Frank Mccourt

Frank McCourt, the Irish-American storyteller who parlayed the miseries of a Limerick upbringing into an extraordinary late-life literary blooming, died of cancer Sunday in New York City. Mr. McCourt, 78, had spent the past 13 years buoyantly touring the globe on reading tours and writing two sequels to his 1996 best-seller, Angela's Ashes, which sold more than 5 million copies and was translated into more than 20 languages. He had been undergoing treatment for skin cancer in recent years and been released in early June from New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering Center to recuperate at his Roxbury, Conn.

It takes so long to say the name of the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society that one can be thankful that everybody just refers to it as HoCoPoLitSo. One of this literary organization's longest running and most popular activities is an annual Irish Evening that features a reading by a celebrated author, an opportunity to have books signed, live music and, of course, Irish coffee. This year's event promises to live up to that lively tradition. Memoirist and novelist Hugo Hamilton is the guest speaker for the 34th Irish Evening Friday, Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at Howard Community College's Smith Theatre.

Now that he's part of a cottage industry, a family of wildly successful Irish-American storytellers, Malachy McCourt can pause to reflect a little on why it happened and what it means.Americans, says the 66-year-old author of the best seller "A Monk Swimming" (Hyperion, $23.95), suffer from a lack of gab."In the old days, you sat around the fire at night and the storyteller would tell the stories." There would be heroes and kings and ordinary people uplifted by experience."These days you have what someone has called the cool fire -- the television -- and late at night the 'sages' and the 'wise men' are there, but it's all jokes.

Don't spoil the fun Phil Rogers Chicago Tribune Please, Bud Selig, don't step in. For the good of the sport, Major League Baseball will probably step in to seize control of the Dodgers from Frank McCourt. But watching from a distance there's something entertaining about the whole fiasco. What will Frank do next? Will he hire himself as the third-base coach, paid $10 million a year? Will he sack Ned Colletti and hire his son as general manager, at $20 million a year?

Teacher Man By Frank McCourt Frank McCourt's memoir of his 30-year career as an English teacher in the New York City public school system is also the story of how teaching saved McCourt. Engaging surly students helped him find his own voice, the classroom becoming "my refuge, sometimes my strength, the setting for my delayed childhood."

Jack Luskin was "The Cheapest Guy in Town." Daughter Jamie McCourt might be the most expensive gal. McCourt, who claims to co-own the Los Angeles Dodgers with estranged husband Frank McCourt, has demanded $487,634 a month in spousal support in their divorce case, the Los Angeles Times reports. She's said she'd settle for $320,967 a month if she's reinstated as the ball club's chief executive. This from a woman who told the JewishJournal.com last summer that her family's hard times in the 1930s instilled in her "a Depression mentality."

Don't spoil the fun Phil Rogers Chicago Tribune Please, Bud Selig, don't step in. For the good of the sport, Major League Baseball will probably step in to seize control of the Dodgers from Frank McCourt. But watching from a distance there's something entertaining about the whole fiasco. What will Frank do next? Will he hire himself as the third-base coach, paid $10 million a year? Will he sack Ned Colletti and hire his son as general manager, at $20 million a year?

He seemed every bit as charming and funny as when I last saw him. Thirty-odd years ago, I sat in Room 205 of Stuyvesant High School in New York City, two or three rows directly back from Frank McCourt's desk. He perched on the side of his desk and looked out in my direction, talking about creative writing, long before he had written anything of consequence. With certainty, I know that he is largely responsible for the writer I have become. And now I sat up in the Grand Tier of the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, so far away from the stage that I could barely make out the features on his face.

Starting in April, former Orioles catcher Chris Hoiles will co-host a new afternoon sports talk radio show on Fox Sports 1370 AM. Adam Gladstone , the former director of minor league operations for Ripken Baseball and ex-director of baseball operations for the York Revolution, will join Hoiles in discussion about the Orioles and other baseball news. The show will debut Monday and will air every weekday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., featuring interviews with baseball executives, phone calls from listeners, live remote broadcasts and behind-the-scenes looks at Orioles baseball.

Nationals Report: Mattingly, Melvin, Valentine on managerial list As their managerial search gains traction, the Washington Nationals have compiled a list of candidates that includes Los Angeles Dodgers bench coach Don Mattingly and former big league managers Bobby Valentine and former Oriole Bob Melvin, The Washington Post reported Thursday. Mattingly told reporters Tuesday that he has been approached by the Nationals, who are interested in an interview. Sources both within and outside the organization confirmed the interest in Valentine and Melvin, though certainly the team's list goes deeper than three.

