Green Bay

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- There's an insatiable commercial reality to the National Football League reaching the exorbitant point of wondering if sometime the teams, maybe wearing dollar signs instead of numbers, might forget to kick off.Yet the Green Bay Packers remain a surviving and refreshing symbol of the grand old days of professional sports.The spirited story of the Packers, how they came to be and have lived on for 79 years, is one that never becomes outdated or redundant. This is a team owned by a prideful public for the dual purpose of providing entertainment while giving itself a "Little David" feel-good civic identity.

In a legislative session marked by discord over taxes and gambling, lawmakers came together to pass three major bills aimed at boosting Chesapeake Bay cleanup efforts. They failed to agree, however, on other environmental priorities - a bill to subsidize building wind turbines off Ocean City, and a measure requiring natural gas companies to pay for studying the impacts of drilling for energy in western Maryland. The General Assembly approved two bay billls that were priorities of the O'Malley administration bills, one doubling the 'flush fee' to pay for upgrading sewage treatment plants and another limiting rural development on septic systems.  A third late-moving bill pushed by environmentalists would require Baltimore city and nine suburban counties to levy local fees to pay for curbing polluted runoff from their streets and parking lots.

Every handicapper should be permitted one minute of madness during the NFL season. So I'll plead guilty, in advance, to having little more than a hunch as the primary reason for selecting the Chicago Bears, 11 1/2 -point underdogs, to cover Sunday at Soldier Field against the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers.The Bears are 0-6, at the bottom of the NFC Central. They've been blown out by Detroit and New England, faded badly in the second half at Dallas, lost by 14 at Green Bay, and disgraced coach Dave Wannstedt by losing to former coach Mike Ditka's New Orleans team last Sunday night in Chicago.

Still too soon to say Sam Farmer Los Angeles Times Of course the Packers stand a chance of going undefeated in the regular season. Will they? I doubt it. We're just five weeks into the season, and so many things can happen over the next 11 games — key injuries, a letdown, or simply a good team that's better than Green Bay on that particular day. Plus, there's the likelihood that if the Packers were to build a comfortable lead in the division — no guarantee, considering how Detroit is playing — they would take their foot off the pedal, rest some starters, and coast into the postseason.

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Green Bay Packers lost return specialist Desmond Howard to free agency this year and replaced him with Qadry Ismail.They lost veteran defensive end Sean Jones to retirement and added the stability of linebacker Seth Joyner, a 12-year vet himself.They lost wide receiver Andre Rison to salary cap economics and effectively filled the void with Robert Brooks, who was the team's best receiver until a severe knee injury last October short-circuited his season.The more the Packers subtracted this off-season, the more they enhanced their position as the team to beat in the NFL this season.

Snap, Crackle and Pop:The practical joker (or fiend) of the year has to be the guy in the NFL office who scheduled the Los Angeles Rams into Green Bay for a game on Dec. 20. Besides being 6 degrees at kickoff time, the wind was howling (minus-15 wind chill) and the West Coasters had played in an average temperature of 74 degrees all season.* It now becomes clear why, in all probability, Michael Dokes, 34 (going on 44), got the call to be heavyweight champ Riddick Bowe's first title defense.

Chop Tang scored 16 points and had nine rebounds to lead Wisconsin-Green Bay past Morgan State, 71-54, yesterday in the Glenn Wilkes Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla. Tang converted all six of his free throws and Green Bay made 28-for-30 from the stripe. Green Bay (2-2) also got 15 points and seven rebounds from Randy Berry and 15 points from Mike Schachtner, who connected on seven of eight free throws. Morgan State (2-4) was led by Marquise Kately, who had 14 points, and Reggie Holmes, who scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Green Bay's Richie Cunningham kicked a 42-yard field goal with three seconds remaining as the Green Bay Packers defeated the Ravens, 17-15, on Aug. 17 at Memorial Stadium.It was the Ravens' first loss of the preseason after two victories and came against a team many favor to win the 1997 Super Bowl.Cunningham's kick ended an eight-play drive that started at the Green Bay 31 with 1: 02 left. The big play in the drive was a 35-yard pass from quarterback Doug Pederson to receiver Desmond Howard that put the ball on the Ravens' 30.The Ravens had taken a 15-14 lead with 1: 06 left when quarterback Eric Zeier threw a 12-yard scoring pass to Ray Ethridge.

NEW ORLEANS - The evidence of Green Bay being a superior team was not in the final score, but by the way the Packers couldn't put the New England Patriots away until late in the game, and still come away with a 35-21 victory in Super Bowl XXXI last night at the Super Dome.The Packers weren't sharp, but still beat New England fairly covincingly. Forget about the Patriots being close, New England was only as close as the Packers would allow them until the last Drew Bledsoe interception with 1: 03 left in the game.

