Attendance

Bob Baffert strode into the Preakness stakes barn Friday morning, shouting toward Orb's trainer Shug McGaughey loud enough so all could hear. "OK, Shug, I'm here to take away that media spotlight for you," he said. Baffert, indeed, is one of the few people in the sport who could have swiped some of the attention from McGaughey and his heavily favored colt this week . Baffert has won the Preakness five times, and on three occasions he's moved on to Belmont with a chance at the Triple Crown.

Nearly 300 people visited the Bel Air Reckord Armory May 4 to explore the 4th Annual Celebration of Cultures, sponsored by the Harford County Human Relations Commission in partnership with LASOS Inc. (Linking All So Other Succeed), the Town of Bel Air and the Harford County Cultural Arts Board. The Celebration was a family-friendly event designed to highlight the many cultures within Harford County. Several attendees said it was a wonderful event and a great opportunity for community members to learn from and about the community's proud heritages.

The Sun wonders why the attendance at Orioles games hasn't been better. Well, it certainly is not helped by the coverage provided by your newspaper. The Sept. 17 Sun has the Ravens, who lost, on the front page of the first section plus the first five pages of the Sports section. Meanwhile the Orioles, in contention for first place, do not appear until page 11 of the Sports section. Go figure! John S. White, Stewartstown, Pa.

Friday's editions included a Q&A with Notre Dame Junior midfielder Jim Marlatt. Due to space constraints, here are some more answers from the Clarksville native and River Hill graduate that did not make the cut. How does a guy from Clarksville and River Hill end up in South Bend, Indiana? There was definitely some interest in staying closer to home. I have four younger siblings, including a little brother I'd love to see a little bit more often. But I think the balance between academics and athletics, just how well they take care of their athletes and making sure they do well in school are what really attracted me there.

Attendance at the National Aquarium's Inner Harbor and Washington venues rose 2.4 percent last year, the first increase since the recession, thanks to an improving economy and a more interactive aquarium experience, CEO John Racanelli said. The attraction drew 1.55 million people last year, including 1.34 million at the Inner Harbor destination, marking the first increase since 2006. During an interview Wednesday at The Baltimore Sun, Racanelli said the more than 30-year-old aquarium is repositioning itself to not only offer entertainment, but also to advocate for cleaner, healthier oceans.

The three students who share one of the biggest accomplishments in Baltimore County this year say they never sought to be perfect. They just tried to be present. Carly Ordak, Danielle Spyridakos and Renee Yusuff graduated Tuesday from Eastern Technical High School with perfect attendance records, having attended school every day from kindergarten through 12th grade. They were the only students in Baltimore County to graduate this year having done that. "I think this is an incredible accomplishment," said Tom Evans, principal of Eastern Tech.

The NCAA men's lacrosse championships could produce record-breaking attendance figures this weekend at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The Division I semifinals will take place tomorrow, followed by the Division II and III title games on Sunday and the Division I championship game on Monday. As of last night, 43,707 all-session tickets had been sold, according to tournament director Lee Stevens. Before this year, the most all-session tickets sold before championship weekend was 38,939 in 2004, the last year the event was held at M&T Bank Stadium.

With a big assist from his father, Torrence White, 8, has no missed a day of school this year.Considering Torrence missed almost 50 days of school last year, his perfect attendance thus far is a really big deal for the third-grader and his family."

Does the New York Racing Association deserve to hold the Breeders' Cup?That was the question many writers who covered the event were asking last week. Even though the facilities for the animals are excellent, the atmosphere for at least some humans is depressing.Low attendance at the Belmont track and lack of attention paid to racing's fall championship series by the New York media were among reasons cited by racing reporters for low morale.Many of them feel Churchill Downs in Kentucky and the Southern California and Florida tracks, where the Breeders' Cup is more of an event and there is an atmosphere of excitement, are far better locations.

The Orioles set a franchise record for attendance yesterday, shattering the mark they set in 1993.Yesterday's crowd of 46,542 for the Orioles' last regular-season home game of the season, gave the team a season total of 3,646,950 fans for 81 dates.The previous record for single season attendance was 3,644,965.The Orioles averaged 45,024 fans per game this season. The only team with a higher home attendance total is the Colorado Rockies.The Orioles have drawn over 3 million fans four of the five seasons since they moved to Camden Yards in 1992.

For five days ending Sunday, thousands of film fans and scores of filmmakers watched movies together at the 15th Maryland Film Festival. From three-minute comedic shorts promoting horror films to gripping documentaries about the rise of Napster and cutting-edge narrative features about the relationship between a teacher and one of her students, the festival offered local cineastes the chance to lose themselves in the boundless possibilities of film....

