Atlanta

Congratulations to Atlanta for winning the 1996 Olympic Games over Athens, sentimental favorite and site of the 1896 first modern Olympiad. It is not possible to put on the map a city already there as world headquarters of Coca-Cola, the most ubiquitous product in the world. But in future editions, the dot for Atlanta will be larger. Congratulations as well to U.S. television for winning the Games only 12 years after the spectacularly remunerative 1984 Los Angeles Games. At last we will have an Olympiad on East Coast time.

My first question after reading about seven teachers in an Atlanta, Ga., public school accused of altering standardized test scores to make it appear students performed better than they actually did was: How could they!? The seven were nicknamed "the chosen" and, according to Georgia state investigator Richard Hyde, the less than magnificent seven sat in a locked room without windows, erasing wrong answers and inserting correct ones. It's one thing for a child to cheat on a test; it's quite another for teachers to do it. Compounding the cheating scandal is that the children in this elementary school are mostly poor and African-American.

Tomorrow is the national holiday celebrating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Atlanta, the birthplace and resting place of King, is a great destination for exploring the rich cultural heritage of African-Americans. The Sweet Auburn Historic District, along Auburn Avenue, features several preserved sites reflecting the civil rights movement and King's legacy. 1 Honor history : The Martin Luther King National Historic Site is one of the most-visited attractions in Atlanta. Here you can take a guided tour of the two-story house where King was born and see the tomb where he was laid to rest.

Disregard Nate Silver David Teel Daily Press Nate Silver likes Louisville, Florida, Indiana and Gonzaga, and given his Obama-Romney projections, disagreeing is perilous. But let's anyway. Ohio State has won eight straight, including a road conquest of Indiana and Big Ten tournament wins over Michigan State and Wisconsin. Miami won the ACC regular season outright, and the league tournament, and six of the last eight teams with that double have reached the Final Four.

This week on "The Real Housewives of Atlanta," we finally get introduced to the second new housewife, Porsha Stewart, wife of former NFL athlete Kordell Stewart and granddaughter of late Civil Rights activist and chief field lieutenant for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Hosea Williams. Porsha is continuing her grandfather's legacy by hosting an all-women fundraising event for his foundation and meets up with Kenya Moore to ask her to attend the event. Kenya happily agrees to go because she is confident her stardom will illicit donations.

The Orioles are looking to continue their interleague success this season and get a series win with a victory this afternoon in Atlanta. Left-hander  Wei-Yin Chen  takes the mound for the Orioles. He's struggled a bit on the road, going 2-2 with a 4.81 ERA and going six or more innings just twice in six road starts. But with a Chen win, the Orioles could have two seven-game winners this early in the season for the first time since 1999, when Mike Mussina and Sidney Ponson both had seven by June 17. The Orioles are 8-3 in interleague play this season and have won all three previous interleague series.

Final medal count.. .. .. .. .. ..G . ..S .. ..B .. .. .Tot.U.S. .. .. .. ..44 ...32 .. .25 .. .. ..101Germany .. .. ..20 ...18 .. .27 .. .. ...65Russia .. .. ...26 ...21 .. .16 .. .. ...63China .. .. .. .16 ...22 .. .12 .. .. ...50Australia .. .. .9 .. .9 .. .22 .. .. ...40France .. .. ...15 .. .7 .. .15 .. .. ...37Italy .. .. .. .13 ...10 .. .12 .. .. ...35South Korea .. ..7 ...15 .. ..5 .. .. ...27Cuba .. .. .. ...9 .. .8 .. ..8 .. .. ...25Ukraine .....

Mark Turgeon had been talking Monday about how he had no true point guard, how his team couldn't finish games, how his center was reluctant to shoot, and how his post players have been maddeningly inconsistent. So when the Maryland coach was asked about the Terps ' chances for an NCAA tournament bid, he seemed headed for a Jim Mora Sr. moment. Mora - the former NFL coach - famously responded "Playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? I'm just hoping we can win a game" when asked about the postseason prospects for his 4-6 Indianapolis Colts in 2001.

After watching the scene between new real housewife Kenya Moore and Cynthia Bailey's assistant Carlton "Mr. Couture" Morton play out on the season premiere of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta," we had to know more about the incident. In case you missed it, on Sunday's episode Kenya Moore was invited by Cynthia Bailey to a be a judge at a casting call for JET magazine's Beauty of the Week. At the casting Kenya practically tore the girls apart throwing out rude comments after ruder comment.

