Crowd

He pulled on a Terps visor, to the crowd's delight. He rubbed noses with Gov. Martin O'Malley. And the Dalai Lama was met Tuesday with rounds of applause from a crowd of 15,000 at the University of Maryland, College Park's Comcast Center. "Sit down," the 78-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader said in a firm but friendly voice when he approached the podium and the crowd rose to its feet. "No formality! We are [the] same. … The way we are born, the way we die: no formality. " Clad in red robes and his trademark spectacles, the Dalai Lama appeared at the university to give an address on peace, compassion and fellowship as part of the Anwar Sadat Lecture Series.

Republicans like Rep. Darrell Issa and Bob Ehrlich must be getting pretty desperate trying to make a big deal about an Obama cover up on Benghazi ("Benghazi: The Obama spin continues," May 12). What is known is that a murderous crowd attacked the U.S. consulate and killed our ambassador and three other Americans. Whether there may have been al-Qaida thugs in the crowd or not appears to be a distinction without meaning. It seems ironic that the same crowd that dragged us into an unnecessary war in Iraq based on non existent WMD are now making a big deal out of a contrived issue.

Always, there were those lovely old country estates and gracious manor taverns with roaring fireplaces, but in the old days fine dining was associated with the city. Not so anymore. Now, there are more compelling reasons than ever for diners to cross county lines for a good meal. The 50 best county restaurants in Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County is a mix of the old and the new, destinations for special occasions and joints for Monday night suppers, the chef-driven and crowd-pleasing.

For five days ending Sunday, thousands of film fans and scores of filmmakers watched movies together at the 15th Maryland Film Festival. From three-minute comedic shorts promoting horror films to gripping documentaries about the rise of Napster and cutting-edge narrative features about the relationship between a teacher and one of her students, the festival offered local cineastes the chance to lose themselves in the boundless possibilities of film....

Michael Phelps can swim. Michael Phelps can golf. And finally here's a physical activity that Michael Phelps is, frankly, pretty bad at: crowd surfing. The Olympian tried to ride the waves of a crowd the other night at XS nightclub in Las Vegas. The crowd was into it, shouting, "Michael! Michael!" And Phelps was game. But after mere seconds, the ride was over and Phelps was on the floor. Don't worry, reports say he wasn't hurt. Perhaps just a bit embarrassed. Party foul? Or just a chance to find the Bob Bowman of crowd surfing, train and come back in four years.

Patterson basketball star Aquille Carr is featured in the "Faces in the Crowd" section of this week's issue of Sports Illustrated. The clip in the Jan. 23 issue, out on newsstands now, reads as follows: Aquille, a 5' 7" junior guard at Patterson High, scored 19 points in an 85 - 76 win over Price High (Los Angeles) to earn MVP honors in the feature game of the Brandon Jennings Invitational in Milwaukee. Last season he scored 31.7 points per game in leading the Clippers to their first city championship since 1976 and first regional title, and was named The Sun's All-Metro player of the year and MaxPreps' national sophomore of the year.

The Baltimore area has produced another one of Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd. " Just two weeks after Patterson basketball star Aquille Carr was highlighted in the magazine, former Glenelg track standout Robby Creese is being recognized. Creese, a freshman at Penn State, is one of the athletes included in the Feb. 6 edition of SI. Here's the text from his write-up: Robby Creese Mount Airy, Md. > Track and Field Creese, a freshman at Penn State, ran a 2:19.53 in the 1,000 meters at the Nittany Lions Challenge--in his first individual collegiate appearance--to set American Junior and NCAA records.

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul stormed through the University of Maryland on Wednesday, delivering his trademark libertarian message of noninterventionism and hands-off government to a wildly enthusiastic crowd of students who chanted his name. Paul told the 1,780 students who packed Ritchie Coliseum on the College Park campus that the government should get out of Afghanistan, repeal the Patriot Act, legalize marijuana and end the Selective Service system — ideas that repeatedly brought the students to their feet.

The Orioles played Friday night's game in front of an announced crowd of 29,270 -- about 2,600 more than Baltimore's average 2012 attendance. The crowd was one of the loudest of the season, and the Orioles, especially manager Buck Showalter, noticed. "They were instrumental in that motion in the ballpark, especially this time of year when it's so draining physically," Showalter said. "It's uplifting. Don't think our players don't hear it and don't feel it. " Camden Yards was rocking on Friday night for a variety of reasons -- it could have been that the game had four lead changes and was back and forth in the late innings, or that it was fireworks night, or that the team handed out bucket hats before the game.