Ticket sales for the 138th Preakness Stakes are up nearly 10 percent over last year, with some fans excited that the winner of the Kentucky Derby has a connection to Maryland. Maryland Jockey Club President Tom Chuckas said Monday that ticket sales for the May 18 event at Pimlico Race Course in North Baltimore have increased about 9.5 percent. All 26 tents in the corporate-sponsored village are sold out, Chuckas said, and the tables in the corporate village are almost gone. Chuckas said the jump in ticket sales, which suggests this year's race could see attendance rise for the fourth straight year and top the record of 121,309 set in 2012, was likely the result of several factors, including changing the race's "brand.

Arundel High School sophomore Chloe Hill entered a screening of the motion picture "42" on Thursday indebted to the film's main character, baseball player Jackie Robinson. The film depicts Robinson's struggles and triumphs in becoming the first African-American to play in the major leagues, breaking the national pastime's color barrier on April 15, 1947. "Thanks to him, I'm able to play," said Hill, who is black and plays for Arundel High's junior varsity softball team. Hill was among 300 junior varsity baseball and softball players from all 12 Anne Arundel County public high schools to attend a screening hosted by OriolesREACH and Major League Baseball at Hoyt's West Nursery Cinemas in Linthicum.

First lady Michelle Obama will visit the Naval Academy and attend a bill signing in Annapolis on Wednesday, the White House said on Monday. Obama will be present when Gov. Martin O'Malley signs the Veterans Full Employment Act, legislation that makes it easier for veterans and spouses of active-duty service members to receive professional licenses. The first lady has made military families among her top issues. Before the bill signing, Obama will meet with service members affected by the new legislation at the Naval Academy, the White House said.

W.E.B. DuBois High School is the latest to win the Mayor's Attendance Campaign competition, after its ninth-grade class increasing its daily attendance by nearly 11 percentage points. The school was surprised with the honor--which includes a dance party staffed by a 92Q DJ at The Grille at Peerce's Landing--with a visit from Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake city schools CEO Andres Alonso, and Jonathon Rondeau, of the Family League of Baltimore.  The ninth-grade class increased its daily attendance from 63.42 percent to 74.05 percent, according to a release.

Natalie Muneses, a student at The Science and Math Academy at Aberdeen High School in Aberdeen, will be among the 2,550 students from across the country invited to participate in the 2013 U.S. Naval Academy Summer Seminar program. The Naval Academy Summer Seminar program is a fast-paced leadership experience for rising seniors in high school that helps educate, motivate and prepare selected students who are considering applying for admission to USNA. Summer Seminar teaches prospective applicants about life at the Naval Academy, where academics, athletics and professional training are key elements in developing the nation's leaders.

According to the annual Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. attendance survey, last year was another year of growth.The survey shows attendance at 15 major North American auto racing series increased by more than 800,000 spectators in 1990, surpassing 12 million for the first time.The professional series monitored by Goodyear are: NASCAR Winston Cup and Grand National stock cars; CART Indy-cars, NHRA and IHRA dragsters; World of Outlaws sprint cars; SCCA Trans-Am cars; IMSA GT Prototype and GT0-GTU sports cars; MTEG stadium off-road vehicles; ARCA stock cars; ACT stock cars; ASA stock cars; and NASCAR modified and Winston West stock cars.

Maryland, which recorded its first winning football season in five years and played in an expanded Byrd Stadium, had an increase of 13,159 fans per game last season, the highest increase in Division I, according to the College Football Association.The Terps' average attendance went from 28,962 in 1994 to 42,121 in 1995. Maryland had its largest single-game crowd in 10 years -- a sellout of 48,055 against West Virginia at Byrd Stadium, which has had more than $60 million in renovations over the past four years.

Hundreds of students, alumni and professors at Towson University gathered Tuesday to declare that the school stands for tolerance and diversity, and that a student who has attracted international news coverage for advocating racial segregation does not represent them. Some of those attending the student-planned rally said they were deeply frustrated and angry with news media attention to student Matthew Heimbach's White Student Union and the nighttime patrols that he said are aimed at fighting crime.

Charlie Zill leans forward and adjusts the lines to his oxygen supply before slipping a CD into his laptop. "This is a good one," he says softly. Up pops a video of Zill, the long-time fixture at Orioles games, doing his "Zillbilly" dance in full cornpone regalia (overalls, straw hat, fake teeth, orange fiddle) as John Denver's "Country Boy" blares over the Camden Yards PA system during the seventh-inning stretch. Now here's footage of him joking with Orioles fans and doing magic tricks, and what you notice right away is how everyone lights up when they see him. When the video ends, though, Zill's smile fades.