Dice

ORLANDO, Fla. — Nobody boos when their team overspends. Nobody rushes to write a check for season tickets when their team trades its most popular player for three guys known only to immediate family and Baseball America subscribers. Fans and the teams they follow always are looking for immediate gratification, no matter the cost. There is, however, one underlying catch to the plan. "There's not going to be any less desire to win next year than there is this year," White Sox general manager Ken Williams said as he was working to blow his budget with the signing of two of baseball's most productive first basemen.

Football is a game of risk for Cary Williams. The Ravens starting cornerback relies on his instincts on the field for when to gamble and when to play it safe Williams is applying that approach to how he conducts his business off the field, declining the Ravens' offer of a three-year contract extension. The contract proposal was worth roughly $15 million, according to league sources. Williams is betting on himself by deciding to play out the final year of his contract with no talks currently being held.

Football is a game of risk for Cary Williams. The Ravens starting cornerback relies on his instincts on the field for when to gamble and when to play it safe Williams is applying that approach to how he conducts his business off the field, declining the Ravens' offer of a three-year contract extension. The contract proposal was worth roughly $15 million, according to league sources. Williams is betting on himself by deciding to play out the final year of his contract with no talks currently being held.

The 1200 block of East Joppa Road in Towson has its share of bright, shiny chain restaurants, packed to the hilt with people eating the same old bland, homogenized food. But right across the street, in a nondescript business park, sits Spice and Dice, a self proclaimed "Thai-Asian fusion" restaurant that serves vibrant, delicious food in an extremely colorful setting. At first glance, the inside of Spice and Dice resembles a kindergarten classroom. The tables all have different tablecloths, and none of the chairs match in style or color.

The 1200 block of East Joppa Road in Towson has its share of bright, shiny chain restaurants, packed to the hilt with people eating the same old bland, homogenized food. But right across the street, in a nondescript business park, sits Spice and Dice, a self proclaimed "Thai-Asian fusion" restaurant that serves vibrant, delicious food in an extremely colorful setting. At first glance, the inside of Spice and Dice resembles a kindergarten classroom. The tables all have different tablecloths, and none of the chairs match in style or color.

An Ellicott City man was charged with attempted murder Monday after shots were fired in a dispute during a dice game.Jose Roberto Umanzor Escobar, 33, of the 8700 block of Town and Country Blvd., was ordered held at the Howard County Detention Center on $250,000 bond after a bond review hearing yesterday in Howard County District Court, a court commissioner said.Charges against Escobar include assault with intent to commit murder, assault and handgun charges, police said.The victim, Santos Granados, 27, of an unknown address, suffered no gunshot wounds in the incident, but received a minor injury to the head when he was struck with a gun handle, police said.

MY SISTER AND I called our father Dice because when he was the Baltimore Sun's London bureau chief many years ago he worked erratic night hours. The baby sitter, determined that we not forget our absent papa, regularly pointed to his belongings and identified them in her Irish brogue as ''Da's tie'' or ''Da's shoes.'' ''Da's'' became ''Dase'' became ''Dise.'' And then there was Dice.He was a newspaperman from the crown of his lean 6-foot-2 frame to the tips of his polished leather lace-ups.

Two men were shot, one fatally, last night in East Baltimore as they and several other men gambled, police said.Detective Vernon Parker said at least five men were shooting dice behind the 2400 block of E. Monument St. about 8: 30 p.m. when a gunman appeared and began shooting. The gunman fled.Darius Cox, 31, of the 2200 block of Walbrook Ave. in West Baltimore, shot once in the head and several times in the upper body, died at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The other man, whose name was not released, was treated for a wound to his left thigh.

When George Baucum moved to the 500 block of E. 21st St. nearly 42 years ago, the area was full of rose bushes, picket fences and friendly neighbors. He felt so secure there that he and his wife left the doors of their three-story house unlocked at night.Now he hates to leave the house."You just never know what's going to happen to you when you step outside now," said Mr. Baucum, 79, who moved to the East Baltimore neighborhood in 1951. "Shooting? You hear shootings all the time and you don't pay no attention to it when you're in the house.

LOS ANGELES -- The Republican Party has decided to put an additional $15 million into campaigns this fall to try to take advantage of what Republican National Chairman Haley Barbour calls "a tremendous opportunity" to make significant gains in both the Senate and House of Representatives.The plan involves raising $12 million, for a net of $10 million in new money after fund-raising costs, which would represent about a 25 percent increase in the Republican National Committee budget for the midterm election year.

