Fan Base

Generally, I'm not big on all these "Best of" and "Worst of" lists that seem to crop up every five minutes. You know the ones: "Top 10 Best Cities to Live In," "Twenty Worst Rock Songs of All Time," "Fifteen Dumbest Commercials," etc. But when GQ magazine came out with its list of "The Worst Sports Fans in America," I got sucked in. Especially since it promised to feature "the bottle-throwers, couch-torchers and projectile-vomiters marring our...

The results on the field may have been disappointing during their four seasons of existence, but at the gate the Aberdeen IronBirds have ranked as one of minor league baseball's all-time leading success stories. From the first Opening Day, when owner Cal Ripken's mother, Vi, tossed out the first pitch, the Orioles' affiliate in the Single-A New York-Penn League has crammed Ripken Stadium with fans because of the star power of Aberdeen's native son, a first-class facility, free parking, low ticket prices and big league concessions.

Tom "Dr. Cue" Rossman staged his seven-hour, trick-shot pool exhibition in the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Commons game room, which meant he competed against televisions, Ping-Pong tables, computers and video games for students' attention. It took more than a rapid-fire scattering of balls into side and corner pockets to make him the focal point. He had to take his shoes off. As about 30 students watched with curiosity last week, the World Masters Trick Shot champion stood a shoe heel-side-down against a platform about 3 feet from the table.

Everything about the scene at Yankee Stadium reinforces the idea that the resident team is supposed to win - not just most of the time, but every night and, especially, every night in October. It's more than the 27 World Series flags on the facing of the second deck or the monuments to Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio in center field. The assumption lies in the fiber of every conversation between fans, every pre-game question posed to Yankees manager Joe Girardi. So when the Orioles, in their first postseason since 1997, arrived for the third game of the American League Division Series on Wednesday, they seemed to delight in playing the role of unexpected houseguests.

Larry Lucchino, Boston Red Sox president, weaves his way through a Yawkey Way crowd 20 minutes before the start of a game. As he talks excitedly about the "perpetual street fair" going on around him, fans turn away from their cold draft beers to shake his hand and schmooze. He's the Pied Piper of Renovation. It has been 18 months since Boston welcomed a new Red Sox ownership group led by money manager John Henry. To the relief of baseball fans throughout New England, the new owners are trying to save Fenway Park, the team's home since 1912, rather than pursue a new stadium.

With the possible exception of Mayan calendar followers and all others who expect the world to end in a matter of hours, is there a gloomier bunch around metropolitan Baltimore than Ravens fans? Rarely in the history of professional sports have people with so little to grouse about made themselves so miserable. It can't be a Baltimore thing. Just three months ago, this city was thrilled over the unexpected good fortune of a hometown team that hoped to - in the final days of its season - capture a playoff spot.

After a weekend of virtually nonstop negotiating, joke-telling, obfuscating and trigger-pulling, Orioles vice president of baseball operations Syd Thrift took a breather yesterday. He spent the afternoon watching a clubhouse of diminished payroll and diminished name recognition beat the Cleveland Indians behind a rookie starting pitcher and a rookie center fielder. Then he bounced through the post-game clubhouse ecstatic at what he had seen. "The people loved it, I thought," he said, beaming.

From a squat warehouse below an overpass in Hampden, the team at J.K. Technologies is working hard to bring to America an antidote to soaring gasoline prices. It's 5 feet high, 8 feet long and gets more than 60 miles to the gallon on the highway. A fill-up costs about $11. About 200 people across the country have put their names on a waiting list for the chance to pay $20,000 to get one. The Smart Car, a creation of Mercedes-Benz and Swatch, is all the rage in Europe, inspiring cult-like loyalty.

A day after leading a whitewashing of Cleveland's football team, Ravens coach Brian Billick had a few words for Browns fans on the matter of Art Modell. The Ravens beat the Browns, 35-0, Sunday in what was owner Modell's final game against his old team. Modell was the owner of the old Cleveland Browns from 1961 to 1995 before moving the franchise to Baltimore in 1996. Billick, apparently fed up with how Modell is perceived in Cleveland, gave an impromptu explanation of his version of the situation that led to Modell moving the franchise.

Former Orioles pitcher Mike Mussina will be the new varsity boys basketball coach at his former high school, Montoursville (Pa.), according to the Williamsport Sun-Gazette . The Montoursville school board approved Mussina's hiring Tuesday night by an 8-0 vote, the newspaper reported. Mussina, a 1987 Montoursville grad, pitched with the Orioles from 1991-2000, going 147-81 with a 3.53 ERA. He was a five-time All-Star with the O's. But in November 2000, he signed a six-year contract worth $88.5 million with the AL East New York Yankees, upsetting Baltimore's fan base.