Guess

Here are five players who will be among the most discussed at baseball's winter meetings, which start today in Nashville, Tenn., and a guess at where they might end up.

To predict the sex of their babies, many couples turn to tradition. They swing a ring over the mother's belly, watch the way she carries the baby, listen to her heart rate, examine her fingernails and track patterns of her morning sickness.Guess what? The techniques all work -- about as well as flipping a coin."This is the silliest study I've ever done, but perhaps the one with the most interest," said Dr. Janet DiPietro of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, who recently tested the accuracy of methods handed down in the centuries before ultrasound.

BOSTON -- Can there be a more unlikely All-Star than Texas Rangers pitcher Jeff Zimmerman?Check the history of this mid-summer classic and you won't find many rookie middle relievers, especially those who were pitching in Single-A last season and in two other countries before that.So what's he doing here, sitting among baseball's elite? Judging by his numbers, he's blending in nicely.Zimmerman has been crucial to the Rangers' success this season, going 8-0 with one save and a 0.86 ERA in 35 appearances.

SEE IF YOU can guess the problem here, OK?Every time I get in the car these days, I'm edgy and find myself snapping at the person next to me.Sometimes I think we're going too fast. Then I think we're going too slow.Sometimes I think we're going to sideswipe the traffic on our left, then all of a sudden I think we're going to shear off the side-view mirror of the car on our right.So what do you think it is?Severe anxiety disorder?Vertigo?Raging inner-ear infection that's thrown the body's internal gyroscope out of whack?

Few executives can say they've grabbed the reins of a struggling company and turned it around. But Charles P. "Buzz" McCormick Jr. has done it -- twice -- with the company that bears his family name.Not many, including McCormick himself, would have predicted this success. For starters, during a self-described "rebellious" period in his teens, McCormick vowed that he would do something other than work for the company his great-uncle had founded and his father had run.That feeling was short-lived.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- When he was coming out of high school in northern California, Matt Riley wasn't sure he was prepared for professional baseball."I thought if I went to junior college, it would increase my chances to be a better player and raise my stock a little, money-wise," said the left-hander, who was the talk of the Orioles' farm system last season. "I was taken in the third round in high school and I thought I wasn't quite ready."Whether or not he was is now a moot point. Riley was certainly in high gear last May when he signed before the amateur draft out of Sacramento Junior College and went on to register some glittering statistics for the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds.

Workers at Middle River Aircraft Systems have approved a five-year labor contract, averting a strike by reversing an earlier vote against the pact.Members of Local 738 of the United Aerospace Workers union voted 402-141 in favor of the contract Thursday. The agreement is the same one employees rejected by a vote of 320-108 less than two weeks before."I guess people had a change of heart," said Pat Feehley, president of the local. "They realized it wasn't as bad as they thought it was."The union had set 11: 59 p.m. Thursday as a strike deadline, and some members were fearful of a work stoppage because the company said it had made its final offer.

LAST SATURDAY morning I was sitting on a curb, chatting with a friend, at the corner of Barclay and 32nd. I looked up, and there was my father, looking sharp in an emerald green sweater, in search of good baking potatoes at the Waverly Farmers Market.When Thanksgiving week rolls around, it's time to stock the larder with the fall harvest, just one of the gentle rules that govern family holiday observance.Like any good family tradition, these precepts govern the way we behave throughout this weekend.

MIAMI -- A mysterious cooling of waters in the northeast Gulf of Mexico is killing fish and chilling bathers along the beaches of the Florida Panhandle.Coastal water temperatures from near the Alabama line to as far east as Panama City plunged suddenly from the upper 80s last week to the low 70s -- the kind of surf temperatures you might expect off Cape Cod this time of year.What is most puzzling to scientists is that the clear, cold water is devoid of life. Fish are smothering in its extraordinarily low levels of dissolved oxygen.

