Big Picture

Wim Wenders' spectacular image of the Australian outback, on view at C. Grimaldis Gallery, presents an enormous panorama of rust-colored rock, jagged mountains and pale-blue sky 6 feet tall and more than 14 feet long - a picture so large it nearly fills an entire wall of the gallery. Only a few years ago, such a gargantuan image would have been a rarity - indeed, a near physical impossibility - for most photography shows, where the idea of big used to be anything larger than 8-by-10 inches.

Granted the program's first ranking in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll, Washington will test that No. 15 ranking this Saturday when No. 17 Gettysburg visits Roy Kirby Jr. Field in Chestertown. The Shoremen (8-2 overall and 5-0 in the Centennial Conference) own a half-game lead over the Bullets (7-3, 4-0), who have captured the league championship 13 times. But Washington, winners of eight straight, is riding its own wave of confidence. “It's one of those things where that can absolutely work in our favor,” coach Jeff Shirk said Monday.

The Sun has given prominent coverage to the most dramatic aspects of the BGE rate increase story: legislation passed by a special session of the General Assembly that caps the initial increase at 15 percent instead of 72 percent, fires all current members of the Public Service Commission, which oversees utility regulation, and restructures the commission. The newspaper also has paid close attention to a public hearing on the bill that was chaired and tightly controlled by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., and to the governor's subsequent veto of the legislation.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh made it abundantly clear to reporters on Monday that he had no interest in talking about letdowns, psychology and the big picture. He just wanted to talk about football, which explains why he said "football" nine times in 30 seconds during his press conference. [ via Baltimore Sports Report ]

PRINCESS ANNE -- Fang Mitchell paced in front of Coppin State's bench. He wiped his face with his hands, waved his arms, stomped his feet and hollered. And this was during the first minute of the game.By the end, Mitchell had covered more ground than a marathoner. But he had more to show for it, too -- his 400th career win.Not that he enjoyed it much. Coppin rallied in the last six minutes to defeat UMES, 69-60, at Tawes Gymnasium, but if that were reason to celebrate, Mitchell couldn't see it.His vision was locked on what he calls "the big picture."

Aberdeen had just beaten rival Edgewood on its home court by 37 points, avenging three losses to the Rams last year - including a 36-point drubbing in the state playoffs. But on the mind of Eagles junior forward Erin Henderson, who registered 14 points and 12 rebounds in Aberdeen's 84-47 victory before 850 at a sold-out Rams' gym on Friday, was the big picture, not the big payback. "This feels good, but this is just another step to where we want to be," said Henderson, the brother of University of Maryland All-American linebacker E.J. Henderson.

Dishing out sports media notes while waiting for the next episode of the new summer series on Fox News, The Greta and Brett Show: *The hiring of Bob Papa as the NFL Network's play-by-play voice - a long-anticipated move announced this week - means a switch in outlook on the games from the perspective offered by Bryant Gumbel. That's according to the man sitting behind the analyst microphone for the Thursday night package, Cris Collinsworth. "With Bryant, I was always interested in his take on the games because Bryant has a way of seeing a very broad picture of the NFL and big picture of where the NFL fits in the world, obviously with all his news background and such," Collinsworth said, according to highlights of a conference call.

The Contemporary Museum's "The Big Picture -- Take II" seemed quite the party at which to see and be seen. Many big names in the art world were there -- William Wegman, Connie Imboden, Andy Warhol, Grace Hartigan and Alexander Calder, to name a few -- names, that is, gracing some of the artwork being sold at the museum's second annual benefit auction and exhibition at its home at 100 West Centre St. And then there were the names of the 135 art aficionados present,...

Ravens coach John Harbaugh made it abundantly clear to reporters on Monday that he had no interest in talking about letdowns, psychology and the big picture. He just wanted to talk about football, which explains why he said "football" nine times in 30 seconds during his press conference. [ via Baltimore Sports Report ]

The Big Picture. The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood By Edward Jay Epstein. Random House. 381 pages. $25.95. Each week, most newspapers publish the movie industry's Top 10 weekly box office grosses. To the press and to most consumers, this chart is the barometer of financial success for films. But as well-respected journalist Edward Jay Epstein writes in his meticulously reported new book, The Big Picture, the size of those box office receipts has little to do in defining success in today's Hollywood.

