Cinderella

On her 7th birthday, Denni Haw was given a Cinderella watch and figurine that became the most cherished gift of her childhood. Nearly 30 years later, Denni couldn't pass up the chance to live out a fairy tale of her own making in a Cinderella-theme wedding.Like most modern fairy tales, Denni's Cinderella story has its own twists and turns.The fairy godmother who brought Denni and Norm Crouse Jr. together was not a kindly old woman armed with a magic wand. Norm -- though he is tall, dark and handsome and conveys a certain charm -- wasn't searching the kingdom of Baltimore looking for a wife.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Do not confuse Creighton with Cinderella.Cinderella teams do not beat both Iowa and Oklahoma State, major conference powers that are still playing in the NCAA tournament. Cinderella does not win the Missouri Valley Conference, which produced as many NCAA teams as the mighty Atlantic Coast Conference.Creighton wants to sell itself as the humble upstart in the second round of the South Regional, and No. 5 Maryland isn't buying. The Terps saw the Bluejays climb out of a 13-point hole and beat Louisville, and coach Gary Williams and company are prepared for a team that will keep coming at them today (2: 40 p.m.)

Imagine this.Cinderella has been replaced at Valparaiso University by a fun-loving, guitar-playing and country-singing group of players who also know how to play some basketball.It's not that the Cinderella tag of 1998 has grown old around the school.It's just that Valparaiso coach Homer Drew wants the 1999 Crusaders, with nine new players, to establish a new identity."I don't wear any rings from last year or anything that identifies that team," Drew said. "That team provided enough fellowship for our family to last a lifetime.

WHO NEEDS Broadway, when there's such great musical theater in Glenelg?At 8 o'clock tonight, Glenelg High School's drama department will present Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "Cinderella."Performances will continue at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 3 p.m. Sunday in the school auditorium, 14025 Burnt Woods Road.The production features senior Jenna Bythrow as Cinderella, and junior Brian Rice as Prince Charming.Senior Valerie Barnes and junior Sarah Cummings portray the selfish stepsisters, and senior Annie Marland is the evil stepmother.

At last, Cinderella Tripp is going to the ball! The prince himself has summoned her.Just because the Serbs are the bad guys in Kosovo does not make the Albanians the good guys.They put more color into "Gone With the Wind," up to a point.Explain again how global warming is just a half-baked political theory that isn't scientifically proven.Pub Date: 6/29/98

"OUR RECORDS may not be the longest, but our spirit is ever the strongest " So goes the fight song for Baltimore's Forest Park High School. Never were those words truer than over the weekend, when the Forester basketball team capped a Cinderella performance by winning the state's Class 1A championship.Not bad for a team that went 2-15 in the regular season against such city powerhouses as City, Douglass and Dunbar. The Foresters kept the games close; they just didn't have the manpower to compete against bigger schools.

The evil stepmother lounges on an impromptu "bed" of chairs, threatening: "All right, this wig is coming off in two seconds."Meanwhile, Cinderella can't find her broom. The Mitzvah Fairy is nudging Cinderella's "coach" -- a stuffed pink snake -- with her rubber boot. The prince is flexing his biceps for the benefit of a mouse. And someone is sitting on Cinderella's shaggy-dog slippers.Then the 11-year-old Claire Vogelstien snaps shut the clapboard and cries, "Action!" -- and the set grows quiet as rehearsal begins.

I think the story "Arthur's Halloween" by Marc Brown is spectacular. Everybody dresses up in costumes. I liked that D.W. was an angel. I liked it also because they went trick-or-treating. They were frightened of a house but they went inside. That's why I liked the story.- Alicia Boritz, Grade 3Lansdowne Elementary"Mike and the Magic Cookies" is the best book I ever read. The author and illustrator are Jon Butler and Susan Schode. Mike's back yard and the woods is the setting of the story.

RODGERS AND Hammerstein's "Cinderella" is the first theatrical production to be presented at Long Reach High School.The musical, based on the fairy tale written by Frenchman Charles Perrault, is directed by Robin Brumm.Performances will be at 7: 30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with a 2: 30 matinee Sunday. Kristi Hallis is Cinderella and Meghan Splaine plays the mean stepmother.Samantha Kassir and Michelle Catania play Cinderella's nasty stepsisters.Elizabeth Zundel is the fairy godmother who makes Cinderella's dreams come true.

Cinderella's alive and kicking.The new order of American professional soccer is helping breathe fresh life into this country's oldest continuous soccer competition, the U.S. Open Cup.With clear definition among four levels of play -- three professional and the other amateur -- for the first time, upsets in this knockout tournament are easier to fathom, if not explain away.And upsets there have been in quest of a refurbished Dewar Cup, until recently a misplaced, tarnished silver trophy that in every way symbolizes this 84-year-old tournament.

