Attendance

In St. Louis, general manager Dan Counce feels his franchise has turned a corner toward success, but Counce is the only one in the Major Soccer League who can look at attendance figures and feel good.Despite the claims that attendance would rise once the season moved into the traditional indoor soccer months of January, February and March it hasn't. In fact, except for St. Louis, attendance is down in every city in the league.Not only that, but the average attendance after 166 league games, dating through last Sunday, is 6,328, the exact same average attendance figure recorded Dec. 30, 1990.

The Thunder appears set to roll out of Baltimore.The 13-year-old professional indoor lacrosse team is "96 percent certain" that it will move to Pittsburgh, a source close to the team said yesterday.Jim Ulman, the National Lacrosse League team's general manager, confirmed the talks with the western Pennsylvania city and said the final decision will be made this morning. Team owner Dennis Townsend, who was in Baltimore yesterday, did not return phone calls."We're in the 11th hour with Pittsburgh and Baltimore right now," Ulman said.

Thanks to their mother's inventiveness, Willie, Wendell, Whitney and Winton Baker didn't miss a day of school from September to March.Yvette Williams, 35, said that instead of hounding her children to go to school, she used rap songs to motivate them.Each morning as the children prepared for classes at George Washington Elementary School on Scott Street in Southwest Baltimore, the family sang rap songs about the importance of education.The effort paid off and on June 2 the Baker children -- Willie, 10, Wendell, 8, Whitney, 6, and Winton, 4, who attends prekindergarten -- were among 6,921 students who were honored at the Baltimore Arena for perfect attendance.

WASHINGTON -- Running for higher office appears to be hazardous for attendance at roll call votes in Congress. If Congress had an attendance officer, the No. 1 truant on the list would be Republican Representative Larry J. Hopkins of Kentucky, according to a study released yesterday.Mr. Hopkins, who was running for governor of Kentucky much of the year, showed up for 36 percent of the House's 428 roll call votes in 1991, according to the annual study released by the private Roll Call Report Syndicate, which specializes in congressional accountability issues.

Despite hot weather early in the week, the annual eight-day-long Howard County Fair saw slightly higher attendance this year, cheering organizers. "We went into the fair very apprehensive about the economy," said H. Mitchell "Mickey" Day, fair association president and chief of the nearby West Friendship Volunteer Fire Department. Despite that, Day said attendance was between 84,000 and 85,000 people, a 2 percent increase over last year, which was "a banner year," he said. The slightly higher gate receipts will enable the nonprofit fair association to do some needed paving at the fairgrounds, and also consider an upgrade to the 4-H building.

Attendance at 15 major North American auto racing series increased by nearly a half million spectators last year, and no one was more pleased than Bill King, the man responsible for counting the crowds for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co."It has been going up every year," he said after releasing the annual attendance figures. "Every year, despite the economy, tracks add seats, and every year they fill them and I'm always surprised. But I'm dreading the year they stay the same or go down. I don't want to be the guy who has to write that report."

Because some members were often absent, the Maritime Advisory Board asked the Annapolis city council last year to increase the panel's membership as a way to boost attendance.That didn't sit well with Alderman Louise Hammond.The Ward 1 Democrat felt board members should regularly attend meetings.Last night, the council passed legislation, introduced in September by Hammond and two other aldermen, that more stringently regulates attendance of members of Annapolis' 24 boards and commissions.

Because some members were often absent, the Maritime Advisory Board asked the Annapolis city council last year to increase the panel's membership as a way to boost attendance.That didn't sit well with Alderman Louise Hammond.The Ward 1 Democrat felt board members should regularly attend meetings.Last night, the council passed legislation, introduced in September by Hammond and two other aldermen, that more stringently regulates attendance of members of Annapolis' 24 boards and commissions.

It may be a while before the finances are worked out, but attendance figures from last month's inaugural Maryland Film Festival suggest local cineastes embraced the four-day event.Attendance for the festival was approximately 8,000, says organizer Jed Dietz, well above the 3,500 figure he'd initially projected."We were well over our attendance goals," says Dietz, who figures he's about a week away from figuring out just how profitable the first festival was -- and how much money will be donated toward film preservation, as promised.

The inevitability didn't subtract from its significance. As the Orioles went about winning their sixth consecutive game with a 4-1 decision over the Seattle Mariners at Camden Yards, paid attendance for one of the most disappointing seasons in team history eclipsed 3 million.And for once, the Orioles could brag they tied the Yankees.The defending world champs joined the fourth-place team as the first franchises to pass the milepost this season. An announced Camden Yards crowd of 44,891 pushed the Orioles to 3,032,891 with club officials projecting a season-ending figure of approximately 3.5 million.