Baltimore Colts

He's 80 now, and slightly bent, as if preparing to set in a three-point stance. Three hip replacements, plus a new knee, will do that to a man. Not that Ordell Braase is complaining. "Physically, I'm in pretty good shape," said Braase, longtime defensive end for the Baltimore Colts. "Mentally? Well . . . it's getting a little cramped up there. " The years haven't fogged his recollections of the 1968 NFL championship, a 34-0 shutout before a crowd of 80,628 in Cleveland. Braase did his part, plowing through the Browns to register three sacks and stop Leroy Kelly, their storied running back, in his tracks.

A tough-guy tackle of the Baltimore Colts in the 1970s, Joe Ehrmann turned his life over to God and became a Christian minister after his professional football days. Last week, following the Freeh report on Penn State and Joe Paterno, Ehrmann sent out this Tweet: "My faith position affirms there r no unpardonable sins. But PSU leadership that knew re Sandusky n did nothing is as close as u can get. " This wasn't just another disgusted American commenting on the report's conclusion that Paterno, the legendary (and late)

WEATHER The National Weather Service is calling for Monday to be rainy in the Baltimore area, with a high near 87 northeast winds 6 to 9 miles per hour. Forecasters warn that a few of the storms could be severe and produce large hail, lightning and damaging wind gusts. Monday night is expected to be mostly cloudy, with a low around 71 and east winds 3 to 5 miles per hour. The chance of precipitation is 30 percent. TRAFFIC Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues as you plan your commute.

Former Colts offensive lineman John Williams, who played four seasons in Baltimore, died Sunday while out for a walk about six blocks from his Minneapolis home, the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune reported . The cause of death was not immediately available. The Star Tribune article said Williams was 64, while NFL.com listed him as 66. Williams was drafted by the Colts in 1968 and was a member of the team that won Super Bowl V in January 1971. In 1972 he joined the Los Angeles Rams and played eight seasons with them until retiring after the 1979 season.

I'll Have Another, fresh off winning the second leg of the Triple Crown, nipped at anyone who came by Sunday morning. He was more playful than ornery. Someone told trainer Doug O'Neill that the colt's eyelids looked heavy.  "He's always got that look," O'Neill shot back. It's true. I'll Have Another appeared only mildly bothered yesterday after running a mile and three-sixteenths in under two minutes and being herded into a crowded winner's circle. After his connections partied late into the night outside of his barn - except for O'Neill, who went to his hotel room with his wife and kids and ordered room service - I'll Have Another was spry at dawn.

Last week, on what would have been his father's 79th birthday, Chad Unitas visited his grave at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens. There, on the edge of a pond filled with ducks and ringed by weeping willows, he knelt by the marble marker and spoke with the one many call football's greatest quarterback. "I go there a couple of times a month, to ask my dad's advice about this and that," Unitas said. "He's been gone 10 years, but I can still hear his voice. " Johnny Unitas died of a heart attack Sept.

Joe Vitt went directly from the football field at Towson State to his first job in the NFL as the strength coach of the Baltimore Colts in 1979. A little more than 30 years later, Vitt finds himself in the middle of one of the biggest stories in the league's recent history - and one of its biggest scandals. Though the 57-year-old New Orleans Saints assistant coach has been suspended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for the first six games of the 2012 season for his role in an illegal bounty system, Vitt was named interim coach Thursday by the Saints.

I was there that night. It was 28 years ago, in the snowy, pre-dawn darkness of March 29, that the Mayflower vans rumbled out of Owings Mills and the Baltimore Colts left for Indianapolis, ripping an entire city's heart out in the process. Just before midnight, we started getting calls on the sports desk at the old Evening Sun that there was unusual activity taking place at the Colts complex. At first we thought it was just a couple of crank calls. But more folks were calling in to report that the complex was lit up, with the sound of trucks echoing everywhere and security guards stopping anyone not authorized to enter.

Sisto Joseph Averno Sr., a guard who played on the Baltimore Colts in the 1950s and went on to sell Chevrolets for 57 years, died of complications from Parkinson's disease Monday at Northwest Hospital. He was 86 and lived in Pikesville. Born in Paterson, N.J., he was the son of Roberto Averno and Elvira Isabella Salerno. While a student at Paterson High School, he played football and was scouted by colleges. He won athletic scholarships, but he forged a birth certificate so he could enlist in the Navy during World War II. He was assigned to the South Pacific and served as a gunner's mate aboard a destroyer.

You knew it would come up as soon as you heard that the Indianapolis Colts would be releasing star quarterback Peyton Manning and a sportscaster there was calling him the "best player to ever play for the Colts. " More than a few Baltimore Colts fans will beg to differ with him. So the Johnny Unitas vs. Peyton Manning debate is likely to be re-ignited by today's release of Manning . And you're sure to hear that Manning is the greatest Colt who ever lived.