Game Plan

SAN DIEGO -- A day before taking his quest for the career home run record back home to San Francisco, Barry Bonds sat back and took a deep breath to enjoy his 755th home run. "There's no pressure on me to do this right away. If I keep my mechanics right, you guys won't be around long," said Bonds, who sat out yesterday's game a day after tying Hank Aaron's all-time mark. Manager Bruce Bochy said Bonds will be back in the lineup when the Giants open a seven-game homestand tonight at AT&T Park, where Bonds has hit most of his milestone homers and where he has long said he wants to pass Aaron.

WASHINGTON -- Even as Republican members expressed misgivings, the House voted narrowly last night to back the use of U.S. troops in Kosovo to enforce any peace agreement.Ignoring Clinton administration fears about the impact that a debate or vote might have on peace talks, opponents mustered 191 votes against a nonbinding resolution to support the use of American peacekeepers.Although the resolution passed with 219 mostly Democratic votes in favor, the strong Republican opposition signaled GOP reservations about the mission amid complaints that the military already is stretched too thin.

DENVER -- There isn't much that happens around the Denver Broncos that doesn't pass the scrutiny of coach Mike Shanahan.When he watched defensive end Neil Smith make a halfhearted charge at Miami quarterback Dan Marino in last week's AFC divisional playoff game, he brought it to the attention of the 11-year veteran on the sideline."

MTA needs a better game plan for the light rail trip to 0) Ravens stadiumWhile packed into a light rail car, suffering a two-hour trip to and from the Ravens game, I noted a billboard in the car that read "The Ravens have a new home. The MTA has a game plan get you there."Well, let's hope the Ravens game plans work better than the MTA's plan. The trip to and from the stadium was horrible, and I cannot believe that the MTA did not have contingency plans to handle large volumes of people, especially after the media attention urging fans to use public transportation.

The last time they played the Cincinnati Bengals, the Ravens rushed for a season-high 181 yards on 35 attempts, led by halfback Priest Holmes' 173, in a 31-24 win that amounted to the team's best offensive showing of the year.The Ravens (3-7) would like to see the same game plan Sunday when they travel to Cincinnati's Cinergy Field in a rematch with the Bengals (2-8)."Hopefully, we don't do anything differently, that we come in with the same game plan and we attack," said Ravens center Wally Williams.

WASHINGTON -- If Friday night's Women's NBA sold-out home opener was about pomp and circumstance for the Washington Mystics, then last night's meeting with the Detroit Shock was about getting back to the basics of playing basketball.By that test, the Mystics failed, with a 70-57 loss to the fellow expansion team at the MCI Center last night.A holiday crowd of 14,314 saw the Mystics (1-4) shoot a dismal 34 percent from the field, hit only two of 14 three-pointers, and make only 13 of 24 free throws.

Ted Marchibroda left something to remember him by yesterday.Answering all the critics who complained about unimaginative game plans, the Ravens' coach put in some new wrinkles against the Jacksonville Jaguars."

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Former Ravens quarterback Vinny Testaverde started the game for the New York Jets, but neither he nor replacement Glenn Foley had much success against Testaverde's former team in the 33-0 preseason loss. Testaverde was 6-for-10 for 54 yards and Foley was only 5-for-15 for 37 yards.Testaverde said the Ravens blitzes confused his young line."I don't know what their game plan was or if that made them play any better," Testaverde said. "Every team goes through a game like this and we're fortunate that this happened now. Hopefully, this opens a lot of eyes to what we have to do."

Jermaine Lewis showed yesterday that training camp does mean something.After leading the team with 15 catches during the preseason, Lewis showed that performance wasn't a fluke by catching four for 73 yards and two touchdowns, including a 42-yard strike, in the season opener.He wound up with 215 all-purpose yards because he also returned four kicks for 118 yards, three punts for 19 yards and ran a reverse for five.He couldn't really savor it because the Ravens lost to the Jaguars, 28-27."I feel like I could have done something more.

SAN ANTONIO -- The Minnesota Gophers felt snubbed by the NCAA tournament selection committee a year ago. They heard all the skepticism when they got as high as second in the national rankings this season. And they knew that many thought they were the shakiest of top seeds going into this year's tournament.But there is no disrespecting the Gophers anymore.With an impressive, 80-72, come-from-behind victory over second-seeded UCLA yesterday in the Midwest Regional at the Alamodome, Minnesota will be going to its first Final Four.