He's entitled to one Peter Schmuck Baltimore Sun Is this a trick question? Theoretically, Bud Selig is employed by the 30 baseball owners to oversee the central management of Major League Baseball, so it seems obvious that one of those owners would be entitled to a meeting after the commissioner ordered a takeover of his business operation. The fact that Selig did not attend a meeting between Frank McCourt and MLB officials appears to be an indication of just how much McCourt's reckless behavior has rankled his fellow owners.

There's nothing funny about the fall of Frank McCourt and his ongoing battle with Major League Baseball, which is ushering him out as owner of the Dodgers. But around MLB's offices in New York, some people are having a hard time not laughing about McCourt's claim Commissioner Bud Selig is ducking him. "There is no owner who during the period Frank has been in the game (2004-11), who has consumed more of the commissioner's time, more of the commissioner's office's time," MLB executive vice president for labor relations Rob Manfred said Friday.

News item: The 2011 NFL schedule has been carefully constructed so that the league can lose the first three weeks of the regular season and still complete a full 16-game schedule. My take: And you're surprised? This is the league that fines players for wearing the wrong shoelaces. Of course, the owners already know exactly when the new collective bargaining agreement will be finalized. They just haven't told the union yet. Related news item: The stalemated labor negotiations have been put on hold until May 16 because the mediator — judge magistrate Arthur Boylan — needs to attend to other matters on his judicial calendar.

Apparently Darek Braunecker, Cliff Lee's agent, can find mystery teams as well as Scott Boras. There are media reports of two seven-year offers for Lee, but the Yankees, Rangers, Nationals and Angels all have indicated they will not go that long. The Twins covet Lee, so they could be flying under the radar. Carl Pavano, who earned $7 million last year, is a free agent; Joe Nathan and Michael Cuddyer (a combined $21.75 million in 2011) could come off the books after next season.

Baseball Before last homestand, Dunn says he wants to stay a Nat Adam Dunn reiterated Monday that he wants to remain with the Washington Nationals. Even if he first becomes a free agent. "I still want to be here. I don't know what's going to happen," Dunn said before the Nationals opened their final homestand of the season. "Just because I go to free agency doesn't mean I can't come back here or that I don't want to come back here. I do. " The slugger leads the Nationals with 35 home runs and 93 RBIs.

Baseball The Washington Nationals said Wednesday that Rob Dibble will no longer work as a TV analyst for the team's games, a split that comes after the former reliever made comments critical of rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg . Dibble lashed out at Strasburg last week for not pitching through pain. Dibble said on Sirius XM Radio that "you can't have the cavalry come in and save your butt every time you feel a little stiff shoulder, sore elbow. " Strasburg has since been diagnosed with a torn elbow ligament and will have surgery Friday.

He's entitled to one Peter Schmuck Baltimore Sun Is this a trick question? Theoretically, Bud Selig is employed by the 30 baseball owners to oversee the central management of Major League Baseball, so it seems obvious that one of those owners would be entitled to a meeting after the commissioner ordered a takeover of his business operation. The fact that Selig did not attend a meeting between Frank McCourt and MLB officials appears to be an indication of just how much McCourt's reckless behavior has rankled his fellow owners.

Former Los Angeles Dodgers CEO Jamie McCourt says her estranged husband has at least $18 million available that could help pay for her spousal support in the couple's divorce case, according to court documents. Jamie McCourt, who grew up in Pikesville, said Frank McCourt continues to live a lavish lifestyle while she has mounting bills and doesn't draw any income. She estimated she has about $4 million in savings and roughly $450,000 in cash that will quickly run out because of monthly mortgage payments of about $415,000 on the couple's homes and vacation properties, according to the documents filed Monday.

Billiards Fort team from Baltimore wins APA national 9-ball title The Fort, a team from Baltimore, defeated the Ryders of Meriden, Conn., in the final of the Open 9-Ball Division of the APA National Team Championships in Las Vegas. The Baltimore team — Eddie Grau (captain), Manny Topal (co-captain), Ray Kikola , Sharon Kikola , John McSweeney , Don Wilson and Daniel Pietruska — advanced to the final with a victory over Land Sharks of Garner, N.C., and earned $15,000 in first-place money.