Four Seasons

HAMPSTEAD -- Imagine playing golf without clubs, using a much bigger ball and, obviously, much bigger holes.You'll be able to do just that, possibly as soon as next spring, when the Four Seasons Sports Complex and Fitness Center opens a 20-acre, 18-hole soccer golf course. That's right, a soccer golf course.Soccer golf is basically the same as regular golf, minus the clubs and the small, dimpled balls. Instead, legs and feet are used along with soccer balls. The course will feature par-3 to par-5 holes.

PABU , the second restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore, is scheduled to open this week. The dinner-only restaurant is the first collaboration between Michael Mina, whose San Francisco-based restaurant group also developed the concept for Wit & Wisdom , the Four Seasons' three-meal restaurant, and Ken Tominaga, owner and chef of Hana Japanese Restaurant in Sonoma County, Calif. PABU is being described as a modern "izakaya," a term that translates, very loosely, as a drinking establishment that serves food.

Posterity hasn't always tipped its cap respectfully in the direction of Antonio Vivaldi, the facile composer of the baroque era whose many works won him acclaim at the Austrian imperial court and in his native Italy.The great Igor Stravinsky once dismissed Vivaldi as "a dull fellow who could compose the same form over and so many times over."Our baroque-smitten record-buying public has overruled Stravinsky's curmudgeonly verdict.None of Vivaldi's 700-plus compositions is better loved than his pictorial set of four concertos for solo violin and string orchestra, "The Four Seasons."

PABU, the second restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore, is set to open Tuesday night. See reactions and photos from pre-opening dinners . The dinner only restaurant is a first collaboration between Michael Mina, whose San Francisco-based restaurant group also developed the concept for Wit & Wisdom , the Four Seasons ' three-meal restaurant, and Ken Tominaga, owner and chef of Hana Japanese Restaurant in Sonoma County,...

Posterity hasn't always tipped its cap respectfully in the direction of Antonio Vivaldi, the facile composer of the baroque era whose many works won him acclaim at the Austrian imperial court and in his native Italy.The great Igor Stravinsky once dismissed Vivaldi as "a dull fellow who could compose the same form over and so many times over."Our baroque-smitten record-buying public has overruled Stravinsky's curmudgeonly verdict. None of Vivaldi's 700-plus compositions is better loved than his pictorial set of four concertos for solo violin and string orchestra, "The Four Seasons."

Zach Wendal, Andrew Benicewicz and Scott Bissett ventured into the unknown as freshmen, trying out for a Mount Hebron wrestling team that had won one match in the previous four seasons. And they didn't exactly take to the sport like ducks to water. "I had never tried wrestling, had no idea what it was," Bissett said. "I remember I couldn't even do a half-nelson. For about a month or two months, I was like, `How do you do this?' " Wendal didn't fare much better: "I wasn't good at sprawling or shooting takedowns.

POLICE LOG* Four Seasons: Someone stole a mountain bike worth $1,200 Wednesday afternoon from a garage in the 900 block of Fall Ridge Way.

8 Total games remaining 7 Home games remaining Highlight: Ripken has had four seasons with more than 100 RBIs, most recently in 1996 (102).

NEW YORK -- The 33-foot high marble columns in the lobby look so monumental that you may think you've stepped into a museum. In a way, you have.New York's Four Seasons Hotel, located on one of midtown Manhattan's most fashionable shopping streets, built at a cost of $360 million, is gaining a certain landmark status as the latest example of a disappearing breed of grand hotels. "I've been told that something like this happens in New York every 50 years, and I tend to believe it," says hotel manager Thomas Gurtner.

An emergency blood drive was held Saturday at the Four Seasons Sports Complex to benefit soccer coach Abdellatif "Zak" Zakhnini, who has coached at Four Seasons, Carroll Indoor Sports and Hood College.Zakhnini has been in Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore since Feb. 1, when he was involved in an automobile accident. "He's well liked by everyone. A lot of people know Zak," said Lisa Shroers, a friend from Hampstead.Zakhnini's family lives in Morocco. A fund has been established at First National Bank of Maryland to help with his medical expenses.

Of the 11 cocktails on the menu at Wit & Wisdom Tavern at the new Four Seasons, several automatically jump out. They carry unexpected ingredients, like Fernet Branca, a herbaceous liqueur, and bitters with a dominant orange flavor. But before I ordered, I asked my bartender to suggest something. Choosing the Aviation, a gin-based cocktail, she explained every detail about its ingredients. She knew that the Luxardo Maraschino gave it a cherry flavor, and that the creme de violette added a floral element.

