Brigance

Broadcasting booths and sidelines are littered with former athletes who jump into sportscasting with little understanding, much less feel, for how the profession works or how to make their work stand out from the rest of the field.O.J. Brigance, a rush end/linebacker with the Baltimore CFL club, was determined to learn the business from the ground floor, so he signed on with Stan "The Fan" Charles to do hourly sports updates on Charles' Monday night "Baltimore Sports Exchange" shows on WWLG (1360 AM)

The sight couldn't have been easy for Ravens fans: Ed Reed wearing a Houston Texans' hat and later holding up a blue No. 20 jersey. For Reed, a Raven for 11 seasons and one of the franchise's best ever players, it wasn't an easy decision either. At a news conference Friday in Houston in which he was introduced as the newest Texan, Reed called leaving the Ravens “probably the hardest thing ever in life.” “It's not so much as leaving, because like I said, I'm going to be part of the community, and I'm going to be part of this community.

O. J. Brigance has gone back to linebacker school, where re-learning old habits has presented him with another challenge.Brigance, who broke into the Canadian Football League as a linebacker for British Columbia in 1991, when he was named to the all-Western Conference team, moved to rush end for the Baltimore Football Club last year, and eventually became the team's top point-getter on defense.Coach Don Matthews wants to use Brigance as his fifth pass rusher from behind the line, while Matthews hopes that a battle between rookies Jock Jones and Grant Carter will give Baltimore a new defensive end, solidifying its five-man rush.

Editor: Like many Harford County residents, I was thrilled that the Ravens won the Super Bowl this year. However, for me, one of the most important parts of this event was the attention given to OJ Brigance and his fight against ALS, better known to many as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Having lost a very good friend, Dave Simmons, to this dreadful disease, I am hoping that many people will find out more about this condition and make charitable contributions to organizations fighting to find detection, prevention and a cure for this illness.

This was at training camp 2008, in the conference room at the Best Western Hotel in Westminster, the place so quiet you could hear hearts beat. O.J. Brigance stood in front of the Ravens with a body ravaged by Lou Gehrig's disease and told them in essence: Don't look at me any differently. Don't feel sorry for me. I'm still here. I'm still one of you. He told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" program that he gave the speech for one simple reason. "They were going to have one of the toughest jobs in the league," he said of the Ravens.

The Mount de Sales Academy Athletic Department will induct six individuals and a team into its Athletic Hall of Fame Saturday, Nov. 10. The Athletic Hall of Fame seeks to recognize the outstanding achievements of past MDSA coaches and athletes with a new class inducted every two years. The 2012 MDSA Hall of Fame Inductees are: Coach Hank Hofmeister, Basketball; Dr. Cynthia Clark '02, Swimming and Softball; Sharon Birkett '86, Basketball; Jenny Held Miller '89, Basketball and Lacrosse; Dr. Linda Justice Teodosio '79, Basketball and Lacrosse; Susan Devlin Switzer '60, Basketball; and the 1985 Lacrosse Team.

Try telling Baltimore Stallion O. J. Brigance how good he is, and you likely will get a smile, a thank-you and a self-deprecating comment.Brigance, one of the Canadian Football League's most productive players, is talent without pretension, confidence tempered by an easygoing charm. Listen to Brigance, and you learn about a player with lots of priorities, which don't necessarily revolve around football.Twice in his five-year CFL career, Brigance has been named to All-Star teams. But the Tom Pate Memorial Man-of-the-Year Award, which the league bestowed upon him last spring for his outstanding sportsmanship and contribution to the Baltimore community, brings him special satisfaction.

It was clearly not the conventional path that brought O. J. Brigance to Baltimore last March as one of the Canadian Football League's premier pass rushers.The unorthodoxy started in high school, where Brigance was a center on the offensive line at Willow Ridge in Missouri City, Texas, outside Houston.It continued at Rice University, which he attended because "nobody else wanted me."And it followed him to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he launched his CFL career in 1991 with the B.C. Lions in three-down country.

No football player has won a Grey Cup and a Super Bowl representing the same city. Until O.J. Brigance signed with the Ravens, no player ever had a chance. Brigance, a standout linebacker for the 1995 Grey Cup champion Baltimore Stallions, said his familiarity with the city wasn't the "be-all, end-all" in his decision to join the Ravens as an unrestricted free agent. Likewise, Ravens vice president of player personnel Ozzie Newsome wasn't acting out of sentiment when he signed Brigance to compete for the sixth linebacker position and be a "significant contributor" on special teams.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- O. J. Brigance heard the phrase a year ago, when Sacramento was christened the first United States team in the Canadian Football League."

