Back To Baltimore

Growing up in Baltimore in the late 1980s, Dan Griffiths and Jeremy Kasten knew each other just enough to be wary. When, as freshmen at Boston's Emerson College, fate cast them as roommates, neither was exactly thrilled. "I called the school right away," says Griffiths, "to say, 'Hey, I kind of know this guy. Is there a way I can not live in this guy's room?' " The two men roar with laughter. If the housing people at Emerson had only listened. But they didn't, and now, some two decades later, these two Baltimore guys are sitting together on a couch in a largely deserted West Baltimore school building.

Selling a house is rarely easy and quick, but the transaction for the three-story end-of-group brick rowhouse at 200 Warren Ave.e in Federal Hill was just that. The property listed and sold simultaneously, closing for $950,000 after being offered at $995,000. Little wonder. The home was built just five years ago in the same architectural style and detail as the older homes around it. Additionally, it is within walking distance to the Inner Harbor and shops and restaurants on Light and Charles streets.

Randy Shropshire has tried to explain to his friends what it was like to attend a high school where Pinter trumps pompons."I felt like I couldn't really convey it. They didn't quite get it," says the 30-year-old alumnus of the Baltimore School for the Arts. "They were all telling me about their cheerleading and pep rallies and football and I was like, `I have no idea what you're talking about.' "Since the L.A. photographer couldn't express his affinity for his football-free school through words, he decided to show it in pictures.

The Cinderella team of this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament hails from Florida, but its coaches have Maryland roots. Andy Enfield set scoring records at Johns Hopkins before he became head coach at Florida Gulf Coast, the darling of the tournament. His assistant, Kevin "Stink" Norris, grew up in East Baltimore and starred at Lake Clifton. Together, they've put a local face on an upstart team that breaks new ground with every win. The Eagles are the first 15 t h seed in tourney history to make the Sweet 16, and an upset of No. 3 Florida on Friday night would carry Florida Gulf Coast further still.

The lawyer for condemned killer Tyrone X. Gilliam lost a bid yesterday to have an appeal heard by the state's highest court. The court referred the case back to Baltimore County Circuit Court, where Gilliam was convicted and sentenced to death almost a decade ago.Gilliam's attorney, Jerome Nickerson, has been trying to avoid filing the case in Baltimore County because of what he calls "highly irregular" treatment of the case.A Montgomery County Circuit judge declined to hear the case last week and referred Nickerson back to Baltimore County.

Skipjacks goaltender Byron Dafoe is doubtful for tomorrow night's game at Hershey because of a sprained left ankle.Dafoe was injured during Friday's home game against Utica and missed games at Utica and at New Haven the next two nights. Duane Derksen filled in at Utica (win) and at New Haven (tie).Dafoe also is questionable for Saturday's game against Cape Breton at the Baltimore Arena. "He could be ready then or he could be out two or three weeks," Skipjacks coach Barry Trotz said. "It's one of those ankle injuries that's day to day."

A Baltimore man convicted of being an accessory after the fact to the murder of a man in Pasadena during a drug deal that went awry last fall has been released on probation and given credit for time already served in jail.Charles Edward Pannell, 46, of the 1800 block of N. Durham St., was sentenced to three years in prison for the crime. But Anne Arundel Circuit Court Judge Bruce C. Williams gave him credit for the nine months he has been in jail since his capture and suspended the remaining time.

Although he said he is still interested in ownership of the Baltimore Orioles, Leonard "Boogie" Weinglass said he is "very interested in bringing an NFL franchise back to Baltimore.""If I can't buy the Orioles, I would love nothing better than to bring an NFL franchise back to Baltimore, which I am in the very initial stages of pursuing, but am very serious about," Weinglass said during last night's Orioles game at Memorial Stadium.Weinglass, the chairman of Merry-Go-Round Enterprises Inc., which operates a chain of clothing stores, declined to comment on who he has been working with on his NFL venture, just that he was "definitely working with the right people."

Bobby Schulman's heart bled -- he was a good Baltimore boy -- when the Baltimore Colts abandoned his hometown in 1984."The Colts were the biggest thing in Baltimore when I was growing up," he says. "I was sick the day they left."But as an attorney, Robert Barry Schulman had no problem defending Colts' owner Robert Irsay when the City of Baltimore sued Mr. Irsay over his midnight run to Indianapolis.Mr. Schulman explains it this way: "I've represented contract murderers, dope dealers and The Block -- they all deserved a great lawyer.

SAMUEL PORTNEY is the keeper of his brother's memorial. The brother was Jack Portney, gone 11 years now, whose image lingers among the dwindling generation that watched him throw combination punches out of his southpaw crouch at old Oriole Park many summers ago. The boxing game was different in Jack Portney's time. Jack came off of West Baltimore street corners in 1926, when he was 16 years old, and lasted a dozen years trading punches. They called him the Baltimore Buzz Saw for his relentlessness, which came out of sheer hunger.

