Croquet

A friend recently suggested a sure cure for stress, and this is a man with a job (head of a paramedic service) where the stress levels tend to redline quite often.What you do, he said, is check into the Tides Inn on a gorgeous fall weekend. Then when evening comes, order a cocktail and wander out to the veranda and watch the golden-reddish glow slowly drain from the sky over Carter's Creek and the scenic Rappahannock River near Irvington, Va.Then sit there over another cocktail, he said, and watch the lights in the big waterfront homes wink on and the boats with their running lamps silently ply the darkened channel.

Starr persuaded Ms. Lewinsky the way a gentleman would. He threatened her mother.Of one thing you can be sure. When Bill testifies, he will look the camera sincerely in the eye.Any high-tech sports fantasy that wants to catch on in Merlin better have virtual lacrosse, virtual jousting, virtual surf fishing, virtual point-to-point and virtual croquet.Support your local library. Return that overdue video disc.Pub Date: 8/03/98

Don't feel up to boxing tonight? Then try one of these.A bit of high-browed rivalry will take place at St. John's College on Saturday at the annual croquet match between St. John's and the Naval Academy.The 15th annual Annapolis Cup match, which has become a heated competition over the years, is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. beneath the Liberty Tree on the St. John's campus.This year, the teams will solicit donations for the Boys and Girls Club of Annapolis and the Lighthouse Shelter.Pub Date: 4/23/98

THE Little Campus may not rank as an historic site in the state capital where Washington resigned as commander of the Continental Army, but it has been a fixture on Maryland Avenue as long as most Annapolitans can remember.Annapolis saw dramatic changes in the 74 years that the Nichols family ran the restaurant, changing from a sleepy port into a tourist mecca. But residents, legislators and visitors could always depend on a home-cooked meal there at a reasonable price. Come tomorrow, though, owner Evangelos T. Nichols closes the doors.

Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet as, say, a hellebore?In today's newfangled gardens, you never know. What at first glance may look like a traditional bloom is often an exotic varietal.Gardening has become such a passion that those who till the soil are often outdoing each other in their search for the unusual. What looks like a daisy could well be brachycome, a cheerful flower native to New Zealand that has gained favor in our area.And that seemingly familiar rose might be the trendy new hellebore, an early-blooming evergreen perennial, sometimes called a Lenten Rose.

It was a clear sign the Imperial Wicket croquet team captains at St. John's College were becoming a bit too despotic in their rule over the school's lawn-sport culture when the dean hauled one of them in for a testy meeting earlier this month.The school is supposed to be noncompetitive, Dr. Eva Brann reminded senior Jonathan Andrews. The tiny, nontraditional college in Annapolis has no standardized tests, no teams in big sports leagues and nontraditional grades.And yet these big-wickets-on-campus had become so mean-spirited in their competition to select their national champion croquet team that a would-be player had complained to the dean that people's feelings were getting hurt.

Quiet Waters Park in Hillsmere will have an Earth Day celebration this weekend, with a park open house on Saturday (no entrance fee), with hands-on activities for children, environmental exhibits, a high-quality yard sale of "recycled treasures," and a concert.On Sunday, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom host Jim Fowler will present "Birds of Prey" and "Animals of the Rain Forest." There also will be a 5K run and an art reception.For further information and schedule details, call the park, 222-1777.

Bruce Hlibok, 34, a deaf actor who played on Broadway, died June 23 of pneumonia at his home in Jersey City, N.J. He wrote several plays that ran off-Broadway, including "Going Home" in 1980, "WomanTalk" in 1984 and "The Deaf Mute Howls" in 1988. He gained notice in 1978 when he portrayed one of the children from broken homes in the Joseph Papp production of the Elizabeth Swados play "Runaways."Frederick M. Supper, 78, former chairman and owner of Alexander Proudfoot Co., a management consulting firm in West Palm Beach, Fla., died of complications from emphysema Sunday at his home in Palm Beach.

A chill wind drifts across the Naval Academy yard, carrying the sounds of warriors in training: grunts from the football players, guttural orders and the snap of rifle stocks from the drill team, the click of wooden balls from the croquet squad.Croquet?You may think of croquet as the pastime of the tea-and-scone set, but members of the Naval Academy's team see it as Clausewitz on a manicured lawn. Had the Prussian military tactician been a devotee of the game, his classic work might have been entitled "On War -- Through The Wickets."