Ravens fans who also want to bring their purple passion to a cause can purchase a special edition Super Bowl XLVII T-shirt to benefit The Brigance Brigade Foundation, created by former Ravens player O.J. Brigance and his wife, Chanda. All proceeds from sales of the $20 T-shirt go to the foundation, which raises funds to support and improve the quality of life for patients with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and their families by providing needed equipment, resource guidance and services.

He was a mighty presence when the Baltimore Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV, a warrior who busted a wedge to make the first tackle that day and went on to make four more. If current coach John Harbaugh is to be believed, even then he was the toughest man in football. Today O.J. Brigance has limbs that hang limp, his muscles withered. He can move only his lips and eyes and must use a computer to speak. The team's director of player engagement is in his fifth year of battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a lethal and incurable illness.

There are Ravens fans, there are passionate Ravens fans, and then there is Cindy Pierce. "I go by the fan name of Purple Dame," said Pierce, who lives in Severn and said she's missed just one home game in the past 13 years. When she cheers on her team, "I'm just head to toe in purple," wearing a No. 98 jersey for former Raven Tony Siragusa, she said. Pierce, who was honored last year by the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Hall of Fans, is involved with several Ravens fans groups, and has been urging fellow members to support the Brigance Brigade Foundation, the nonprofit organization started by former Ravens player O.J. Brigance and his wife, Chanda, after he was diagnosed in 2007 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS and Lou Gehrig's disease, a progressive motor neuron disease that robs people of their ability to control their muscles.

The Mount de Sales Academy Athletic Department will induct six individuals and a team into its Athletic Hall of Fame Saturday, Nov. 10. The Athletic Hall of Fame seeks to recognize the outstanding achievements of past MDSA coaches and athletes with a new class inducted every two years. The 2012 MDSA Hall of Fame Inductees are: Coach Hank Hofmeister, Basketball; Dr. Cynthia Clark '02, Swimming and Softball; Sharon Birkett '86, Basketball; Jenny Held Miller '89, Basketball and Lacrosse; Dr. Linda Justice Teodosio '79, Basketball and Lacrosse; Susan Devlin Switzer '60, Basketball; and the 1985 Lacrosse Team.

Rice linebacker Cameron Nwosu will change his number this season to honor former Owl O.J. Brigance, who won a Super Bowl with the Ravens in 2001 and is now the Ravens' senior adviser to player development. The Houston Chronicle reported that Nwosu will wear Brigance's No. 57, and his teammate, running back Turner Petersen, plans to wear No. 26 to honor former Rice All-American King Hill. Brigance currently stands as Rice's all-time tackles leader. “We have made an effort for our players to embrace the great history here at Rice, and a part of that process is to learn more about the players who have worn their numbers in the past,” Rice head coach David Bailiff said.

Et cetera Brigances chair Fiesta 5K fight against ALS Ravens senior adviser to player development O.J. Brigance , and his wife, Chanda , will serve as honorary chair couple of the Fiesta 5K, a combination of Cinco de Mayo festivity and exercise, to benefit research in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins. The Fiesta 5K, which will be May 5 at Power Plant Live!, aims to hasten a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease.

Winning in two of the three phases in football - offense, defense and special teams - usually adds up to victory. Last season, the Ravens' defense came through, but the other two components had room for improvement. Off-season additions have bolstered the offense. The third phase, the special teams, should also be stronger, with four veterans anchoring the squad. Bennie Thompson, Billy Davis, O.J. Brigance and Dennis Stallings have reputations as special teams standouts and have a goal of making their unit as dominant as the defense this year.

O.J. Brigance turns 42 on Thursday. If you feel like buying the former Ravens linebacker and the team's current director of player development a birthday present, a donation to the Brigance Brigade Foundation would be a nice gesture. If you are shirtless and have just $29 to your name, consider buying this T-shirt . A portion of the proceeds will go to the foundation , whose mission is to find a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Each week, we bring you a Q&A with a Ravens player, coach or team executive to help you learn a little more about the team. Today's guest is O.J. Brigance . O.J. Brigance sits at a table in Sullivan's Steakhouse, speaking with his eyes. Brigance suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, which has robbed the former Raven of both speech and body movement. Brigance converses via a high-tech device called a DynaVox, which allows him to "talk" by focusing on a computer screen, and blinking, to form words and sentences.