Football Field

The new, synthetic Byrd Stadium football and lacrosse field won't be red, black or pewter. It will approximate the same color of the natural grass dug up weeks ago - green. Maryland on Wednesday released renderings that dispelled any notions - the subject of speculation on fan sites - that the field would be one of the colors that appear on Terps' uniforms. Black was a popular guess. The FieldTurf Revolution surface will be green between the goal lines. The end zones will be red, white, black and gold in a design reminiscent of the state flag and of the Maryland Pride uniforms unveiled last season.

Loyola sophomore Damon Hazelton stood on the sideline of the Ravens' practice field on Saturday afternoon, admiring the place where he one day hopes to play. He positioned himself in front of the far wall of the Under Armour Performance Center, where an image of the Lombardi Trophy towers over the goal posts. Wide receiver Jaison Young (Riverdale Baptist) grabbed Hazelton's cellphone and took his picture. “I wouldn't mind playing here,” Hazelton said, smiling. “It just makes me want to play even more.” Unfortunately for Hazelton, the odds of making it to the NFL are not in his favor.

After playing almost all of its games on the road in recent years, Dunbar's football team will finally get a chance to protect its own house. Under Armour announced Thursday that it will fund the construction of a new football field at the Baltimore City school, which has developed into a state powerhouse despite having to play most of its “home” games at Poly. “I don't have words [to describe my excitement],” first-year Dunbar principal Kristina Kyles said. “It still hasn't hit me how excited I'll be to tell our kids.” Kyles said the school was among five in Baltimore that the Locust Point-based apparel company was considering to award with such renovations.

How are reporters and editors view Ed Reed signing with the Houston Texans: Jeff Zrebiec, Ravens reporter: It is obviously a sad day for Ravens' fans and for good reason. Reed is one of the best players in franchise history and a sure bet Hall of Famer. For more than a decade, he has not only been one of the best Ravens but he's been one of the most entertaining to watch. But the Ravens' offseason blueprint has been clear and quite  frankly, Reed, who turns 35 in September and who struggled last season, doesn't fit into that going forward.

A 16-year-old was stabbed near the football field at Frederick Douglass High School after classes on Friday, police said. The teen was stabbed in the back just before 4 p.m. on the grounds of the school at 2301 Gwynns Falls Parkway in the Mondawmin neighborhood, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. The teen was taken to Sinai Hosptial with non-life-threatening injuries, Guglielmi said. No arrests have been made. Western District detectives are investigating. jkanderson@baltsun.

LOS ANGELES — Pat McInally never tires of reminders that he is the only NFL prospect to record a perfect score on the Wonderlic intelligence test. "It's intellectual annuity," he says. The Harvard-educated McInally, in fact, has gained far greater distinction from acing the Wonderlic in advance of the 1975 NFL draft than he did from playing 10 seasons as a punter and wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals. Further eclipsing his playing career, McInally in retirement conceived a line of action figures that were sculpted and painted to resemble specific pro football and baseball players.

Stand next to Ravens center Matt Birk, and the first thing you notice is how big his arms are. It appears that he could bench-press a small car. But whenever Birk talks to kids, which is often, he tries to emphasize the importance of strengthening a different part of his body. The brain. Shortly after the Ravens signed him as a free agent a year ago last week, he helped hand out scholarships from the Baltimore Community Foundation to area students, and during the presentation, the six-time Pro Bowl selection didn't talk about football.

For the last couple months, Dunbar athletes have been keeping an eye on the renovation of their football field, hoping they would get to play a few games there this fall. "They think it's Christmas," Poets football coach Lawrence Smith said of the anticipation when the players found out the lighted field would be ready for their homecoming game Friday night against Carver. "I just think it's magical. It's going to be electric here Friday night," Smith said. Poets junior running back Coleman Blackston eagerly monitored the final weeks of construction.

The crowds ringed the fence at Dunbar's re-done football field long before the start of the game Friday. Fans were calling the school six hours before kickoff trying to score tickets, and it sold out three hours early. Dunbar has always been a major part of the community, but the new football field that opened Friday took that to another level. The Poets always had a place to play, but now they've got someplace special. The William F. "Sugar" Cain Field - named in honor of one of the school's most famous coaches - opened in style thanks to No. 8 Dunbar's 64-0 rout of an overmatched Carver team.

Boys' Latin's Greg Pyke is a quiet giant. The 6-foot-5, 295-pound two-sport star looks down when answering questions — he's not embarrassed, just shy. Maybe he doesn't like talking about himself. Maybe it's because he's young. "What people fail to realize this is still a 17-year-old kid, but he is in a man's body," Lakers lacrosse coach Bob Shriver says. As reserved as he is — Pyke won't even reveal his favorite kind of music — Pyke has made some noise with his athletic prowess.