Visitors began arriving at 8:30 a.m. yesterday and stayed well into the evening for the final day of the 20th annual Art scape music and arts festival. Lured by perfect weather and such performers as Ray Charles and salsa superstar Ruben Blades, more than 565,000 people showed up yes terday at the Mount Royal cul tural corridor, organizers said. With an estimated 350,000 peo ple on hand Friday and 750,000 on Saturday, crowds exceeded past highs of 1.5 million people. (Article, Page 1e)

Over the last couple of weeks, the Ravens have added and retained seven offensive linemen, further complicating what figures to be one of the more competitive -- if not interesting -- position battles in training camp. They drafted Wisconsin tackle Rick Wagner in the fifth round and Ryan Jensen , a tackle from Colorado State University-Pueblo, in the sixth. Immediately after the draft, they agreed to undrafted free agent deals with tackles Jordan Devey (Memphis), Rogers Gaines (Tennessee State)

He pulled on a Terps visor, to the crowd's delight. He rubbed noses with Gov. Martin O'Malley. And the Dalai Lama was met Tuesday with rounds of applause from a crowd of 15,000 at the University of Maryland, College Park's Comcast Center. "Sit down," the 78-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader said in a firm but friendly voice when he approached the podium and the crowd rose to its feet. "No formality! We are [the] same. … The way we are born, the way we die: no formality. " Clad in red robes and his trademark spectacles, the Dalai Lama appeared at the university to give an address on peace, compassion and fellowship as part of the Anwar Sadat Lecture Series.

First things first: Grantland has a terrific look-back at Hunter S. Thompson's "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved. " I always start the Derby primer with a link to this story -- and by always, I mean I also did it last year -- and this adds even more context to how the story came about. A very popular question I receive from fellow Baltimoreans upon my return to our fair city by the bay is: How does the Derby compare to Preakness? The answer I ended up giving usually went something like this: The Preakness debauchery seems to be compressed into one day and in one spot, the infield, where once upon a time people ran across the portable toilets for sport.

More than 100 gloved volunteers, some in boots and others in waist-high waders, streamed along narrow paths and historic sea walls Saturday in a secluded nook of wetlands just south of Fort McHenry, their eyes scanning for trash or the perfect spot to plant a sapling. The volunteer cleanup and tree-planting event mostly centered on collecting garbage and removing large pieces of driftwood smothering growth areas for grasses. But from time to time, a more novel item turned up. "Here's a tennis ball," said Gail Hoffer, 48, a volunteer from Elkridge, who decided to join the cleanup after getting an email about it from the National Aquarium in Baltimore , where she's a member.

There has been much hue and cry in recent days about the General Assembly approving a "rain tax" this year that is punitive, anti-commerce and unnecessary. What's truly remarkable about these protestations is how none of the underlying claims are true. Rather, this may be a lesson in the perils of approving a policy at the state level but leaving the business of carrying it out to local government. It's far easier for county elected leaders to point a finger at Annapolis than to actually educate themselves on an issue - let alone try to explain why a tax is so clearly in their constituents' self-interest.

Baltimore County would add classrooms for thousands of students under a budget proposal unveiled Monday by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz - a plan advocates hope signals a commitment to solve the overcrowding that has plagued the school system. "There's an acknowledgment of the number of seats needed, and there seems to be the will to fund the additional seats," said Yara Cheikh, president of the PTA at Hampton Elementary School in Towson, the county's most overcrowded school. Kamenetz's proposal includes a $2.8 billion operating budget and a $339 million capital budget.

The orange rally towels turned to white. Another capacity crowd filled Camden Yards -- and endured another rain delay. But this time the Orioles rewarded their home crowd with a win, a 3-2 victory over the Yankees that tied the American League Division Series at 1 game apiece as the series heads to Yankee Stadium. The win was monumental for the Orioles' postseason hopes - especially since the O's have won six of nine games in the Bronx this season - but giving their home crowd something to celebrate was also a huge victory.

What a difference in the crowd from Raw in Miami on April 2 to Raw in D.C. on April 9. It was essentially the difference between a rock star show and an indy act. Yes, Miami's crowd had many WWE diehards who made an entire WrestleMania weekend of it with Raw as their final event (unless they traveled to Orlando for Smackdown). Those crowds are typically the loudest. But the crowd in Washington seemed to buy tickets and be content to sit on their hands. I don't often make comparisons to Corpus Christi, Texas (which I deem the quietest WWE audience in the world)

Q: Our family has two dogs, and we're considering adopting a third. How can we ensure they all get along? A: Canines naturally live in a hierarchy, and humans need to be at the top in order for pets in a multi-dog household to be happy and secure. Our colleague Howard Weinstein at Day-One Dog Training ( dayonedogtraining.com ) suggests the first step is making sure all your dogs know their basic obedience commands. “Every dog -- no matter what age -- can and should learn at least seven or eight basic commands,” Weinstein says.

I have to admit that even though "Second Hand News" is a great way to kick off a night of what was clearly going to be hit after hit of A+, No. 1, solid-gold Fleetwood Mac tunes, hearing Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks sing the first few measures put a little stone in my throat. Lindsey sounded ragged and rough: Did he give too much to Madison Square Garden the night before? Perhaps over-carousing? Does Lindsey deign to carouse? And Stevie, oh Stevie, the top range of her uniquely fluid yet meaty voice clipped.