Fame Game

Tonight -- All-Star Game, Toronto, 8:32.July 21 -- Hall of Fame inductions, Cooperstown, N.Y.July 22 -- Hall of Fame game, Minnesota vs. San Francisco, Cooperstown, N.Y.Aug. 31 -- Deadline for postseason rosters.Sept. 1 -- Active rosters increased to 40 players.Sept. 11-12 -- Owners' quarterly meetings, Baltimore.Oct. 8 -- AL playoffs begin, city of West Division winner.

Football players have long prided themselves on braving the elements - from wearing short sleeves in frigid temperatures to completing two-a-days in the stifling heat of August. But lightning is a whole different story. Since the NFL adopted its current 32-team makeup for the 2002 season, Mother Nature has disrupted two preseason games with lightning. The most recent was Saturday night, when two storm fronts swept through the Washington area and forced first a delay and then the end of the Ravens' game with the Washington Redskins.

Kevin Millar, Orioles DH Are you looking forward to going to Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame Game? This will be my fourth time, and if you are a baseball junkie, which I am, you enjoy going there. ... Would you rather have a day off with your family? Yeah. But it's part of the gig, and once you are there, it's a fun day.

It was a sensation I'd experienced while touring plantations in South Carolina and walking the Forum in Rome, that feeling that because I was standing in a certain place, I was linked intimately with the span of human history. I stared at the bronzed images of Grover Cleveland Alexander and Tris Speaker and Mule Suttles and felt I was communing with figures from my past. I pictured Speaker playing center field only a few paces behind the shortstop. I heard the crowd murmur as an aging Alexander befuddled the mighty New York Yankees in the 1926 World Series.

Hall of fame -- The 11th Howard County Women's Athletics Hall of Fame game and induction ceremony will be held Saturday at Atholton High School in Columbia. Inductees are Tierney Clark Ahearn, Sylvia Groomes, Kisha Jett and Genny O'Donnell Kozusko. The event, which is sponsored by Patuxent Publishing, will be held between the alumnae basketball game, which starts at 5 p.m., and the Centennial vs. Atholton girls varsity basketball game, which starts at 7 p.m. There is a charge for admission; proceeds will go to the Women's Giving Circle.

In Friday's column (which, of course, you all have read) I had some of what John Madden had to say in a conference call earlier last week, heading into today's Hall of Fame Game. Here are some more excerpts: * "I get excited every year for the start of football season, but this year it's kicked up about five notches." * (Comparing his Oakland Raiders with today's teams) "I look at those films ... and we were better." * (On how he's greeted) "Some people say, `Hey Madden!' When you get `Hey, Madden!

The Orioles will play the New York Mets on May 21 in Cooperstown, N.Y., for the annual Hall of Fame Game. What are the chances that 1969 will come up at least once? The Orioles continue to sort through their other outfield options. They've had a few conversations with representatives for Aubrey Huff and Shannon Stewart. Jim Duquette, vice president of baseball operations, again suggested the Orioles might find a player with past success who is coming off a down season, would come cheaper than normal and could be poised for a comeback.

Football players have long prided themselves on braving the elements - from wearing short sleeves in frigid temperatures to completing two-a-days in the stifling heat of August. But lightning is a whole different story. Since the NFL adopted its current 32-team makeup for the 2002 season, Mother Nature has disrupted two preseason games with lightning. The most recent was Saturday night, when two storm fronts swept through the Washington area and forced first a delay and then the end of the Ravens' game with the Washington Redskins.

MELISSA BRISTOW, Roland Park, senior, attackTransition spark plug for AIS champion Reds. . . . Scored 33 goals, 14 assists. . . . AIS All-Star. . . . Strong defensive midfielder. . . . Had 100 ground balls in season. . . . Scored three goals in Lacrosse for Leukemia all-star benefit game. . . . Smart shooter, powerful eight-meter shot. . . . 6-footer who uses height as great advantage. . . . Second team All-Metro field hockey player. . . . Selected for the Maryland State team to play at Hall of Fame Classic in June.

Sam Perlozzo, Orioles manager What did you think of minor league pitcher Brandon Erbe during the Hall of Fame Game? He was pretty darn good. Leo [Mazzone] had actually talked to him in the later innings and worked on his curveball a little bit, and he picked it up immediately. ... It looks like we have a future pitcher on our hands.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- With frustrating losses mounting and rumors swirling that their manager could be fired, maybe the Orioles needed a day of low-stakes baseball. They got one yesterday in the shadow of the game's greatest shrine, beating the Toronto Blue Jays, 13-7, in the annual Hall of Fame Game exhibition. The result didn't matter much, but the Orioles elicited some "oohs" and "ahs" from an enthusiastic sellout crowd of 9,791 that doesn't get to see major leaguers up close every week.

Hall of fame -- The 11th Howard County Women's Athletics Hall of Fame game and induction ceremony will be held Saturday at Atholton High School in Columbia. Inductees are Tierney Clark Ahearn, Sylvia Groomes, Kisha Jett and Genny O'Donnell Kozusko. The event, which is sponsored by Patuxent Publishing, will be held between the alumnae basketball game, which starts at 5 p.m., and the Centennial vs. Atholton girls varsity basketball game, which starts at 7 p.m. There is a charge for admission; proceeds will go to the Women's Giving Circle.

The Orioles will play the New York Mets on May 21 in Cooperstown, N.Y., for the annual Hall of Fame Game. What are the chances that 1969 will come up at least once? The Orioles continue to sort through their other outfield options. They've had a few conversations with representatives for Aubrey Huff and Shannon Stewart. Jim Duquette, vice president of baseball operations, again suggested the Orioles might find a player with past success who is coming off a down season, would come cheaper than normal and could be poised for a comeback.

In Friday's column (which, of course, you all have read) I had some of what John Madden had to say in a conference call earlier last week, heading into today's Hall of Fame Game. Here are some more excerpts: * "I get excited every year for the start of football season, but this year it's kicked up about five notches." * (Comparing his Oakland Raiders with today's teams) "I look at those films ... and we were better." * (On how he's greeted) "Some people say, `Hey Madden!' When you get `Hey, Madden!

If you can gather the strength to lift the remote in the midst of the stifling heat, maybe you can click on NBC Sunday night - it's time for football. The network debuts its new Sunday night announcing team of Al Michaels and John Madden in the telecast of the Hall of Fame Game between the Oakland Raiders and Philadelphia Eagles at 8 p.m. (WBAL/Channel 11 and WRC/Channel 4). Madden, who seemingly has appeared on every network in existence - coming soon, James Lipton interviews Madden on Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio - will appear Sunday as a newly minted Hall of Famer.

CANTON, Ohio - Joe Gibbs knew it would be tough. The returning Washington Redskins coach told anyone willing to listen not to quickly expect anything evoking the team's glory days, of which he was an integral part. For the first time since 1993, Gibbs coached a real game last night - if preseason can be considered real - and watched his offense sputter as neither of his leading quarterback contenders distinguished himself. Worst of all, the Redskins lost starting right offensive tackle Jon Jansen for the season with a ruptured left Achilles'.