ATLANTA -- In 80-some days, the Centennial Olympic Games open in this brash capital of the New South. Exhilarated Atlanta is one great mud- and rubble-strewn mess. Construction cranes soar, traffic crawls past barriers, jackhammers pound. Everything rushes pell-mell toward July 19, Olympic opening day -- in Mayor Bill Campbell's words, ''our completely unnegotiable deadline.''With millions of people crowding into Atlanta's small downtown, immediate success or failure may focus on whether the host city avoids total gridlock.

CBS Super Bowl broadcasters Jim Nantz and Phil Simms say they see a lot more than just Ray Lewis when they look at the Baltimore Ravens. And come Sunday, the conversation they do have about Lewis in the biggest broadcast booth in popular culture is going to be primarily about his play on the field and inspirational power in the locker room - not what happened in Atlanta. "I would just say, Ravens?" Nantz said Tuesday when asked for his sense of the team's image during a teleconference.

It's been nearly 12 years since Ray Lewis played in his only other Super Bowl, but he is still almost as big as the game. There are multiple storylines here - the Harbaugh brothers, the two young guns at quarterback, San Francisco returning to glory - but none is bigger than Lewis' retirement. The national and international media will descend upon Lewis this morning, and there will be the usual questions about his return from injury, stopping the Pistol offense and how his pending retirement has affected the team.

The Orioles have agreed to terms with free agent right-hander Jair Jurrjens on a one-year deal, according to a report from CBSSports.com. According to the report, the former Atlanta Braves pitcher will receive a major league deal worth $1.5 million and could earn up to $4 million with incentives. He was non-tendered by the Braves this offseason after earning $5.5 million in 2012. Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette did not immediately return a text message late Thursday night.

Anna Burns Welker added her name to the list of Patriot Wives Pouting (see Gisele Bundchen) when she went after Ray Lewis' reputation on Facebook after the AFC Championship game Sunday. "By the way, if anyone is bored, please go to Ray Lewis' Wikipedia page. 6 kids, 4 wives, Acquitted for murder. Paid a family off. Yay. What a hall of fame player! A true role model!" The wife of the Patriots' wide receiver Wes Welker, who dropped two passes during the game, later apologized, saying her post was "emotional and irrational," and attributing her outburst to the frustration she felt after the Patriots' 28-13 loss.

NeNe Leakes is back in Hollywood with Gregg, renting a fabulous house alongside the celebs. As she tries to get settled in a new zip code, Kenya sent NeNe over some furniture she can use temporarily, including some “interesting” looking statutes. NeNe is hoping that Gregg will be her support system as she is busy with the new move and all of the projects she is working on. NeNe said Gregg needs to be “Mr. Mom and Mr. NeNe too.” Gregg doesn't mind stepping to the plate, but said NeNe needs to release control to Gregg so he can get some things done.

"Some mistakes we never stop paying for. " - Roy Hobbs, played by Robert Redford, in "The Natural," the 1984 Barry Levinson film based on the Bernard Malamud novel. The announcement of Ray Lewis' retirement and his team's breathtaking run to another conference championship game has caused the sports media and various Ray-haters to try the Baltimore Ravens linebacker for murder a second time. And this, of course, when he should not have stood trial the first time. USA Today had a Peyton Manning-is-god article on its front page Friday while its sports section centerpiece was about Lewis' trial in Atlanta 13 years ago. Other news organizations, including The Baltimore Sun, have had articles about this, too. After the Ravens' huge win over Manning and the Denver Broncos Saturday night, I posted a photo of a jubilant Lewis at Mile High on my Facebook page.

ATLANTA -- Brian Moore and Garth Pollaris each scored three goals to lead the Atlanta Magic past the Baltimore Bays, 11-2, in an United States Interregional Soccer League opener last night.Chris Hellenkamp added two goals for the Magic (1-0). Billy Ronson and John Stroud scored for Baltimore (0-1), which will meet Reading on Saturday in the Bays' home opener.Baltimore 0 2 -- 2Atlanta 3 8 -- 11

For more than a decade, Priscilla Lollar struggled to face the realization that her son had been killed in a brawl outside an Atlanta nightclub. But these days, her emotions are raw again, as one of the men charged in the slaying - Baltimore Ravens star Ray Lewis - attracts national attention for his impending retirement and the team's playoff run. The brawl in the early morning hours of Jan. 31, 2000, left two young men from Akron, Ohio, dead...

When the game was over, the Ravens had showed more heart and desire than the New York Giants. The Ravens' 33-14 win at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday can be dissected and overanalyzed, but the Ravens were much more resilient and determined than the Giants. Both teams were fighting for division titles and playoff position, and both had been embarrassed the week before in lopsided losses. But this is the time of the season when good teams respond and go forward, and bad ones lose and go home.