Fan Base

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.

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.

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.

In a bit of an ego blow to Ravens fans, Karina Smirnoff, a dancing professional who knows all about the cha-cha, the tango and the waltz, has never heard of "the squirrel. " "What's that?" she asks Jacoby Jones, a Ravens wide receiver and her partner on the upcoming season of "Dancing with the Stars," who'd like to work it into one of their routines. It's only Ray Lewis' signature move, he tells her. "Oh," she says. "You mean the slide, slide, knee, knee kick?

At this month's BET Awards, the Viewers' Choice award seemed like a battle of front-runners. Nominees Beyonce, Jay-Z and Kanye West were seated in the front row, a skip away from the podium. Chris Brown and Lil Wayne were also nominated. They all lost to four teenage boys. Mindless Behavior, the Los Angeles boy band of Prodigy, Princeton, Ray Ray and Roc Royal, bounced up to the stage to accept the night's only award decided on by fans. After catching his breath, Princeton ended his speech with a declaration.

In a perfect world, Randy Edsall can envision the day when the Maryland football team plays before packed crowds at Byrd Stadium, when the Terps challenge perennial powers in their league, when he and his staff attract most of the top high school talent in the state as well as from other parts of the country. Then Edsall quickly snaps out of that world and gets back to reality. And back to work. This is Edsall's reality right now: the Terps have won just six games in his first two seasons since he replaced Ralph Friedgen, four of the victories coming in the first six games of last season before injuries decimated his team, particularly at quarterback.

[Spoiler alert: Do not read further in this interview if you have not read "A Storm of Swords," the third book in the series, "The Song of Fire and Ice. "] Scottish actor Richard Madden, 25, has broken into the spotlight by playing Robb Stark on HBO's hit show, "Game of Thrones. " As the second season of the show continues, Stark, the eldest son of the beheaded Ned Stark (Sean Bean), has been declared "King in the North," and has launched war against his family's sworn enemy, the Lannisters, who hold the Iron Throne.

It has to be one of the trickiest transitions in pop music. In the past several years, O.A.R. has made the jump from successful jam band to radio-friendly rock outfit. The band once known for the nine-minute acoustic epic "That Was a Crazy Game of Poker" - a smash on the college circuit - is now the band behind the platinum-selling rock single "Shattered." Back when O.A.R. first got together in Rockville in the mid-1990s, there was a clear-cut career path for musicians: Most bands signed to major labels, cranked out a couple of hits, developed a fan base and then drew on that fan base.