Matt Tilley hasn't had much free time outside of practice this year. In fact, Gilman baseball coach Larry Sheets said the senior has taken just two days off since August -- both between the football and basketball seasons and none between the basketball and baseball seasons. Such is the life of a three-sport athlete. And he hasn't just participated in football, basketball and baseball -- he has excelled in all three. He played wide receiver and free safety for the Gilman football team that won the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference last fall, served as captain for the basketball team that was one win away from winning its second consecutive MIAA B Conference title in the winter and stars all over the field for the No. 10 Greyhounds in baseball.

Edward Reed was a mess. Jeanne Hall - the woman the Ravens safety calls a second mother - can't find any other way to put it when she thinks back to the classes he missed and the assignments he disregarded as a freshman at Destrehan High. But he was such a charming, clever mess - a kid who wrote romantic poems at the same time he played football like no one the school had ever seen. "You're either going to be a comedian or a preacher," she used to say on the many nights he stayed at her home, trying to get his world in order.

He was a blur on the football field, hitting everything in sight. He was barking at everyone within earshot, too. And when he is playing his game by pounding his opponents, no Raven might exemplify physical football more. No, I'm not talking about Ray Lewis, who is the emotional tone-setter of a Ravens defense that has defeated future Hall of Famers Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and one of their leading heirs apparent, Andrew Luck. With all due respect to Lewis, again a tackling machine Sunday but obviously and understandably not the same punishing hitter he was in his prime, the physical tone-setter of this rejuvenated unit has become strong safety Bernard Pollard, one of the NFL's most feared hitters -- especially up north in New England.

Several Ravens players like quarterback Joe Flacco, right guard Marshal Yanda and strong safety Bernard Pollard spoke glowingly Wednesday of re-acquainting themselves with San Diego Chargers outside linebacker Jarret Johnson, who spent his first nine seasons in Baltimore before signing with San Diego on March 17 as a free agent. But no player arguably misses Johnson more than outside linebacker Terrell Suggs, who, like Johnson, was drafted by the Ravens in 2003. Suggs, the rambunctious pass rusher, and Johnson, the cerebral run stopper, made an odd couple, but they were the closest of friends in the locker room.

For senior running back Jonathan Rigaud, the decision to attend Johns Hopkins was easy. Having first heard in his junior year of high school about the winning combination of strong football and pre-medical programs that Hopkins offered, Rigaud saw the school as "the best of both worlds. " When the Blue Jays offered him the opportunity to play Division III football, Rigaud jumped at it. "I was considering going to Michigan or Miami just for academics, but when Hopkins came into the picture, I decided to come here.

Mike Preston should give the Ravens' Brendon Ayanbadejo an "F" for sensitivity ("Brendon Ayanbadejo on same-sex marriage passing: 'I'm so stoked, it's like I woke up and it was Christmas,'" Nov. 7). It is insensitive that Mr. Ayanbadejo would compare the passing of same-sex marriage to the religious celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Compare it to your birthday. Compare it to the morning after a big Ravens victory. But comparing it to a holy day is a ridicule to many of the opponents of Question 6. To be clear, I did not vote for Question 6. I do understand the position of those who did. I am not challenging that debate here.

What's the big deal? That was my reaction when I heard a couple of girls were playing high school football on New York's Long Island this season. Well, maybe not playing football, but place-kicking.Last Saturday, Jacqueline Gainer became the first female to score a point in New York state, during Valley Stream Central's 10-0 victory over East Meadow. This Saturday, Susan Price is expected to take the first kick if Central scores a touchdown at Long Beach.The two kickers, accomplished soccer players, will not attempt field goals because they are not considered big enough, experienced enough, strong enough, mean enough, to be on the field while the ball is alive.

Before the start of yesterday's practice, Ravens cornerback Corey Fuller stood in one corner of the field and laughed loudly with Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Gary Baxter. A half hour later, Fuller was equally jovial during the workout. Showing no ill effects from a quadriceps injury that limited his play last year, Fuller accelerated through receivers to break up passes and cut sharply on his previously injured leg to jump routes, gliding to the ball as if he didn't have a care in the world.

The crowds ringed the fence at Dunbar's re-done football field long before the start of the game Friday. Fans were calling the school six hours before kickoff trying to score tickets, and it sold out three hours early. Dunbar has always been a major part of the community, but the new football field that opened Friday took that to another level. The Poets always had a place to play, but now they've got someplace special. The William F. "Sugar" Cain Field - named in honor of one of the school's most famous coaches - opened in style thanks to No. 8 Dunbar's 64-0 rout of an overmatched Carver team.

For the last couple months, Dunbar athletes have been keeping an eye on the renovation of their football field, hoping they would get to play a few games there this fall. "They think it's Christmas," Poets football coach Lawrence Smith said of the anticipation when the players found out the lighted field would be ready for their homecoming game Friday night against Carver. "I just think it's magical. It's going to be electric here Friday night," Smith said. Poets junior running back Coleman Blackston eagerly monitored the final weeks of construction.