Here are excerpts from the NBC "Today" interview with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton conducted by Matt Lauer.Lauer: There has been one question on the minds of a lot of people in this country, Mrs. Clinton, lately. And that is, what is the exact nature of the relationship between your husband and Monica Lewinsky? Has he described that relationship in detail to you?Clinton: Well, we've talked at great length. And I think as this matter unfolds, the entire country will have more information.

8:30 p.m. [Golf Channel] The program highlights the biggest moments from the 2008 U.S. Open, most of them, we would guess, involving Tiger Woods saying, "Owww, my leg."

'Beyond Baseball' 8 p.m. [MLB Network] This look at "what some players are doing outside the game" probably does not feature Sidney Ponson (left). But that's just a guess.

Broadneck senior Houston Zemanski was 6 years old when his father took him to a youth wrestling practice. His first year didn't go so well, and he quit. Not one to quit, he was back on the mat the next year, and the sport has become a fixture that has helped define him. In his fourth season at Broadneck, Zemanski became the program's all-time career leader in wins. He entered this weekend's region tournament with a 112-26 career record and 25-4 season mark. The season highlight for Zemanski was winning his second straight Anne Arundel Tournament championship in front of his home crowd.

ESPN said Jamal Anderson, arrested over the weekend on drug charges, wasn't scheduled for appearances anytime soon, except maybe an occasional 1st and 10 or SportsCenter. But the network has yet to hear from him. So let's guess we won't be seeing Anderson soon. ( For more, go to baltimoresun.com/mediumwell)

Observations, opinions and musings from last week in major league baseball. Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton, a recovering substance-abuse addict, had the best story of redemption at the 79th All-Star Game. Orioles closer George Sherrill, who went from an undrafted, independent league player to an All-Star closer in five years, wasn't far behind. But there's another All-Star whose journey to Yankee Stadium last week is worth mentioning. His name is Kerry Wood, a Chicago Cubs pitcher.

The other night, at the Fred & Adele Astaire Awards, one of the best Texans of modern times, the talented Tommy Tune, was given the Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award at Manhattan Center on 34th Street. The irony was we enjoyed a show about dancing where the stage was littered in front with sound boxes so big that you couldn't see anyone's feet. The best thing about this evening was the emcee, Lee Roy Reams, ubiquitous actor/star from La Cage aux Folles. Lee Roy opened "big" with a number of hugely presented songs about dancing.

Because I'm obviously hip, the fine folks at Reebok e-mailed me this week and asked whether The Life of Kings would be interested in interviewing Joe Flacco, the Ravens' first-round draft pick. Because we don't take things too seriously on the back page, we decided to throw our best dumb questions at Joe. Anyone can ask him if he's ready to arm-wrestle the starting job away from Kyle Boller and Troy Smith, but this is the only place you'll read about Flacco's love of Australian heavy metal pioneers AC/DC and Brazilian supermodels.

As Chicago White Sox pitcher Gavin Floyd approached the dugout after the fifth inning in his most recent start, he also was drawing closer to a historic moment in his young career. And a male fan sitting near the front row made sure Floyd was aware of it, announcing in a loud voice that the Severna Park native hadn't allowed a hit. Never a good idea. "I was oblivious to it," Floyd said yesterday. "I was just wanting us to win and focusing on each pitch and who's coming up. Then some random fan said, `Hey, you have a no-hitter going.

Here are five players who will be among the most discussed at baseball's winter meetings, which start today in Nashville, Tenn., and a guess at where they might end up.

A center midfielder for the No. 14 Loch Raven girls soccer team, Taylor Moyer has spent four years on the varsity. She helped the Raiders to the state semifinals last season and into last week's Baltimore County championship game, where they fell to Eastern Tech, 3-1. She also plays lacrosse and basketball for the Raiders. A member of the National Honor Society and the math honor society, she has a 4.78 weighted grade point average. Considering a career in business, perhaps in fashion merchandising, she belongs to the Future Business Leaders of America.