Consistency

For a young squad, Westminster's golf team has been surprisingly consistent this season. It is a characteristic it hopes holds true Monday in the District V tournament at Wakefield Valley Golf Club.Given county schools from Anne Arundel, Harford, and Howard, in addition to Carroll, the district tournament could draw representatives from as many as 36 schools. C. Milton Wright, from Bel Air, is the defending team champion.With five scores counting from among six players in regular 9-hole matches, the Owls (11-1)

In what may be the greatest victory to date for the sophisticatedly asinine organization "No Labels," the Associated Press has embraced a new policy against "labeling people. " For instance, its widely used and influential style guide is being purged of such terms as "schizophrenic" in favor of "diagnosed with schizophrenia. " Most of the chatter about the AP's move has been over its decision to drop the term "illegal immigrant. " AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll explained that the change on "illegal immigrant" was based on the no-labeling policy.

With his career entering the red zone, Travis Taylor is primed to score a breakthrough season. The former first-round pick is in the best position of his four-year Ravens career, just as the projected bust-out window for a receiver is slowly closing on him. For the first time, he has the same starting quarterback (Chris Redman) in consecutive training camps and he has two veteran wide-outs (Frank Sanders and Marcus Robinson) beside him to spread out defenses. The challenge for Taylor is to prove he can avoid his annual disappearing act and deliver some magic on the field.

This spring's competition for the fifth spot in the Orioles' starting rotation came a little bit closer to a conclusion Saturday when the team optioned left-hander Zach Britton to Triple-A Norfolk. The team also optioned infielders Jonathan Schoop and Yamaico Navarro to Triple-A and reassigned right-hander Daniel McCutchen to minor league camp. Those moves trim the Orioles' spring roster to 40 players. In five Grapefruit League outings this spring, the 25-year-old Britton had a 6.10 ERA, allowing 13 hits and seven runs in 10 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts and four walks.

When the Seattle Seahawks successfully wooed Tarvaris Jackson as an unrestricted free agent in the offseason, coach Pete Carroll did not waste much time anointing Jackson as the starting quarterback despite the presence of Charlie Whitehurst on the roster. The move has produced less-than-desirable results thus far. With six starts under his belt, Jackson ranks in the bottom fourth of the NFL in touchdown passes (six), interceptions (nine) and passer rating (73.2). Jackson has thrown two 300-yard games, and the Seahawks have lost both contests.

The trick to serving up good crabs is consistency, “consistency of product and consistency of service,” says Richard Anderson, owner of The Seafood Stop in Fallston, a family-owned and run seafood market and carryout. That standard has been a winning strategy for Anderson since 1989, when he started his crab business from a truck on the side of the road. It helped him expand to a seafood market and restaurant within three years and led to launching a second market in 2006, Richard’s Fish & Crabs, just eight miles away.

"The brain, a walnutsurfaced, gelatinous, three-pound mass of protoplasm with the consistency of an overripe avocado, is the world of our being." 'ON THE SEA OF MEMORY' BY JONATHAN COTT

NEW YORK - Donald Trump began NASCAR's day yesterday with a little joke. "I could say fire your engines!" said the star of The Apprentice, the reality TV show on which he has made the phrase, "You're fired!" famous. "But I won't." Instead, Trump gave the traditional command for "Gentlemen, start your engines," and the top 10 drivers in the Nextel Cup season pushed the buttons that started their race cars' motors in Times Square. Thousands lined the streets, blocked off by police, as the cars followed a set route to the NASCAR offices on Park Avenue.

Charlottesville, Va. -- What Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams shied away from talking about after his team's erratic play in a 103-91 road loss to Virginia was the very thing he emphasized during the week preceding it - consistency. "Yeah, I don't want to say much about it," Williams said. "In the ACC this year, you have to play well every night." Maryland@Virginia Tech Sunday, 7:30 p.m., Comcast SportsNet, 1300 AM, 105.7 FM

All it takes is one look at the NFL standings to know Steve McNair has been good for the Ravens. The veteran quarterback has brought poise, toughness and consistency from Tennessee, and the Ravens, at 10-3, are having their best regular season. But the positive impact radiating from his uniform change doesn't travel in just one direction. Browns@Ravens Today, 1 p.m., Ch. 13, 1090 AM, 97.9 FM Line: Ravens by 11 1/2

The malaise - if that's the word - that seemed to grip the Maryland Terps in their dreary 80-69 loss to Virginia Sunday at Comcast Center even extended to Dez Wells. The sophomore swingman finished with 13 points, but was held to just two in the first half. And he didn't seem to be nearly as aggressive in looking for his shot. With sophomore big man Alex Len struggling against Virginia double-teams all game long, the Terps needed Wells to come up big and fill the scoring void, and it just didn't happen.

