Ed Hale

TCHale boosterThis is in response to Patty Perkins' letter regarding the Blast Booster Club and Ed Hale. I feel she should get all her facts before writing such a negative letter. Mr. Hale in no way insulted the booster club by creating his own fan club. Mr. Hale was very diplomatic and graceful toward certain booster-club officers who, while supposedly representing the Blast Booster Club, were seen wearing Wichita jerseys. This is not the way executive officers should act. While representing the booster club, they should be supporting the Blast.

Billy Ronson could hardly suppress his delight after agreeing to play for the Arena Soccer League team that is to begin a 10-game season here next May."It gives me a chance to finish my career in Baltimore, which is what I want to do," said Ronson, who was released by the Blast at the end of the Major Soccer League season and was not pursued by the Spirit, the new National Professional Soccer League team in town."It's nice to have the opportunity to decide for myself when I want to retire and not have someone else do it for me," he said.

An office view isn't a window into every man's soul, but then every man isn't Ed Hale. A peek out his window tells you a lot about him -- and about the proxy fight for Baltimore Bancorp, this city's biggest, nastiest corporate showdown of 1991.From his modest Canton office, Mr. Hale ignores the downtown skyline. Instead, he points to a nondescript building, noting that he helped build its roof before he joined the Air Force. That's Ed Hale: the 44-year-old shipping company and Baltimore Blast owner recalling that he started out as a nobody.

No excuse for BelleHow can Albert Belle make $80,000 per game and behave so poorly?I am no great fan of baseball, but these types of actions by highly overpaid professional athletes make my skin crawl. If I carried myself in my profession like Belle does in his, I would be jobless in less than a week.As soon as it is possible to get rid of Belle, the Orioles' management should not waste a second in offering him the door.Jim McFallsHanoverHow to cope with bad yearWith respect to the 1999 major-league baseball season, an advance reality check sadly indicates that perhaps no team missed reaching its potential by as wide a margin as the Orioles.

She goes by a single name, one shared by a flowering herb. And when she isn't working as a spokeswoman for Arundel Habitat for Humanity, she is a feng shui consultant. So Yarrow, of all people, knows the value of natural beauty and good chi in a house. That's why, on some level, she understands why Habitat is having trouble giving away the four houses it's building in Curtis Bay and Brooklyn. "It is boarded-up houses, it is burned-out houses, it is bricks through windows, a lot of dogs.

While Baltimore Blast owner Ed Hale battles through tough economic times with his banking and development businesses, he said he's certain those issues won't affect the team as it begins defense of its National Indoor Soccer League championship. "There's not any connection whatsoever," Hale said. "The staff that I have with [Blast general manager Kevin Healey], it's self-sustaining, and that's an anomaly with [professional indoor] soccer because most of the time you lose money with soccer operations.

Ed Hale knows what a championship team looks like. After all, he's seen the Blast bring home five of its six Major Indoor Soccer League titles since he became owner of the team. So he's not hesitant in laying out his expectations for a Blast squad that's hoping to bring home its first MISL championship since 2009 on Saturday night against the Missouri Comets. "We fully expect to win," Hale said. "No ifs, ands or buts about it. " After winning the first game of the series in Missouri on Thursday, 21-12, the Blast could accomplish that task with a victory Saturday.

1st Mariner CEO/Chairman Ed Hale is known for his blunt, direct style, and his desk on the 16th floor of the 1st Mariner Tower in Canton reflects that. There aren't a lot of fancy flourishes here, either. He says he likes to have all of his business in easy reach, hence the various piles of documents. But, he likes to keep the space tidy, something he also expects of his employees. "I don't like seeing a desk here [at the bank] that's all disheveled. If I can keep my desk neat with all the balls I have up in the air, than they can, too. But, then, I've not been described as normal," Hale adds with a laugh.

The United Soccer Leagues has announced that Blast owner Ed Hale will be one of three inaugural inductees into the Major Indoor Soccer League Hall of Fame this year. Hale has been instrumental in keeping indoor soccer in Baltimore and in keeping the entire league afloat. He and the rest of the Hall of Fame's Class of 2011 will be inducted at a banquet on Dec. 16 at the Hilton Clearwater Beach. Honorees were chosen through a vote of current Hall of Fame members and USL teams. Hale first owned the club from 1989 to 1992.

Edwin F. Hale Sr., the Baltimore developer and former CEO of First Mariner Bancorp, filed a $5 million lawsuit Monday against the operators of 1st Mariner Arena , alleging they are improperly using billboards that belong to him. Filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court, Hale's suit names as defendants arena operator SMG Holdings of West Conshohocken, Pa., and the advertising firm that replaced him at the arena, Legends Sales and Marketing of...