Blue Angels

Whether it's the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines or Coast Guard, your favorite branch of the military will be represented this weekend at what is described as the biggest military show in the country. It's the Department of Defense's 40th annual open house at Andrews Air Force Base, just outside of Washington."The joint services open house is one of the best vehicles for the American taxpayer to come out and see what they have bought," says Lt. Dave Waterman, a Navy public affairs officer and spokesman for the show.

Lone Tomcat to fly in lieu of Blue AngelsA single F-14 Navy Tomcat will fly over the Severn River on Sunday and Monday afternoons during commissioning week at the U.S. Naval Academy.The old Severn River Bridge in Annapolis will be closed between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday and at the same time Monday afternoon for a performance by one of the Navy's top interceptor planes, city police announced yesterday.The Tomcat is performing instead of the Blue Angels, the Navy's precision flying team, which has been grounded.

President Bush will give the commissioning address to the Class of 2001 graduating midshipmen at the Naval Academy on May 25, White House officials said yesterday. "It's an honor to host the president for graduation," said academy spokesman Bill Spann. "What better way for the Class of 2001 to start a military career than to hear from their commander in chief?" The decision follows a decades-long tradition in which the president speaks at one of the five military academies each year. Bush also will address the graduates at the University of Notre Dame on May 20. The Naval Academy ceremonies, which are open to the 1,000 graduates, their families and invited guests, include a flyover by the Blue Angels and the traditional white hat toss.

The annual spectacle and pageantry of Commissioning Week has begun in Annapolis, where music, marching, the roar of jet planes and a presidential speech will highlight commencement activities for the Naval Academy's thousand-strong Class of 2001. The most public of the events will be a series of parades and concerts - and the arrival, rehearsal and performance of the Navy's Blue Angels precision flight team in the skies over the state capital. Among the least public will be the commencement itself, an invitation-only event at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium where President Bush will deliver the address.

It has become common to see the word "crescendo" misused, but it is especially disappointing when it is misused in the newspaper, which was once a standard-bearer for proper language. I am referring to your front page article about Sailabration, which said the air show represented a "crescendo" for the event and repeated the error by describing it as "a potent crescendo of Angels" ("Blue Angels add awe to Sailabration festivities," June 16). A crescendo is a process, not a result.

  Steve Medinger, the director of the Northern Maryland Fellowship of Christian Athletes, took a sign to the National HomeSchool Football Tournament that read, “Don't Mess with Texas,” but he crossed out Texas and wrote in “Maryland.” Maryland Christian coach Tony DiPaola pleaded with Medinger to keep that sign hidden when the Saints took on the Blue Angels from Dallas for the national home school championship Saturday in Panama City,...

I have lived in Baltimore for over 40 years and I have never been so proud nor so impressed with the city as I have been this past weekend. The Sailabration was beautifully orchestrated, and the organizers deserve much credit for a flawless event. The tall ships and all the visiting ships were magnificent with eager visitors. The Blue Angels were simply thrilling. The harbor was overflowing with happy families. Pierce's Park, our newest park along the water near Pier V, was jammed with joyful children, happy parents and an extraordinary mix of people so impressed with this city.

The annual Blue Angels air show at the Naval Academy almost came to a screeching halt last year when a riverfront Annapolis area resident -- prominent lawyer Brendan Sullivan -- refused to move his lawn party out of the show's off-limits "aerobatic box."This year, to avoid another last-minute showdown, the academy is moving the off-limits box 150 feet to the south and east.That means Sullivan, whose practice is in Washington, can have his annual Blue Angels party.But it also means the academy's Dewey Field, a grassy riverfront rectangle and the prime spot for watching the Blue Angels, is off-limits.

WEATHER Today's forecast calls for cloudy conditions in the Baltimore area, with a slight chance of showers, a high near 75 and south winds between 7 and 9 miles per hour. The chance of precipitation is 20 percent. TRAFFIC Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues as you plan your commute. FROM THE WEEKEND... Relive Sailabration : Look through Baltimore Sun photos of the Blue Angels and other Sailabration festivities from the weekend.

Soaking wet, dripping in mud and sweating so badly steam rose from their mass of bodies, plebes at the Naval Academy climbed a 21-foot obelisk slathered in lard yesterday, ushering in graduation week and completing one of the academy's most unusual traditions. The climb in the rain up Herndon Monument to tear down the hat of a freshman, or plebe, and to replace it with an upperclassman's, has been a ritual since the early 1960s. This year's class took one hour, 19 minutes and 44 seconds, the fastest time in almost 10 years.