Another college sports season is under way. Highly recruited athletes battle on artificial turf in multimillion-dollar arenas packed with fans who paint their faces in team colors while athletic directors tally up the proceeds from fat television contracts.And then there's St. John's College, the tiny liberal arts school on the banks of College Creek in Annapolis.There, teams with names like Spartans, Furies and Druids trot onto a soccer field wearing hand-me-down T-shirts. Spectators lounge in the grass on the sidelines reading Plato and glance up occasionally to catch an exciting play.

St. John's College, the school that studies Great Books, and its neighbor the U.S. Naval Academy, the school that studies great sea battles, combine each year for an unlikely triumph - a really great lawn party where the annual croquet match takes a back seat to the elegant picnic food. Each year, in the spring, the two schools meet on the campus of St. John's - just steps away from the walls that surround the Naval Academy - for a lopsided competition. (St. John's leads in the series, 22-5.

Local sports fans can trade in their beer and baseball caps for champagne and fedoras Sunday as St. John's College plays host to the U.S. Naval Academy in their 27th annual croquet match. In a display of sophisticated spectatorship - think The Great Gatsby meets tailgating - a crowd of 1,500 is expected to gather on St. John's campus to watch the college's croquet team play the Midshipmen from the 28th company. The winning team is awarded the Annapolis Cup. Jo Ann Mattson, director of alumni relations at St. John's, said audience members come to socialize and show off extravagant gowns and suits as much as for the game itself.

Local sports fans can trade in their beer and baseball caps for champagne and fedoras Sunday as St. John's College plays host to the U.S. Naval Academy in their 27th annual croquet match. In a display of sophisticated spectatorship - think The Great Gatsby meets tailgating - a crowd of 1,500 is expected to gather on the St. John's campus to watch the college's croquet team play the Midshipmen from the 28th company. The winning team is awarded the coveted Annapolis Cup. Jo Ann Mattson, director of alumni relations at St. John's, said audience members come to socialize and show off extravagant gowns and suits as much as for the game itself.

St. John's College bested the Naval Academy in the 26th annual croquet contest for the Annapolis Cup last week. Above, midshipman Jon Malycke (right) cleans the mallet of Bryan Carlson. Malycke was the caddie for the imperial wicket, or team captain. At left, nattily dressed midshipman Chris Familetti makes a hit during the match.

If you go The 26th annual St. John's College-U.S. Naval Academy Croquet Match for the Annapolis Cup will be held at 1 p.m. tomorrow on the St. John's College front lawn, 60 College Ave., Annapolis. Admission is free. For more information, call 410-626-2539.

Croquet is a white-glove, pressed-linen kind of sport. But the two teams competing yesterday were more than just civil during the annual match-up in Annapolis. Before the first stroke, the teams settled on the final score. A tie - 0-0. Rain forced the tournament between St. John's College and Ginger Cove retirees, dubbed the "Generation Gap," to be canceled. "It's the first time we've had a tie, isn't it?" said Ian Hanover, a St. John's College senior, shaking hands with Bill Krause, an 86-year-old retired chemical company manager.

Everybody knows South Florida is a great spot to golf, fish and lie on the beach, but I bet you didn't know that West Palm Beach is the place to go if you are wicked around a wicket. The 10-acre National Croquet Center is the largest croquet complex on the planet, with big-time tournaments, coaching clinics and the world's largest walk-in croquet pro shop. I'm providing that last little bit of information as a public service because - like me - you probably had no idea where to go for the latest croquet attire.

While the TV announcers hailed the Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees as one of the most storied rivalries in American sports over the weekend, I was led to a crosstown matchup unlike anything I'd seen before. In Annapolis, the U.S. Naval Academy and St. John's College met on the great lawn spread across the latter's campus. There were thousands in attendance, drinks flowing and security on hand to keep things under control. A Navy professor explained to me his understanding of the background: In an Annapolis pub 25 years ago, students from St. John's were arguing with some Midshipmen.

Redemption was at stake yesterday for two St. John's croquet players who took the field at their college against two midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy as part of the 25th annual spring showdown between the Annapolis schools. Christopher Mules and Tristan W. Evans-Wilent remembered all too well the April day in 2005 when they were partners playing in the deciding game. The pair lost then, handing Navy a rare 3-2 victory in a rivalry both sides enjoy as a way to settle - and display - their differences.

The Naval Academy was served a resounding 5-0 defeat Sunday in the 24th annual croquet match against St. John's College. The midshipmen, clad in white sweaters and slacks, did not live up to hopes that they might build on last spring's victory over the Johnnies, who wore "Back in the USSR" T-shirts featuring a croquet mallet and a sickle. "We wanted to rattle the Navy team," said the Johnnies' imperial wicket, or captain, Matt Mangold. "After they won last year, they were cheering and chanting, `USA, USA!