Richie Cunningham kicked a 42-yard field goal with three seconds remaining as the Green Bay Packers defeated the Ravens, 17-15, last night before a crowd of 62,025 at Memorial Stadium.It was the Ravens' first loss of the preseason, and it came against a team that rates among the favorites to reach the 1997 Super Bowl.Cunningham's kick ended an eight-play drive that started at the Green Bay 31 with 1: 02 left in the game. The big play in the series was a 35-yard pass from quarterback Doug Pederson to receiver Eric Matthews that put the ball on the Ravens' 30.Cunningham's field goal foiled a comeback by the Ravens (2-1)

SUNDAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS IndyCar Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg 2, 712:30 NASCAR Sprint Cup Auto Club 400 45, 52:30 MLB exhib. Boston@Orioles MASN1 Philadelphia@Atlanta MLB1 Colorado@Cubs WGN-A4 Boston@Orioles (T) MASN8 C. base. Georgia Tech@Miami CSN1 M. bask. NCAA Elite 8: teams TBA 13, 92:10 NCAA Elite 8: teams TBA 13, 94:55 W. bask.

SUNDAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS M. bask. Michigan@Penn State BIGTENNoon Rutgers@Notre Dame MASNNoon Michigan State@Wisconsin 13, 91 American@Lehigh CBSCS2 Florida State@North Carolina CSN2 Ohio State@Minnesota ESPN2 Marist@Niagara MASN3 W. bask. Fordham@La Salle CBSCSNoon N.C. State@Maryland CSNNoon Syracuse@Rutgers ESPNUNoon Baylor@Oklahoma State ESPNU2 Purdue@Michigan State BIGTEN3 Nebraska@Colorado CSN4 South Carolina@Arkansas ESPNU4 Northwestern@Ohio State BIGTEN5 NBA Orlando@Boston 2, 72:30 Atlanta@Washington (T)

Stop me if you've heard this. A man walks into a Packers bar in Millersville. No, wait, that's no joke. There really is a Green Bay Packers bar in Millersville: Bullseye Sports Bar and Grill, tucked between motels catering to long-haul truckers and home of a Super Bowl $10 All-You-Can-Eat Bratwurst Buffet. The walls are devoted to everything Green Bay: photos, news clippings, jerseys, even a figurine at the end of the bar dressed in green and gold and wearing a cheesehead.

The temperature for Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears is expected to be 38 degrees. That's perfect for the Ravens. In this decade, the Ravens are 8-0 at home when the game-time temperature dips below 40 degrees. Under coach John Harbaugh, the Ravens have dominated all three of these cold-weather games in Baltimore, outscoring their opponents 108-20 (that's an average score of 36-7). Their success in chilly conditions isn't happenstance. Harbaugh stresses beating the weather to his players.

Mae Heinlein Burial in Woodlawn Cemetery, Green Bay.

L eading up to Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions, the Ravens were asked several times whether it would be an adjustment preparing for Daunte Culpepper instead of Matthew Stafford. But playing a team's backup quarterback has become a regular occurrence for the Ravens. This marks the 10th time during their past 44 games (dating to the 2007 season) that the Ravens will have faced a backup quarterback. The Ravens have taken advantage. Their record against backups is 7-2, including five straight wins.

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The proud San Francisco 49ers will not go down easily in their quest to annex a sixth Super Bowl championship this season.Or quietly, either, from all indications.In the locker room after their wild-card victory over the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday, the 49ers began gearing up for the Green Bay Packers and today's NFC divisional playoff game at frosty Lambeau Field."If we didn't have home-field advantage, the best place we wanted to go was Green Bay because we feel we have unfinished business there," said 49ers linebacker Ken Norton.

Tiny Green Bay, which was supposed to be only a pit stop on Reggie White's grand tour, became the surprise new home for the most sought-after prize in the NFL's new free-agent system.And officials for the franchise in the NFL's smallest city did it the old-fashioned way: They made him the best offer, an offer the Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman couldn't refuse.The Packers gave the seven-time Pro Bowl player a four-year, $17 million deal that includes $9 million the first year -- $6 million before he pulls on his shoulder pads.

Bryquis Perine scored 22 points and Troy Cotton hit a key 3-pointer as host Wisconsin-Green Bay beat No. 20 Wisconsin 88-84 in overtime on Wednesday night. Rahmon Fletcher added 18 points for the Phoenix (9-2), who held off a second-half surge by the Badgers and took control in overtime. Trevon Hughes scored a career-high 27 points for the Badgers (6-2) but fouled out in overtime. The game was played despite a blizzard that forced the governor to close the Wisconsin university system throughout the state.

In the days leading up to Monday night's game at Green Bay, the Ravens have been well schooled on the mystique of Lambeau Field, from Vince Lombardi to the Frozen Tundra to the devotion of the Packers' cheesehead-wearing fans. "You know what comes with Lambeau Field," linebacker Ray Lewis said. "You know the history behind it." The history that has gone unspoken - or perhaps that the Ravens want to forget - is the team's futility at NFC North stadiums. In their 14-year existence, the Ravens have never won at Green Bay, Chicago, Minnesota or Detroit, losing all six games.