Apology

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg came to his senses and canceled the NYC marathon. But he didn't sound very happy about it. He can take credit for finally doing the right thing even if he had little choice. The visual juxtaposition of runners waiting for the race to start on Staten Island in warming tents with bagels and water, contrasted with nearby homeless Staten Island hurricane victims, would have been indefensible. In their joint statement Friday, Mayor Bloomberg and New York City Road Runners Director Mary Wittenberg blamed the growing controversy about holding the race as their reason for canceling it. The controversy, they argued, distracted from the recovery.

In the wake of an accusation he "accosted" a voter, Anne Arundel County Councilman John Grasso on Monday apologized to people who watched him "draw a line in the sand. " Grasso gave a three-minute speech at the start of Monday night's council meeting apologizing to witnesses of a confrontation between himself and a voter who later complained to elections officials that the councilman berated him and called him an idiot while his kids stood nearby. It was one of several complaints elections officials said they received about Grasso's behavior outside a Glen Burnie early voting center in October.

A more human Woods Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel This was a Tiger Woods we had never seen. Human. Sincere. Contrite. Within the admittedly cool and controlling confines of his personality, he seemed like a person trying to get his patch of life in order. He said all that could be said. He used words like "deeply sorry" and "irresponsible" and "selfish." He said, "I'm the only one to blame." He also gave as good and simple an explanation of how he lost his way. "I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me," he said.

Soccer superstar David Beckham, about to make his Major League Soccer debut last summer, was talking about the advantages of playing on the grass field at Washington's RFK Stadium. He said he loathed FieldTurf, a brand of artificial surface that is popular in the United States and is used on the Toronto field where Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy had played its previous game. He said FieldTurf stresses athletes' bodies. Oops. It turned out that three fields at Beckham's California youth academy are FieldTurf.

This week, we got a “feel good” type of episode, which is appropriate considering we are quickly approaching the holidays. If I had to name this episode, it would be “Olive Branch” or “We Are Family” (yes, I'm singing it in my head, too). The group heavily unites in this episode and shows that in the end, it is all about family, and they are one family. United they stand, united they fall - down - hard. The episode starts where they left us last week, with Vinny wanting to speak to Jionni in private.

It's the private apology set to bring the sports world - and gossip tabs - to a temporary stop. Shortly before lunch, Tiger Woods will step before a gathering of perhaps three dozen friends and associates at the stately TPC Sawgrass clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, take a deep breath and end a 70-day public silence by apologizing for the scandal that has driven his marriage and his focused career off course. And then, according to reports, golf's No. 1 attraction will disappear again.

We were happy to have a number of local families celebrate Christmas with us at our recent Breakfast with Santa. Unfortunately, as we cleaned up after the event, we were horrified to discover that, among the comic books donated to the church and handed out by Santa, some were inappropriate in content for children. Our Saviour Lutheran Church and the Lansdowne Volunteer Fire Department remain deeply committed to protecting and serving the children in our community. We wanted to let you know this as soon as possible so you can check to see if what your children received is appropriate for their age level.

The public sincerely believes Tiger Woods was sincere in his apology. But given his overall poll numbers, Woods probably couldn't win a seat on his local school board. An ABC News/ESPN poll revealed 54 percent believe Woods truly is sorry for the extramarital affairs that have put his marriage and reputation in peril. Of the more than 1,000 polled last week, 22 percent did not believe he was sincere and 24 percent hhad no opinion. His overall favorable rating, though, is at 39 percent, compared with 88 percent in 2000 and 85 in 2005.

Memorial Day is still several months away, but it would be nice to think that all Americans still hold some place in their hearts for those who have gave what Abraham Lincoln called the "last full measure of devotion" for their country. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have made the casualties of battle not some historic recollection of Gettysburg but a real and ongoing reminder of the cost of freedom and the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women now serving in theU.S.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Carolina Panthers center Jeff Mitchell apologized Friday for being linked to a federal steroids investigation of a West Columbia, S.C., physician. A CBS News report last month said Mitchell, Panthers punter Todd Sauerbrun and former Carolina tackle Todd Steussie filled prescriptions for banned steroids within the two weeks before they played in the Super Bowl in February 2004. "I want to apologize to [team owner] Mr. [Jerry] Richardson and the whole community for ever being associated with that whole deal down there," the former Raven said.