COLLEGE PARK - -As the Maryland football team's charter flight crept home from a 52-13 embarrassment at California early Sunday morning, most of the players slept - some in the aisles, some sprawled across three seats. The position coaches enjoyed no such luxury. They graded their players' performances on video until their laptop batteries gave out. Then they were handed fresh batteries from a video assistant and started anew. The grading procedure - each Terp is scored from "0" to "2" on each play in which they participate, with "1.5" as a passing grade - is part of the meticulous research that Maryland conducts on itself and its opponents before games.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. The Ravens unveiled their team game plan for 2009, and they won't go far from the script if the team is to be successful. It's an upgrade over last season, but is it enough to get them back to the AFC championship game? We'll see. As far as the first teams are concerned, the Ravens played fairly well against the Carolina Panthers on Saturday night. On defense, they only allowed a field goal in the first half and just one big play, which came in the first quarter. The Panthers had 104 yards of total offense in the first half, and just 18 rushing yards.

Mark Clayton moved closer Thursday to returning to game action, but it won't be this week, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. Moments after Clayton told reporters he felt he could play in Saturday night's preseason game against the Carolina Panthers, Harbaugh said the Ravens would not risk their veteran wide receiver in a game before the final week of the preseason and possibly not before the season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 13. "The season is obviously the most important part," Harbaugh said.

The coach held the clipboard above his head. "Bud, you're there. Ed, you're here," he said. "Everybody got it?" The huddle broke, and each assumed his position on the practice field. On the other side of the football stood some of the biggest giants in Maryland - Ravens offensive linemen ranging from 305 to 340 pounds. Quite an imposing sight for ragtag bunch outfitted in jeans and sneakers, a "defense" that features a rookie who's 41 years old. Don't laugh - the nose tackle is 62. All season, this group of area firefighters has assumed the role of the opposing team's defense at early-morning practices.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee Titans quarterback Kerry Collins and Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis agree on one thing. Eight years is a long time, especially in the NFL. But no so long that anyone who saw the Ravens' Super Bowl victory over New York in January 2001 would forget the way Baltimore's ferocious defense hounded Collins, then with the Giants, into one of the most miserable days ever suffered by a quarterback in the NFL's championship game -...

Joe Flacco made his first start for the Ravens on Sunday and delivered a victory. For Flacco to have a bigger role in future victories, here are some suggestions for him: Three areas in which Flacco needs to continue to produce: 1. Limit costly mistakes. If the Ravens want to succeed against tougher defenses than the Bengals', their rookie quarterback has to keep managing the game like a veteran. Unlike many quarterbacks making their NFL debuts, Flacco never put the Ravens in a position to lose the game, finishing with no turnovers and no sacks.

Brushing the Ocean City sand off the notebook for some sports media scribblings: *Just in case it's too hard to remember which of the Ravens' preseason games are on WBAL and which are on WMAR - the first and last are on Channel 11, and the middle two are on Channel 2, by the way - you can simply remember all four are also being carried by MASN as part of its schedule of Ravens programming. During the regular season, MASN airs a post-game Ravens Xtra and coach John Harbaugh's Monday news conferences.

The curse of having this job is that it's hard to go through any joyful occasion and not think about how it relates back to mutual funds. And so, on a gorgeous sunny Thursday as the Boston Celtics' drive-by rally was cruising the streets here, it was hard not to be inspired by the Celtics' worst-to-first championship turnaround and think that investors who have been feeling pinched can figure out a similar way to bring their portfolio to victory....

Why isn't Dwayne Johnson a big star by now? The camera loves him. He's funny, self-deprecating and takes the occasional quirky chance with an off-the-mainstream-reservation experiment like the someday-to-be-released Southland Tales. Maybe having to carry around "The Rock" as an alias or alter ego - or whatever it's supposed to be - weighs down his upward mobility. Maybe he's not stoic enough to be an action guy or too brawny to be taken seriously as a comic actor. It could be that he hasn't quite found the right vehicle to drive home his persona.

The New York Jets might be just what Willis McGahee ordered. The Ravens running back has enjoyed sustained success against the Jets rush defense, compiling at least 110 yards in each of his past five games when McGahee was the featured back for the Buffalo Bills. The Jets come to M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday at 4:15 p.m., but McGahee downplayed his track record against them. "I just had a good experience with them," he said. "There's been one time when they stopped me [for] under 100 yards.