Heap

When I was a kid, nothing except opening Christmas presents held more excitement for me than the Highlandtown Halloween Parade. An endless procession marched, crept or slithered up Eastern Avenue from what was then called City Hospitals to what is still called Patterson Park. There, on a high wooden platform, four masked men passed judgment on the weird gathering below, handing out 10-dollar bills to the kids wearing the most unusual costumes.If those costume parades held a few thrills for me, they held much more for Tony Jacobs.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly first met Orioles manager Buck Showalter 22 years ago as 20-year-old minor leaguer. They were teammates for the Yankees' Double-A team in Nashville. Tonight, they will manage against each other for the first time in the opener of this weekend's interleague series at Camden Yards. Mattingly said he noticed Showalter's ability to gauge talent once Showalter became a coach and eventually managed Mattingly with the Yankees from 1993-95. “You really see it as a manager,” Mattingly said.

Kyle Boller and Todd Heap share the same dreams, and like one afternoon last week, the same mind. Relaxing in their hotel room between practices, the most inseparable pair at Ravens training camp came across old highlights of the Denver Broncos on television and quietly took notice of another quarterback-tight end combination. They watched intently what John Elway and Shannon Sharpe were saying on the sideline, what their reactions were on certain plays and what their expressions were when they won a couple of Super Bowls.

The general rule of thumb in the NFL is that it takes about three years for a wide receiver to develop into an everyday contributor. The same could apply to Dennis Pitta. The Ravens' fourth-round selection in the 2010 NFL draft, Pitta has begun to assert himself as the franchise's tight end of the future. He is tied with wide receiver Torrey Smith for the team lead in touchdown receptions (seven), ranks second in catches (57), and is third in receiving yards (613). With two more regular-season contests remaining, Pitta needs just one more score to break a tie with Todd Heap for the most touchdown catches by a tight end in a single season.

Back when he was at Mountain View High School in Mesa, Ariz., Ravens tight end Todd Heap played a game at Sun Devil Stadium for the state football championship. Heap estimated about 25,000 people attended that game, which may be more than attend tomorrow's Arizona Cardinals game against the Ravens. As of Wednesday, 23,506 tickets had been sold. "We probably at least had that many," Heap said. Heap is returning to his home state as a Pro Bowl player, and will play his first game on his college campus of Arizona State since he was the Ravens' first-round pick in the 2001 draft.

It was the play-acting in Todd Heap that brought out the playmaker last night, when the Ravens showed once more their resourcefulness to get the job done no matter the circumstances. Heap temporarily disappeared from the Redskins' radar on a big fourth-and-one play in the third quarter, only to surface along the left sideline for a 24-yard gain that led to a 32-yard field goal by Matt Stover. The play calls for Heap to fall at the line of scrimmage while play-action takes the defense to the right.

Todd Heap stood at a podium and answered questions about Kyle Boller's stellar game and what that might do for the quarterback's confidence. Could it be, though, that the Ravens tight end, who had a memorable game of his own with two touchdown catches, received a boost as well? "I don't think I needed [it]," Heap said. "I'm comfortable with myself. I know what I can do." What Heap did in the Ravens' 37-14 win over the New York Giants yesterday was look remarkably similar to the Pro Bowl tight end upon which his team has relied heavily the past two years.

Over the past three seasons, Todd Heap has delivered some of the most picturesque leaping catches in Ravens history. Yesterday, the Pro Bowl tight end was the portrait of frustration. The struggles of the NFL's worst passing game have struck a painful chord with the normally low-key Heap. A passing attack that has underachieved as well as underused Heap has caused several sleepless nights for the three-year veteran. "I just think with the talent we have and the players we have, there's really no reason why we should be in last place in the league in passing," Heap said.

After reviewing Todd Heap's first game as the Ravens' No. 1 tight end, coach Brian Billick compared his importance to the team to that of running back Jamal Lewis. "[Heap] is a guy that we have to stay involved in the offense, as does Jamal," Billick said. "Jamal has to have more than 19 carries, and Todd needs to have at minimum five catches a game." Heap hit his minimum in Sunday's 10-7 loss to the Carolina Panthers, but he netted just 20 yards. Despite the low yardage total, Billick raved about Heap's performance.

When they were teammates, tight end Shannon Sharpe didn't hesitate to remind Todd Heap of his status. "He use to call me rook," said Heap, who was a rookie in Sharpe's last season with the Ravens in 2001. "Now, maybe he'll call me Pro Bowler." Sharpe will reunite for the second straight season with his one-time protege Heap when the Ravens play host to the Broncos on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium. Heap made his first Pro Bowl last season after leading the Ravens with 69 receptions for 836 yards.

