Great Game

MIAMI -- San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice remembers the time he lined up to start a game against the Atlanta Falcons, focusing on his duel with cornerback Deion Sanders.It doesn't get much better in pro football than Rice vs. Sanders: the best wide receiver against the best cover corner in the game.Rice, who is so intense that he often doesn't sleep much the night before games, was concentrating on the play.That's why he was startled when Sanders reached out to shake his hand.

For the third time in the last four seasons, Stevenson and Salisbury will meet in the NCAA Division III tournament semifinals and at stake is a spot in the championship final at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on May 26. Both sides took different paths to the same destination. The No. 4 Mustangs (20-2) have been ranked in top five for pretty much the entire year and collected a program-record 20th victory with Wednesday night's 13-7 victory over No. 13 Lynchburg. The No. 12 Sea Gulls (17-5)

In the sixth inning of the Orioles' 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, Orioles manager Buck Showalter turned to bench coach John Russell in the visiting dugout of Fenway Park and made a prognostication in the middle of a tied game. Left-hander Brian Matusz had just overcome a 3-0 count to Jarrod Saltalamacchia to strike him out on a full-count pitch. Matusz came into the game with two on and one out in the sixth, relieving starter Chris Tillman after he threw 96 pitches.

With Salisbury's offense averaging 16.33 goals per game -- second best in Division III women's lacrosse -- it can be difficult for even the best defense to get much attention. In Sunday's NCAA quarterfinal win over Franklin & Marshall, however, the defense stole the spotlight. If it hadn't, the No. 2 Sea Gulls (21-0) wouldn't be playing in Saturday's NCAA Division III semifinal. The Sea Gulls' attack struggled when the Diplomats put a face guard on offensive leader Katie Bollhorst, but the defense remained its usual stingy self and made sure Salisbury came away with an 8-6 victory in their closest call of the season.

John Mackey was quite simply the greatest tight end in NFL history, and the Baltimore Colts were America's team before there was an America's Team. I hope Mackey and Johnny U. are having a great game of catch in Heaven. God bless him and his entire family. Don Doby

If you run into Walt Wagner, don't be surprised if he tells you right away, that his son — HIS SON!! — is one of two guys Major League Baseball is paying — PAYING!! — to hole up and watch every last inning of every last ball game. His boy, born in Baltimore and raised on the Orioles, beat out 10,000 people for the chance to "eat, sleep and live baseball" for the entire season — albeit behind glass in a Manhattan storefront. "I still get the shakes when I talk about it," gushes Wagner, a retired city cop. "That's my son. " Ryan Wagner, who's 25, is spending the next seven months with fellow winner Mike O'Hara, lazing on a sofa, sipping Budweisers and fixing his attention on what will turn out to be 2,430 games — a head-spinning number of pitches, countless fly balls, who knows how many stolen bases.

LONDON -- The Saudi Arabian bomb has reminded the world of the politics of oil. But. looking ahead, the intrigue of the Middle East is as nothing compared with that to come in the Caucasus and Central Asia, where geo-strategic rivalries, ethnic feuding and elusive independence combine in a volatile mix.Straddling Europe, the Near East and Asia, the Caspian region is one of the largest underdeveloped sources of oil in the world. As the Persian Gulf oil is exploited to the point where its capacity and world demand intersect, this Central Asian oil will become a crucial alternative supply.

On Boise State's dramatic victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl Unbelievable! I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one who stayed up. What a great game. And the calls on fourth-and-18 and the two-point conversion -- those took a lot of guts. Just incredible to see. One of the best college football games I have ever watched. Shows that the BCS system is flawed. Games are won on the field and on any given day, anything can happen. This is one of the best college football games I've ever seen, right up there with last year's Rose Bowl.

The long-anticipated matchup between No. 7 Randallstown and No. 8 Towson had all the ingredients for a great game.Except one.Visiting Towson (19-0) took advantage of the absence of Randallstown standout Nyota Mitchell and scored a 63-27 victory over the Rams (18-2) to win the Baltimore County girls championship yesterday.Katie Barnes led the Generals with 14 points."There was a lot of build-up for this game . . . and I think it would have been a great game if she was here," said Towson forward Sarah Weaver.

No. 12 Salisbury's 7-4 upset of No. 8 Washington and Lee in the second round of the NCAA tournament last Saturday was immensely gratifying to the reigning national champion for two reasons. The Sea Gulls earned their 15th consecutive appearance in the quarterfinals since the tournament added a round prior to the quarterfinals for the 1998 tournament, and they made amends after dropping a 7-6 double-overtime decision to the Generals on Feb. 20. “It was nice to win the game because it obviously gets us to the quarterfinals,” coach Jim Berkman said Monday morning.

