Bleachers

Season's Greetings. . .Joe Holman was a publicist way back when. He did all sports, amateur and professional, and, until baseball came along, he used to say the best athlete he ever worked with is Spartacus.Joe's gone now, but each spring when the voice of the turtle (and umpires) is heard across the land, his tribute to the game comes to mind:THE BLEACHERITEI wanna go sit in the bleachersAnd root for the home team to winAnd join in the boos, with good pallies like youseAnd "kill" me an ump, now and then.

Regarding your report that Sparrows Point is again up for sale, due to past uses of the land there's not much that can be done with now. However, it could make an excellent site for a race track. With the Baltimore Grand Prix IndyCar race supposedly a success, maybe it is time to try finding interested parties to operate a track. Sparrows Point can never be turned into housing, but a huge track with bleachers would be perfect. There are many racing enthusiasts in Maryland and many actually race their own vehicles.

Someone has been stealing bleachers in Carroll County, state police spokesman Chuck Jackson said.About 120 bleachers have been taken from six parks and two public schools, he said."

Orioles first baseman Mark Reynolds recorded his second two-homer game of the series in today's series finale at Yankee Stadium, driving in four of the Orioles' five runs so far as the O's have taken a 5-3 lead here in the Bronx. Reynolds' first homer, a solo shot in the fifth inning, was a mammoth shot to left field off Phil Hughes that landed about 15 rows up into the Yankee Stadium outfield bleachers. His second one -- another bomb into the left-field bleachers -- was a three-run shot off Hughes that gave the Orioles a 5-3 lead in the team's four-run sixth inning.

IN JOHN GRISHAM'S sentimental little book titled Bleachers, a group of former high school football players gather in the bleachers at their old field, sharing memories as they wait for word that their feared and revered old coach has succumbed to cancer. It's a lovely scene, but I think Grisham got it wrong. As athletes, those guys never spent a minute in the bleachers during their high school careers, so it makes no sense that they would gather in that place to comfort one another. The bleachers are where their parents would have gone.

When football season kicks off at Edgewood High a little more than a month from now, fans finally will have brand new bleachers to sit on and new lights overhead.The additions will come as part of a $200,000 project that also will add a new press box next year.The old bleachers provided seating for just more than 300 people, but the new ones will hold 1,350.The old movable bleachers, which had been donated by Edgewood Arsenal, were 30 to 40 years old, said Paul Metzger, work experience coordinator and partnership coordinator for Edgewood High.

Volleyball fans who came to Mount Hebron High School on Friday night to watch the Vikings and visiting Centennial play for the county championship weren't nearly as surprised by the outcome -- a five-game Hebron victory -- as they were by the seating arrangements in Hebron's gym.Several hundred spectators arrived to find the bleachers closed with "Condemned, Do Not Open" signs taped over them. Fans had to sit on individual chairs placed in rows along each sideline.The reason for the inconvenience?

HOLLYWOOD -- When it comes to the fans of the Oscars, the real winners are in the bleachers.That's where the luckiest fans get to sit, the ones willing to sleep outside a few nights, subsisting on the food they're able to carry in and enduring chilly L.A. evenings (Hey, in L.A., 50 degrees is chilly).Their prize: They get as close to the Oscars as the average fan can get. Last night they watched the stars arrive, snapped a few pictures, breathed the same air as the stars they adore.They also earned the envy of a couple thousand more fans who can't get that close, who are forced to flit around the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion like moths surrounding a flame, getting close but never actually getting inside.

There are any number of ways to come by Opening Day tickets, but the best way of all is as a last-minute gift. You come to the office on a Monday morning expecting one sort of day, only to be detoured into a completely different one. Instead of sitting in front of a computer terminal like any other Monday, you find yourself in the sun-soaked bleachers at Camden Yards for the most festive game of the year. That is the definition of a good workday, and it was Lori Thompson's on Monday.

The demolition of Memorial Stadium resumed yesterday morning as preservationists lost a last-minute court hearing to halt destruction of the lauded landmark. Wrecking crews began work about 11 a.m., bringing down portions of the left outfield bleachers. The demolition started at the order of Mayor Martin O'Malley, who had tried to craft a compromise with preservationists and developers Thursday night. An agreement was reached to save the war memorial portion of the facade, but preservationists want more.