Shawn Dyson closed his barbershop and let his 10-year-old daughter skip school Tuesday, hoping they could become part of Baltimore sports history. "When you have moments like this in your life, you've got to experience them," said Dyson, who's 49. "This is an epic moment for Baltimore. " Ravens fans called off work, skipped school and brought downtown Baltimore to a standstill Tuesday to welcome their Super Bowl champions home with an exuberant parade and victory rally. The morning rush hour became a logjam as an estimated 200,000-plus people from across Maryland poured into the heart of the city, standing shoulder to shoulder before City Hall, lining both sides of Pratt Street and filling M&T Bank Stadium to capacity.

Joe Saunders' offseason has been spent golfing, working out, entertaining at his Arizona home and being a father to his 2-year-old and 4-year-old girls. He can't say he hasn't thought about where he'll be reporting to spring training in six weeks, but the free agent knows he'll be pitching somewhere. And that's fine for now. “I'm a pretty patient kind of guy. I've always been that kind of guy, to really wait and see how it all plays out,” said Saunders, who was 3-3 with a 3.63 ERA in seven regular season starts with the Orioles after being acquired from Arizona in August.

The wristband caught his attention several times throughout a typical day. If he took a shower, the blue silicone bracelet stayed on. When he had basketball practice or a game, he moved it from his wrist to his ankle. Pictures of red, yellow and blue puzzle pieces surrounded a simple message Jordan Latham read whenever he glanced at his wrist: I love someone with autism. As the former City center labored through his freshman season at Xavier two years ago, the bracelet kept him connected to home.

Since my family and I made the decision to leave New York and come back home to Baltimore, I have been fascinated by the reaction of so many of my friends and family who still call Charm City home. For them, the response can be summed up in one word: "Why?" Many, not sure why I would leave New York to come back to Baltimore, have asked me if everything was all right. The wonder doesn't stop at my immediate circle; even the underwriters for my mortgage asked me to write a letter of explanation.

Shortly after IndyCar practice opened Friday in advance of the Grand Prix of Baltimore, rookie of the year Simon Pagenaud's car went airborne as it crossed the railroad tracks on the Pratt Streetstraight. After last year's race, drivers had asked that a series of small, man-made turns called chicanes be removed. They were in place for the inaugural race to slow the cars as they approached the tracks. With the chicane gone, Pagenaud came out of Turn 12 and accelerated. He hit the tracks, and the front of his car lifted nearly three feet off the ground.

The Orioles are in New York to open their six-game road trip with the series opener tonight against the Yankees. Orioles DH Jim Thome's back spasms haven't gotten better after receiving a cortisone shot and trigger point treatment this weekend. Thome will take a train back to Baltimore tonight and have an MRI tomorrow morning at 11. "Usually it's a day or two before that takes hold or [you know] it's going to help," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of Thome's treatments. "It wasn't much better today.

John M. Staubitz Jr., the former state health official convicted of skimming thousands of dollars in the State Games scandal and who was on the lam for nearly a month before his arrest last week in Las Vegas, said last night that he had fled to avoid sentencing because he was "confused" and "scared.""It was a foolhardy thing to do," Staubitz said as Baltimore sheriff's deputies escorted him through Baltimore-Washington International Airport. "I guess I was just confused and a little scared.

Grace Ellinghause, who retired 30 years ago as a loan manager for Commercial Credit Corp. in Baltimore, died Wednesday in Boulder, Colo., after suffering a stroke. She was 94.A native of Baltimore, Mrs. Ellinghause had been living in Boulder for the past 12 years.The former Grace Bateman attended public schools in Baltimore and Jacksonville, Fla., and was a 1913 graduate of Polytechnic High School in Marysville, Tenn.After the death of her father, Rev. Robert J. Bateman, in the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, the family moved back to Baltimore.

The Orioles are going for a series win in Seattle in this afternoon's series finale against the Mariners at Safeco Field. Right-hander Chris Tillman has officially been recalled from Triple-A Norfolk and will make his first big league start since last Aug. 11. Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts, who was placed on the 15-day DL Tuesday with a right groin strain,  is heading back to Baltimore for more tests. He's going to get a magnetic resonance angiogram (MRA) to see if his injury is hip related.

The long, strange odyssey of Brian Roberts continues. On Sunday, the rehab tour of the Orioles' second baseman had him at Prince George's Stadium, one of those new-ish minor league ballparks that somehow manages to feel like something out of "Bull Durham" at the same time. (My favorite outfield sign juxtaposition: a Wawa billboard showing a huge sub sandwich stuffed with meat under an Anne Arundel Medical Center sign that says "These are the doctors you want. " Wonder if one's a cardiologist?