Wit & Wisdom, the promising restaurant in the new Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore, calls itself a tavern. That it's not recognizably a tavern is what makes Wit & Wisdom, early on, both interesting and frustrating. Riding a wave of publicity and excitement, it opened last month in the waterfront hotel in the posher-by-the-second Harbor East neighborhood. The product of an experienced restaurant group, Wit & Wisdom — its formal name is Wit & Wisdom, a Tavern by Michael Mina — is still in its awkward phase after a month of operation.

As the Four Seasons Baltimore opened to its first guests Monday, the city's newest waterfront hotel looked forward to many more. Over a dozen couples have booked weddings, companies have set up corporate accounts, and business is strong for year-end holiday events, said Julien Carralero, the hotel's general manager. Even the $6,000-a-night Royal Suite has potential takers, he said. The hotel even has its sights set on a specialized niche: entertainers and other celebrities seeking privacy and pampering.

The Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore is about to welcome its first guests, but visitors taking a sneak peek might not realize the hotel isn't open yet. The lobby is bustling with excitement and energy. There's a crew of attractive people sitting at the bar with the harbor as a backdrop. The smell of savory pit-roasted chicken fills the restaurant area. And the spa already has a quiet ambience — and a few clients. They are mostly employees, explains Judith Dumrauf, the hotel's director of marketing.

Forrest Blue, a quick, powerful center who made the Pro Bowl for the San Francisco 49ers from 1971 to 1974 and finished his career with the Baltimore Colts from 1975 to 1978, died Saturday at an assisted-living center in Carmichael, Calif. He was 66. A first-round draft pick out of Auburn in 1968, Blue was a 49ers mainstay for seven seasons and was a first-team All-Pro in 1971 and 1972. "You can't get around him," former San Diego Chargers defensive tackle Ron East once said.

Now that an opening date has been announced for the Four Seasons Hotel  Baltimore - November 1 - more information about the restaurants should begin to flow forth. Here's what we know so far. The three main restaurants include La Mill , which will be open for breakfast and lunch; Wit & Wisdom , a "contemporary take on a traditional tavern," to be overseen by celebrity chef Michael Mina, which will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner; and Pabu , a high-end, dinner-only Japanese restaurant.

CHRISTIAN 'HITSCH' ALBIN, 61 Four Seasons executive chef Christian "Hitsch" Albin, who fed the world's luminaries for decades as executive chef of The Four Seasons - a restaurant that invented the "power lunch" - has died. He was 61. Albin died at New York University Medical Center on Saturday, five days after being diagnosed with cancer, the restaurant's owners said in a statement. The Swiss-born chef's hearty laughter filled the ritzy Manhattan restaurant's kitchen for 36 years, serving guests who included Jacqueline Onassis, Elton John, President Bill Clinton, Princess Diana and Martha Stewart.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan women's basketball coach Cheryl Burnett retired yesterday, ending a lackluster stint with the Wolverines after helping Southwest Missouri State become a power. Burnett was 35-83 overall and 10-54 in the Big Ten over four seasons at Michigan. The Wolverines were 10-20 overall and 3-13 in the conference last season, finishing 10th. Michigan's best year under Burnett was its first, when the team was 14-17 during the 2003-04 season. She was 319-136 and coached in 10 NCAA tournaments before she was hired at Michigan.

The Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore has set Nov. 1 as its opening date and has begun building a staff to get ready for it. The hotel announced this week that the November date will be a "soft" opening for the $197 million, 256-room luxury hotel in Harbor East. The hotel has begun to hire top managers, starting with general manager Julien Corralero. According to Liliana Baldassari, director of public relations, the hotel has started to book group business, including meetings and weddings, and will announce room rates and begin accepting individual reservations this summer.

Maryland on Monday night hired Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon -- a Larry Brown disciple at Kansas who has been likened to Gary Williams -- to replace Williams as men's basketball coach. Turgeon, 46, was hired after being interviewed by athletic director Kevin Anderson in Pittsburgh. Turgeon then flew home to Texas, and Maryland delayed an announcement until he could talk to his team. Turgeon made his name at Wichita State, then went 97-40 in four seasons in College Station with four NCAA tournament trips.