Just as Shirley Temple was good medicine for the Great Depression, comic operas by Rossini seem ideal diversions for the Great Recession. A couple of weeks ago, Washington National Opera revived the composer's most famous work, "The Barber of Seville." And, over the weekend, Opera Vivente jumped into its 12th season with another sparkler, "Cinderella." Rossini's version of the familiar fairy tale differs in several details, but the basics are still there - a poor dear with nasty stepsisters; a surprise entrance at a palatial ball; a prince searching for an unknown beauty who left something behind (a bracelet, rather than a glass slipper)

Ballet Theatre of Maryland launched its 30th anniversary season - and its most successful opener ever - with a sizable audience Saturday for the opening performance of Cinderella and a sold-out show Sunday at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. The draw was a sparkling choreographic recreation of the fairy tale favorite by BTM artistic director Dianna Cuatto. Clearly relishing the project, Cuatto explained that she had "combined the best parts of favorite versions including Ever After, Disney, Rodgers and Hammerstein and others to create this version of the beloved tale."

The Ballet Theatre of Maryland is a company of paid professionals who teach and share technical responsibilities in addition to performing. At a recent rehearsal it was clear that their camaraderie is strong. With the troupe's 30th-anniversary season set to start this month, members lent their talents where needed as ballerina Jessica Fry demonstrated how to sew costumes she had designed. She was joined by Kathryn Carlson, both dancers in their sixth season with the BTM. The two are joined by six other returning dancers: Calder Taylor, Meagan Helman, Brian Walker, David McAlister, Margaret Hannah, and Scali Riggs.

RALEIGH, N.C.-- --When the final buzzer sounded, on the far end of the court, Reggie Holmes was sprawled alone on the hardwood, completely stunned. He couldn't believe his Morgan State team had just lost. The rest of the country, at least those tuning in on television, was also in a state of disbelief. But they weren't thinking about Morgan. As the party continued at the other end of the court - as players in blue and yellow jerseys piled on top of each other, high like a Dagwood sandwich - the most unlikely of improbabilities had just unfolded.

Men's college basketball Hartford@UMBC NOON [ESPN2] No. 1 seed UMBC (23-9) plays for the America East Conference championship as well as a spot in the NCAA tournament against No. 2 seed Hartford (18-15). With Maryland out of the NCAA picture, local fans have to jump on the Cinderella bandwagons of UMBC and Mount St. Mary's, which qualified for the NCAAs by winning the Northeast Conference title Wednesday night.

Redskins@Seahawks 4:30 p.m. [chs. 11, 4] You don't even have to lift the remote today. Both NFL playoff games are on the same channel. The inspired Redskins are at boisterous Qwest Field in Seattle to play the Seahawks. The Redskins are being led by Cinderella man Todd Collins, who hadn't started a game in a decade when he began filling in for Jason Campbell a few weeks ago. Jaguars@Steelers 8 p.m. [chs. 11, 4] Jacksonville handed Pittsburgh its only home loss this season and is expected to take the fight to the Steelers with its smash-mouth brand of football.

The Hawaii football team's feel-good story is close to having a very unhappy ending - and I'm not talking about the 41-10 blowout loss to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day. That was simply a matter of Cinderella Hawaii (12-1) slamming face-first into the reality of a vastly superior opponent. Even more disappointing will be if the Warriors lose coach June Jones. His contract is running out; Jones' agent, Leigh Steinberg, said the university hadn't made a renewal offer yet, and at least one other major college program reportedly is working up a million-dollar offer.

Not that Monday's game wasn't important. It was. It told us that the Ravens still have a pulse and that their veteran defense can still play passionately and efficiently. It told us that defensive coordinator Rex Ryan's schemes still work when the right players are there to make them work. It told us that quarterback Kyle Boller can play at a high level, if not flawlessly, against superior opposition. It told us that, as many have suspected, this is a team that can run the ball when given the chance and that the investment in Willis McGahee was worth it. But the next four games will tell us much more.

Forty-nine down, 16 left. And nary a Cinderella among them. It's nice to see the teams ranked as the best in college basketball advance, pretty much en masse, in the NCAA men's tournament. But it's also kind of a drag. The question going into the tournament was, "Who will be this year's George Mason?" And the answer appears to be, "Nobody." One could have asked Jim Larranaga himself ... actually, The New York Times did. He was quoted yesterday saying, "I don't think there will ever be another George Mason because you can only do something one time."

There are no Cinderellas in college football. Boise State should be Cinderella. But it's not. It doesn't have the chance to be. It's a historical footnote, a talking point, in some ways maybe even a cultural touchstone. But it won't be the rags-to-riches story every other American sport gets to tell. A warning: This isn't going to be a rant demanding a college football playoff, nor a sober, reasoned debate in favor of one. Why waste time on that? This system of crowning a national college football "champion" might not be set in stone, but it's bolted down pretty tight.