I’m glad Major League Baseball has changed its stance on sharing video, because I wouldn’t have been able to pass along this video of a Cubs fan trying to gun down Miguel Tejada at home plate after a home run. I know, Tejada, now with the Giants, couldn't be tagged out because he smashed the ball into the bleachers -- and because fans can't throw players out -- but check out the throw as Miggy is rounding the bases. [ Via Deadspin ]

After an 8-0 run extended No. 9 City's lead over No. 5 Edmondson to 48-34 with 5:36 left to play in the fourth quarter, a fight broke out in the stands at Baltimore City College that caused Friday night's rematch of last season's regional title game to be suspended. The game will be finished at a later date. "Edmondson is a cross-town rival, but I didn't expect that," said City coach Mike Daniel after the gym had been emptied. "It was shocking. " Edmondson called a timeout after City guard Nick Faust drained a 3 from the top of the key with 5:36 left to play in the game, capping a furious 10-minute run. City's energetic student body roared throughout the timeout, gesturing to the Edmondson fans at the other end of the court.

Home-field advantage has never looked more appealing to Jeremiah Conway. Conway, a senior center and defensive tackle for the Mervo high school football team, can't wait to open the 2008 season at Art Modell Field at Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High School - on the same field turf that the city's NFL franchise plays on and in front of more bleachers. The facility also includes and upgraded concession stand and upgraded restrooms. "I appreciate being able to go out on a new field, under the lights, in front of new bleachers," Conway said.

The Sun's Olympic correspondents, Rick Maese and Kevin Van Valkenburg, are blogging to each other at baltimoresun.com/olympicsblog . An excerpt: To: Kevin, et al. Subject: Before we talk about 2012 ... The rail at Churchill Downs ... in the shade at Amen Corner ... ringside at a heavyweight title fight ... the Wrigley Field bleachers ... in front of the Crazies at Cameron Indoor Stadium. I'm not sure what you think the coolest seat in sports is, Kevin, but I got to think being at the Water Cube these past nine days is pretty close to the top. And sitting in front of a television and soaking it all in from home is not a bad second.

An Arnold man and woman have been charged with stripping the aluminum bleacher seats from three Anne Arundel County parks and selling the metal for recycling, Anne Arundel County police said yesterday. Robert Edward Johnston, 33, and Cindy Joy Ward, 34, both of the 1500 block of Winter Berry Drive face three counts of felony theft each in the incidents from Dec. 17 to Dec. 21 at Arnold Park, Broadneck Park and Freetown Park in Pasadena, said Cpl. Mark L. Shawkey, a police spokesman. Police suspect that the two might have been involved in a similar theft at Elvaton Park, also in Pasadena, and an attempted theft of bleacher seats at Kinder Farm Park in Millersville, both of which took place in the same time period.

Families, spectators and power-boat race enthusiasts can join the Kent Narrows Racing Association this weekend to watch powerboats race more than 100 mph at the 17th annual Thunder on the Narrows races at the Kent Island Yacht Club. "It's flat-out fun; I tell people it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on," said Wheeler Baker, the race director. Attendees can watch more than 50 boats whizzing past at high speeds. The fastest boats go about 140 mph, Baker said. According to Baker, the event usually draws a crowd of more than 1,000 spectators.

The bleachers at Camden Yards are a pretty good place to catch a ballgame. They're not bad for witnessing an international spectacle either.In Section 96, Row N, Seat 14, Amanda Barrett might have been a long way from home plate Monday night, but she was perfectly situated to see a Cuban umpire body-slam an anti-Castro demonstrator to the ground behind second base and then pummel him in the face.Amanda hasn't been to a lot of Orioles games in her life, but it seemed to her that this wasn't average ballpark fare.

As the Baltimore Oriole mascot danced down the bleachers trying to entertain fans in May, a Philadelphia man made a scene of a different sort: He pushed the Bird into right field. The Bird bit back. On Thursday, a Baltimore Circuit Court judge ordered Louis G. Vitagliano to pay the Bird, John J. Krownapple, $60,000. The money is to cover medical expenses, lost wages and the pain and suffering endured when Krownapple fell 15 feet from the bleachers on May 4. "It is kind of sick to attack the mascot," said Krownapple's lawyer, F. Todd Taylor.

Sterling Jones sits on a concrete ledge above rusty metal bleachers at Edmondson-Westside High School watching the school band labor through a last rehearsal before tonight's football game. His feet dangle over the ledge, but it is hardly an image of relaxation. He nervously rocks back and forth. The biggest game of his senior year is tonight, Saturday, Sept. 23, Edmondson versus City College under the lights at Polytechnic Institute's football stadium.

Winters Mill High has had a number of firsts since opening four years ago. Tonight, the school expects to have one more. The Falcons host rival Westminster in a key early-season Carroll County football matchup that is expected to mark the school's first stadium sellout. Winters Mill pre-sold about 2,000 tickets to students and fans from both schools, and because of safety concerns, chose not to sell any more at the gate. "We just don't have the facility to have 3,000 or 4,000 people in the stadium," athletic director Bill Rumbaugh said.