressed hope that a separate agreement can be reached on upgrading a new grass soccer field the school has just opened.

The expansion Maryland Mania, struggling on the field and at the gate, is seeking additional investment to offset chronic financial problems, team president A. J. Ali said before last night's ninth game of a 28-game A-League schedule."

Nearly four months after signing Cuban defector Henry Urrutia, the Orioles are still waiting for the 25-year-old outfielder to officially join the organization, according to an industry source. Urrutia, who has set up residency in the Dominican Republic, continues to have difficulty obtaining a visa, an obstacle that has existed since the Orioles signed him in July. The Orioles had hoped Urrutia would arrive in time to get some minor league at bats at the Double-A level. Even after the season ended, the hope was to get Urrutia into to the team's spring training complex in Sarasota, Fla., to begin workouts.

If there is one television sportscaster to whom the adjective “legendary” can honestly be applied, it is Al Michaels, play-by-play announcer of NBC's “Sunday Night Football.” From almost two decades in the booth at ABC's “Monday night Football,” to his “Do you believe in miracles?” call of the U.S. victory over the Russian hockey team at 1980 Olympics, Michaels' resume and the history of the biggest moments of TV sports are practically one and the same. Michaels and his colleagues on NBC Sunday Night Football will be in Baltimore when the Ravens meet the New England Patriots.

The glare hasn't gone anywhere. Even in training camp practices, Ray Lewis' scowl, which has almost dared opposing teams to run his way for nearly two decades in the NFL, remains omnipresent. But the long-time face of the Ravens' vaunted defense has a different look this summer. A lean Lewis reported to training camp last week and acknowledged he is probably the lightest that he's been since he arrived in Baltimore as a rookie in 1996, burdened by questions about whether he was too small to hold up at middle linebacker.

Buck Showalter not only has baseball talents, Baltimore -- he's also quite a believable prankster. The folks at Major League Baseball's Fan Cave just posted a really funny video where Showalter "punks" relief pitcher Darren O'Day. Here's the setup: O'Day thinks he's being interviewed by a Wall Street Journal reporter about his fondness for something called a "Solowheel," a unicycle-type thing that he's apparently getting paid to endorse. In the middle of demonstrating the device, Showalter storms up and asks him what the heck he thinks he's doing.

BOSTON - More than 16 years after he left Baltimore and joined the Dan Duquette -led Boston Red Sox, ageless left-hander Jamie Moyer is back in the Orioles organization. Duquette, now the Orioles' executive vice president, signed Moyer to a minor-league deal Wednesday. The 49-year-old will start for Triple-A Norfolk on Saturday against Buffalo. There is no guarantee that Moyer will return to the Orioles, for whom he pitched from 1993 to 1995. "He is committed to two or three starts down there and we'll see where he is at," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said.

The Ravens are enjoying the fruits of their 24-10 win against the Cleveland Browns Sunday, which included a career-best 204 rushing yards by Ray Rice and 290 yards by the entire offense. But was that display a sign of things to come or simply a tactic against a defense that entered the contest ranked 29th in the NFL against the run? It's difficult to tell based on the comments made by coach John Harbaugh, who was asked during his weekly news conference Monday about his thoughts when he hears media outlets refer to the NFL as a passing league.

So OK, because it seems the A-League is in Baltimore's future, here's a start on fathoming where the Carolina Dynamo stands in America's second division:The team is alive and chasing the A-League championship to be decided the same day, Sept. 28, that the deal delivering the team to Columbia/UMBC is expected to be consummated.The Dynamo was in a second-round playoff game last night in Charleston, S.C., and faces the Battery again in High Point on Sunday. The Dynamo (20-10) beat Charleston (13-17)

The Maryland Mania signed former Major League Soccer defender and Olympian Clint Peay to a one-year contract yesterday, the new A-League team's biggest "name" so far.Peay, 26, was a starting defender for two-time MLS champion D.C. United until two surgeries on his left knee in four months, followed by calf muscle problems in the same leg, cost him most of the 1997 season. The calf miseries continued early last season, and he was released by the club in June.After time off, Peay hooked on with the A-League's Charleston (S.C.

The NFL is experiencing a boom time. Super Bowl viewership hit an all time high this year, and fan interest is intense. Financially speaking, the league is doing quite well. Over the last 10 years, the typical franchise has doubled in value — from $500 million to $1 billion — giving the league a total worth of $32 billion. The combination of capital appreciation and cash dividends means the average owner makes perhaps $75 million per year from football. At the same time, player compensation has increased steadily, and the median salary is now $800,000.

It was a good idea Phil Rogers Chicago Tribune Good baseball is always about doing what's called for in the situation. Evan Longoria's bunt attempt in the middle of Dallas Braden's perfect game on Sunday was a good idea at the time, and well within anyone's understanding of baseball etiquette. Longoria was leading off the fifth inning, with Tampa Bay trailing 4-0. While he's a power hitter, the four-run deficit meant the Rays needed a big inning. He was only thinking about getting on base to spark that when he tried to bunt Braden's first pitch for a hit. He fouled it off and would go on to strike out. Afterward, Braden called the try "intelligent," and he was right.