Derrek Lee, who had been an Oriole for all of 31/2 months, summoned his struggling teammates together and delivered a message that was a mix of encouragement, insight and advice. With the Orioles in the midst of an eight-game losing streak in mid-April, Lee urged his teammates to relax, acknowledged that he needed to start doing his part and concluded there was too much talent in the home clubhouse for the lineup to be performing as it was. "He thought it was appropriate at the time, and so did everybody else," Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis said.

Big picture: smart move Steve Svekis Sun Sentinel Over the course of a single game, the rules change will spare players a half-dozen or so of the most violent, collision-filled sequences that occur in the NFL, as it will be a shock if the vast majority of kickers can't routinely get the ball deep into the end zone. So, it is a prudent move as evidence continues to pour in regarding the grievous post-career lives to which so many of these crippled men are relegated.

From Jay Hancock's Blog: I can't reproduce the Zillow graph, apparently because it's a flash chart. But it says my house is worth $491,000, which is about $5,000 more than we paid for it in late 2003. I know Zillow values aren't gospel, but they're a rough and interesting indicator of where house values have been and are going. We paid $485,000 for the Howard County house in November 2003. According to Zillow it was worth $670,000 by 2006, and as recently as last summer it was worth $540,000, according to the Web site.

The book on new Orioles manager Buck Showalter is a fairly easy read. He's known as a master of preparation, a student of the game, a micromanager and a guy who can see the big picture and the small picture at the same time. That was on display at his introductory news conference Monday afternoon at Camden Yards. He talked about the Orioles' proud history. He was deferential to outgoing interim manager Juan Samuel. He deftly navigated inquiries about the sensitive, uncharted territory he will inhabit alongside Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail and owner Peter Angelos.

Did I read that correctly? The front page article in the Sunday Sun where police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says that the "charges brought against" murder suspect Baltimore City Officer Gahiji Tshamba are an "affront to the officers that work hard to make this city safe"? Are you serious? The charges are an affront and an aberration? Please tell me someone didn't proofread that article or that perhaps Mr. Guglielmi was misquoted or taken out of context. Because it's certainly not the charges that are an affront and an aberration to the police force but Officer Tshamba's actions . How about the fact that Mr. Tshamba was even allowed to refuse a breathalyzer under those circumstances?

Within two hours of the Dow Jones industrial average plunging nearly 1,000 points Thursday, the call volume jumped about 40 percent at Baltimore's T. Rowe Price Associates. Anxious investors phoned to say, "The market is falling. I can't afford to let that happen," says Christine Fahlund, Price's senior financial planner. Callers were advised to hang tight. And Price representatives were instructed not to speculate on the cause of the plunge with clients because no one knew what was happening, she says.

THE TOP FIVE 1 Titans (8-0) Sooner or later, they'll need to throw. 2 Giants (7-1) Everything's working for Tom Coughlin. 3 Steelers (6-2) How long can Ben Roethlisberger hold on? 4 Panthers (6-2) Play Raiders today, Lions next week. 5 Eagles (5-3) Acid test tonight against Giants at home. THE BOTTOM FIVE 28 Rams (2-6) Coaching change has worn off; it's back to losing. 29 Bengals (1-8) Will they be satisfied with one win? 30 Chiefs (1-7) Can't protect a big lead even at home.

President Bush is willing to risk a fight with Congress over human rights to retain most favored nation status for China, a designation worth billions of dollars in foreign trade. The president, who represented the United States in Beijing as the countries began to resume diplomatic relations and considers himself an expert on China, cites "big picture" concerns -- the strategic importance of this huge country as well as its cooperation in the U.N. Security Council during the Persian Gulf crisis.

- Baltimore was still digging out from the first blizzard last month when the second one struck. A foot and a half of new snow clogged highways across the state. Scores of motorists were trapped by conditions that forced plow crews off the roads. For a time, not even wreckers or the State Highway Administration's rescue trucks could reach them. But while the travelers sat stranded, 53 disabled vehicles remained in view on dozens of highway traffic cameras, or as flashing icons on computer screens.

H aving, over the last few months, had ample opportunity to contemplate and discuss the matter, we feel the time has come for The Baltimore Sun to take a position on what may be the most pressing issue of our time. We hereby officially oppose snow. This newspaper does not appear previously to have taken an explicit position on this or on any other major form of weather, but a search of the archives reveals a dangerous quasi-pro-snow policy. In February 2007, we noted that "maybe we wouldn't even mind one more snowfall," and in 2004, we admitted an affection for "an occasional snowman and a well-thrown snowball."