No. 12 Salisbury's 7-4 upset of No. 8 Washington and Lee in the second round of the NCAA tournament last Saturday was immensely gratifying to the reigning national champion for two reasons. The Sea Gulls earned their 15th consecutive appearance in the quarterfinals since the tournament added a round prior to the quarterfinals for the 1998 tournament, and they made amends after dropping a 7-6 double-overtime decision to the Generals on Feb. 20. “It was nice to win the game because it obviously gets us to the quarterfinals,” coach Jim Berkman said Monday morning.

In the sixth inning of the Orioles' 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, Orioles manager Buck Showalter turned to bench coach John Russell in the visiting dugout of Fenway Park and made a prognostication in the middle of a tied game. Left-hander Brian Matusz had just overcome a 3-0 count to Jarrod Saltalamacchia to strike him out on a full-count pitch. Matusz came into the game with two on and one out in the sixth, relieving starter Chris Tillman after he threw 96 pitches.

Sunday night's big victory by the Washington Redskins over the Dallas Cowboys set a record for NBC prime time TV -- and that's saying something for the No. 1 show on television. The ratings jackpot is well-deserved. The Redskins played a gutty, emotional and smart game with their stars going all out and leaving everything on the field. And NBC's peerless broadcast team delivered another gem of a telecast. The work of Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth in the booth Sunday night was the match of any team in the history of NFL television.

Epic is probably too strong a word, but Wednesday night's Orioles-Yankees battle was another great playoff game. And once again, TBS delivered a telecast worthy of it in almost every way. Just as the images from Monday's victory for the O's at Camden Yards viscerally connected viewers to the joy in downtown Baltimore, Wednesday's made you feel the pain in the Bronx deep in your gut. Those images of the Yankees fans dancing and high-fiving late in...

It could have been one of the coolest scenes in Baltimore baseball history. Players and fans cheering together at Camden Yards as the Los Angeles Angels lost to the Texas Rangers and gave the Orioles their first playoff berth since 1997. It was still pretty cool, but it didn't work out as neatly as hoped. The Angels came back on the Rangers and closer Joe Nathan, scoring two runs in the ninth on a Torii Hunter double to give the Angels the lead. They won it in the ninth, to keep the Orioles' postseason clinching celebration at bay at least until later Sunday night when the Angels and Rangers face off again.

There's only one word describe this softball season: Upsets. Two more happened Monday, and the list of leaders has been trimmed in half. Hammond, led by Hannah Force, pulled off one upset, beating Reservoir, 6-1, and River Hill came from behind twice to upset Mt. Hebron in a slugfest, 11-8. Mt. Hebron, Reservoir, Howard and Glenelg had shared the league lead going into today's games. Both Howard and Glenelg won their games today to remain tied at the top, with two county losses each.

For the third time in the last four seasons, Stevenson and Salisbury will meet in the NCAA Division III tournament semifinals and at stake is a spot in the championship final at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on May 26. Both sides took different paths to the same destination. The No. 4 Mustangs (20-2) have been ranked in top five for pretty much the entire year and collected a program-record 20th victory with Wednesday night's 13-7 victory over No. 13 Lynchburg. The No. 12 Sea Gulls (17-5)

With Salisbury's offense averaging 16.33 goals per game -- second best in Division III women's lacrosse -- it can be difficult for even the best defense to get much attention. In Sunday's NCAA quarterfinal win over Franklin & Marshall, however, the defense stole the spotlight. If it hadn't, the No. 2 Sea Gulls (21-0) wouldn't be playing in Saturday's NCAA Division III semifinal. The Sea Gulls' attack struggled when the Diplomats put a face guard on offensive leader Katie Bollhorst, but the defense remained its usual stingy self and made sure Salisbury came away with an 8-6 victory in their closest call of the season.

Less than 24 hours after winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament and securing its first NCAA tournament berth since 1994, the Loyola men's basketball team arrived at BWI-Marshall Airport this morning looking tired and happy following its 48-44 win over Fairfield on Monday night. Shane Walker, Loyola's senior big man who sank a free throw with less than five seconds to go to seal the win, walked off the plane with the gleaming gold MAAC 2012 championship trophy. "It's been hard to get it away from me," Walker said of the trophy.

The Ottobar in Charles Village is well-known for its live music. Jimmy Eat World, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and Baltimore's Lower Dens have all played there; electronic musician Dan Deacon, psychedelic band Celebration and duo Wye Oak have announced shows there in December. The bar is also known for its cheap specials, like Two for Tuesday (two beers for the price of one), and its pool games upstairs. But it's also a good place to watch the Ravens. While co - owner Craig Boarman says away games draw more of a crowd, neighbors of the bar on Howard Street will find several Ravens specials this Sunday.