The Orioles announced shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday that they had signed 30-year-old Japanese left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada. An introductory conference will be held at Camden Yards at 4 p.m. on Thursday. It won't be as big of a deal as when the Orioles signed Koji Uehara in January 2009. Uehara was the first Japanese player signed as a free agent by the Orioles. And he was a superstar in his home country - at one point the best pitcher on the best team in Japan. Wada is well-regarded in his home country.

Read between the lines, and Fred Couples might have offered a hint as to who will join Tiger Woods as his second Presidents Cup wild-card pick. Jack Nicklaus. If Couples is going to select the "Best Player Forever," it stands to reason that he also would take the guy whose record Mr. BPF is still trying to break. Of course, there are plenty willing to argue that Nicklaus hasn't given up the BPF crown yet. And if Presidents Cup spots were based on a "forever" system, both men would have qualified on points anyway — leaving Couples to use a captain's pick on Byron Nelson or some such.

Rosie Jones fully understands the hot seat she created for herself. Asked about the thought process that went into finalizing the U.S. Solheim Cup roster she will be taking to Ireland next month, Jones looked up from her lunch with a grin. "You mean my picks?" she said. Well, yeah. Particularly the player with just seven LPGA starts under her belt. From the outset though, Jones has acknowledged the addition of Ryann O'Toole isn't exactly conventional thinking — "a very wild pick," she called it before making the announcement late Sunday.

Last time I checked, Maryland had about 22,000 inmates in its sprawling prison system from the Eastern Shore to Allegany County. The general trend has been for the prisons to release between 10,000 and 15,000 inmates per year, and about two-thirds of them return to live in Baltimore City ZIP codes. Within three years, more than half of them violate the conditions of their release or commit new crimes — in the city and elsewhere — and return to our prisons. The number of inmates in Maryland has fallen slightly in recent years.

The supervisor of the 13 city employees who were arrested last week after allegedly drinking alcohol and shooting dice during work hours at a transportation department shop has been suspended, officials said Monday. Officials said that the workers, who included six men with significant criminal convictions, had not been subjected to criminal background checks before they were hired because they performed low-ranking jobs. The city performs such checks when filling "positions of trust" — jobs that involve working with children, making high-level decisions, handling money or accessing private information, officials said.

Baltimore officials were expected Monday to begin reviewing the backgrounds of 13 transportation employees arrested last week after they were caught drinking champagne and playing dice in a city office as part of what authorities described as a regular "payday" gambling game. The roundup occurred Friday in a Department of Transportation building on East Madison Street and was sparked by a tip to city officials who contacted the inspector general's office, which investigates corruption, fraud and waste in city offices.

Jockey Clinton Potts sent Shake The Dice through an inviting opening at the head of the lane and drove the gelding to victory in the $60,000 Hoover Stakes for older horses yesterday at Laurel Park. Shake The Dice raced in an ideal stalking position around the far turn. When all three of the front-runners fanned wide straightening for home, Potts sent Shake The Dice into a gaping hole along the rail and powered through. He was home free. The 5-year-old son of Boundary won his fifth straight start for trainer Scott Lake, this time running the six-furlong distance in 1 minute, 9.4 seconds.

Marvin L. Teal, his legs bound in chains, fidgeted yesterday as his lawyer argued that poor representation had caused a three-judge panel to double his prison term in 1998. Two years ago, Teal, a former state administrative law judge convicted of child abuse, had rolled the dice - hoping the panel would reduce his five-year sentence, but leaving himself open to the possibility that the judges might increase it. The panel gave him 10 years. Back in court yesterday for a post-conviction hearing in Ellicott City - his last remedy in Howard County court - Teal, 50, had nothing to lose.

A 16-year-old boy killed last June in Reservoir Hill was shot by a friend in a dispute over a dice game, police say in charging documents. Davon Wilkins, 19, was indicted last week on first-degree murder charges in the death of Renardo Broom, who was fatally shot on July 1, 2010. Police say Broom and Wilkins were playing dice with several friends in the 700 block of W. North Ave., and Broom got into a dispute with Wilkins over payment. Wilkins removed a handgun from his waistband and fired the gun one time, striking Broom in the torso, Detective Christopher Brockdorff wrote in charging documents.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Nobody boos when their team overspends. Nobody rushes to write a check for season tickets when their team trades its most popular player for three guys known only to immediate family and Baseball America subscribers. Fans and the teams they follow always are looking for immediate gratification, no matter the cost. There is, however, one underlying catch to the plan. "There's not going to be any less desire to win next year than there is this year," White Sox general manager Ken Williams said as he was working to blow his budget with the signing of two of baseball's most productive first basemen.