The math is daunting: More than 2,300 pages of prose winnowed down to 190, including photographs and the occasional blank sheet that signals chapter breaks. Yet, that's exactly the challenge that author and historian Taylor Branch tackled when he condensed his three-part history of the U.S. civil rights movement into one slender volume that could be taught in the nation's classrooms. Never mind that Branch, now 66, devoted more than 25 years of his life to crafting his acclaimed trilogy.

Predictably, within nanoseconds of passing the Ravens to the Super Bowl, Joe Flacco was back in the never-ending debate about whether he is an elite quarterback. Even the NFL's official website had a blog post with a headline that asked “How elite is Flacco?” as if there are now subsections within that elite status. Let's save the elite talk for another day, when there isn't football left to be played, because it doesn't really matter. Everyone's definition is different, which usually makes for a fun debate as we wait for free agency and the draft.

Despite being a rookie, Justin Tucker ranks third in the NFL in field-goal percentage (93.5) and seventh in points (127). It wasn't enough, however, for the Ravens kicker to earn a Pro Bowl invitation. The Cleveland Browns' Phil Dawson, who leads the league in field-goal percentage (96.6), got was selected as the AFC's kicker. Ravens special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg said Tucker could become a regular Pro Bowler if he maintains his consistency and productivity. “I really don't know how the Pro Bowl voting goes.

As the Ravens spent their week preparing for another vital showdown against the arch-rival Pittsburgh Steelers, the words and images from Owings Mills could have come from any recent season. There was linebacker Terrell Suggs, showing off his tattooed arms in defiance of the 40-degree chill as he mused over the infinite "alley fight" between Ravens and Steelers. There was running back Ray Rice, speaking through his gentle grin of how it's time to don "big boy pants" for the tough games ahead.

Not South Florida's fault David Selig Baltimore Sun Why would baseball give up on South Florida? South Florida taxpayers paid $360 million to build a new ballpark and to improve the Marlins' chances of sustaining a competitive team. South Florida didn't hire a risky manager. South Florida didn't gut the roster. Jeffrey Loria did. If baseball could give up on Loria, that would be one thing. But it appears the owner didn't violate any rules with this fire sale, so there's not much that can be done.

Columbia-based chemical company W.R. Grace & Co. has purchased the assets of a private technology business based in Ohio that it will integrate into its concrete division. RS Solutions LLC manufactures devices such as sensors that help concrete companies control the quality and cost of a product. The technologies help to measure things such as concrete consistency during delivery. Using the devices helps to detect changes in the concrete during transport, such as the uncontrolled addition of water.

The amount of subjectivity in the valuation of real estate is destroying the confidence of real estate owners and real estate lenders, and it is killing owners' and buyers' ability to finance or refinance property. Worse, the lack of consistency is significantly damaging the industry's ability to recover. Also, and to make matters worse, there is no consistency between an independent licensed appraiser's value and the value of a municipal tax assessment. The inconsistency of the results is in part due to the limited knowledge of the appraisers.

Not often have the Ravens, who reveled in wreaking havoc with their pass rush under former defensive coordinators like Rex Ryan and Chuck Pagano, gotten close enough to the quarterback to create chaos inside the pocket this season. Their current coordinator, Dean Pees, is still searching for some solutions to rectify that. The numbers are alarming. The Ravens are tied for 26th in the league with 13 sacks, and a lack of consistent pressure on quarterbacks is probably the main reason why the Ravens defense is ranked 22nd against the past despite its depth and talent in the secondary.

Saturday's print edition included an article on Cleveland Browns left tackle Joe Thomas, who will attempt to ward off outside linebacker Terrell Suggs and the rest of the Ravens when they visit Cleveland Browns Stadium this Sunday. Thomas is generally regarded as one of the best left tackles in the NFL, and Matt Williamson, a NFL scout for ESPN.com and Scouts Inc., didn't disagree with that sentiment. Williamson, who ranked the top 50 players in the league at the midpoint of the 2012 season in a list that is scheduled to be published next week, put Thomas at No. 40. The only other offensive tackle ahead of Thomas is the Houston Texans' Duane Brown at No. 31. Williamson, whom you can follow on Twitter at @WilliamsonNFL, discussed his reasoning for ranking Thomas at No. 40 and his perspective on Thomas' strengths.