Over the past few weeks, the dinner conversation sometimes got a little overheated at Jack and Will D'Angelo's Reisterstown home. With Jack playing for Calvert Hall's football team and younger brother Will playing for Loyola's, there wasn't much to agree upon when talk turned to the Turkey Bowl coming up at M&T Bank Stadium on Thursday morning. For the 93rd time, Calvert Hall and Loyola will meet on Thanksgiving Day, but this will be the first time that Jack, a senior starting lineman, and Will, a sophomore reserve receiver, square off. Athletes since they were little, both brothers have strong competitive streaks and, of course, that comes out in everything from pick-up basketball games in the driveway to video games in the basement to conversations about the Turkey Bowl at the dinner table.

John Tokar, owner of Vintage Restorations Limited, in Union Bridge, started tinkering with British cars in 1969 when he was a teen in Bayonne, N.J., and his uncle sold him a 1959 Hillman Minx for $50. "It needed a clutch, so I got involved in working on it and I never stopped," the 61-year-old New Jersey native recalled, pointing to a framed photo of his office wall of himself and that '59 Hillman. "That car was what got me started, then I went to Triumphs, and now my specialty is MGs, which is mostly what I do these days," he said, pointing to another photo, this one of himself a few years later, a college student standing next to a vintage Triumph Spitfire.

Shane Butcher is auctioning off "the American Dream," or at least a video game enthusiast version of it. Via one of the most unique eBay listings one can come across, Butcher is selling his chain of three video game stores, called R.U. Game?, his two homes, cars and almost all earthly possessions. The retail chain of the three Florida stores, which deal in new and used games and accessories, is the centerpiece of the listing, which has an asking price of $3.5 million, along with an immediate $10k good faith deposit required of the winning bidder.

Supposedly, an estimated 10 percent of Americans can trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower. Not surprisingly, former President George W. Bush - son of a president, grandson of a U.S. senator, first offspring produced by the marriage of the blueblooded Bush and Walker families - is a Mayflower descendant. President Barack Obama's roots go almost that deep: He is a descendant of Thomas Blossom, who arrived in Plymouth Colony less than a decade after the Mayflower landed. America's two most recent presidents are distant cousins.

News Roundup •••• Developers "borrowing" concepts from other mobile games (i.e. straight-up copying) is becoming all too common a practice. On an unrelated note, you should all hit the App Store and check out my new game, "Plants vs. Angry Zombie Birds. " [ New York Times ] •••• Gamers are petitioning "Mass Effect 3" developers BioWare to create a new, better ending for the smash hit game. People, the game just came out on Tuesday, and we lost an hour this weekend because of daylight savings.

The Ravens welcome back some of their key performers in the secondary as safeties Ed Reed and Tom Zbikowski and cornerback Chris Carr are active for Sunday's home contest against the Arizona Cardinals. Reed, the seven-time Pro Bowler, missed practice Thursday after suffering a stinger Monday night's 12-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. But Reed returned to practice Friday - albeit on a limited basis - and was listed as probable on the team's final injury report of the week.

Todd Heap passed his first test with the Ravens yesterday. The challenge came on the third and final day of minicamp after the rookie tight end didn't adjust to a "hot" read and quarterback Elvis Grbac hit him square in the back. Heap only needed a few plays to shake off the embarrassment, going 20 yards down the seam and making an over-the-shoulder catch between two defenders in the end zone. The highlight of the last practice even drew some compliments from veteran defensive backs Chris McAlister and Corey Harris watching in the background.

Ravens coach Brian Billick said after yesterday's practice that the playing statuses of tight ends Todd Heap and Dan Wilcox, Heap's backup, will be game-time decisions. Neither Heap (thigh) nor Wilcox (foot) participated for the third straight day during the early morning practice yesterday. Heap went to the training room immediately after practice and was unavailable for comment. The Ravens might be forced to play with only one tight end, Quinn Sypniewski, tomorrow against the San Francisco 49ers at Monster Park.

The words came straight from Todd Heap's heart. In a half-page ad in Friday's Baltimore Sun, the Ravens' former two-time Pro Bowl tight end thanked the city of Baltimore, its fans and the club for their "incredible support over the years. " Heap, who over a 10-year career became the Ravens' No. 2 receiver all-time, acknowledged in the ad that it was not his decision to leave. The club cut him abruptly in July, in a cost-saving measure, a move that surprised both Heap and Ravens' followers.

Former Ravens tight end Todd Heap, who will be back in town on Sunday as a member of the Arizona Cardinals, took out a half-page ad in the sports section of Friday's Baltimore Sun to thank Ravens fans for the memories. "Although it was not my decision to leave Baltimore, I accept that change is sometimes necessary," wrote Heap, a first-round draft pick in 2001 who played 10 seasons for the Ravens, in the letter's final paragraph. "Certain that I have a few good years of football left in me, I'm excited about my future with the Arizona Cardinals.