Intensity

Few American musicians in recent years have captured the popular imagination the way the young American pianist Awadagin Pratt has. Pratt, who became the first African-American classical instrumentalist to win an important international competition when he took first prize in the Naumburg Competition a few seasons back, cuts a striking figure. How many classical pianists have the face of a matinee idol, the body of a prizefighter, wear such unconventional concert garb and have dreadlocks to boot?

When Mount St. Mary's secured a 10-9 upset of Northeast Conference leader Bryant last Saturday, coach Tom Gravante was gratified to see the team play with the kind of intensity, concentration and decision making he thought would be absent after the players learned that they were eliminated from contention for a spot in the four-team conference tournament. But the Mountaineers' effort left Gravante wondering what might have been if they had played that well in conference losses to Sacred Heart (14-5 on March 30)

JUPITER, Fla. -- Former Orioles outfielder Eric Davis scoffed at the Orioles' newfound emphasis on intensity with the additions of Albert Belle and Will Clark."

The Boston Marathon resonates deep within my memory. I don't know when, exactly, it got there. My older brother ran distances, gliding around the streets of Atlanta in the days when that meant regular harassment from motorists, long before anyone had heard of the word "jogger. " Few of them knew we had a marathon in Atlanta - it was 10 laps around a golf course - but most had heard about the one in Boston. My brother and I watched delayed coverage on "Wide World of Sports," with Jim McKay telling us of the challenges of Heartbreak Hill.

Bloody, repellent and relentlessly violent, the miniseries "Intensity" carries a TV-14 rating and the advisory that "parental discretion is advised."Gee, Fox, thanks for nothing.The four-hour production that airs tonight and tomorrow deserved the stronger TV-M (for mature audiences) and a blatant warning: "DON'T LET CHILDREN WATCH."Under the revised content ratings going into effect Oct. 1, "Intensity" would deserve an alphabet soup: V (for violence), L (for coarse language), D (for suggestive dialogue)

When Midori, then 19, played Brahms' Violin Concerto with the Baltimore Symphony and music director David Zinman five years ago, her performance was filled with nervous intensity that made the piece fly like the wind. She joined Zinman and the orchestra last night in the same Brahms concerto in Meyerhoff Hall in the BSO's season-opening concert to give a performance that could not have been more different.The intensity -- even more of it, perhaps -- is still there. But now it is tragic intensity, and it produced a reading that flowed like molten lava.

One of the great mysteries of modern times has little to do with how to set the clock on the DVD recorder or even how Britney Spears still has a career to speak of, but rather how a high school football coach can get his players to do the same thing successfully from game to game or even from practice to practice on a repeated and regular basis. Poly's Roger Wrenn and Edmondson's Dante Jones are left to ponder that question in the wake of the Engineers' 38-14 rout of the Red Storm on Friday at Edmondson.

By the end of the first half last night, 19th-ranked Westminster had 15 turnovers and 10 points.It wasn't going to be the Owls' night.Centennial made sure of it.The unranked Eagles, led by Meredith Price's 20 points and an unrelenting defense, won their third straight, 48-30, at Centennial."

As a coach in Milwaukee 10 years ago, Andy Etchebarren remembers a rookie catcher for the Brewers who was so unforgiving of himself, he expected to get a hit every time he stood at the plate, expected to throw out every runner who tried to steal. And if he failed, he seethed."He's still a grinder," Etchebarren, now the Orioles' bench coach, said this week. "But he's better about stuff like that than he was then."Not that B. J. Surhoff has gone soft.In his second season with the Orioles, Surhoff is many things: starting left fielder, occasional DH, fill-in at three infield positions, producer of line drives and RBIs.

ATHENS - So the U.S. men's basketball team does possess some intensity. The players tapped the button yesterday, averted embarrassment and took an 89-79 victory over Australia at the Helliniko Indoor Arena. Tim Duncan scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Allen Iverson contributed 16 points and Shawn Marion finished with 16 points and eight rebounds as Team USA outscored Australia 24-12 in the fourth quarter. Marion, inserted into the starting lineup in the second half, led the U.S. comeback, helping the team switch from passive to intense.

There's no magic bullet that will suddenly solve all the problems in a community like Baltimore's Oliver neighborhood, not even the small army of city officials who descended on the East Baltimore community this week. But the effort is still worth it if it gives city police and social service workers a better understanding of the issues that put residents at risk and allows them to come up with better strategies to help other struggling neighborhoods. Oliver is not necessarily the city's most troubled community, but its problems are serious and deep-seated: poverty, unemployment, an inventory of more than 200 boarded-up, vacant houses and a flourishing street-corner drug trade that fuels periodic outbursts of deadly gun violence.

Alex Anderson tried to slowly rotate her body into a warrior yoga pose, but her legs began to tremble, her arms started flailing and she landed with a splash in the pool at MAC Fitness in Harbor East. The 29-year-old has slid into the position easily many other times, but that was before she tried it on a paddle board floating on water. She was among a small group of women at MAC taking "paddlefusion," a new class at the athletic club that combines yoga and Pilates moves on a board similar to a surfboard.

Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin and "Good Wife" star Josh Charles took on Ravens placekicker Justin Tucker and late-night host Jimmy Fallon on his show Friday night, in a spirited match of bubble soccer. You'll have to watch (left) to see who wins. Enjoy.

If the scariest man in the NFL isn't Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis, it might be Denver quarterback Peyton Manning. Irk them at your own risk. Both Manning and Lewis are champions. The Pro Football Hall of Fame has space reserved for both players. Both men are so fiercely intense competitors, their stares alone can melt a teammate's soul. Take your pick: Lewis or Manning. Which guy would you be smarter to tick off? “Well … I don't know,” Denver wide receiver Brandon Stokley said.

President Barack Obama came out swinging Tuesday night in the  town hall debate with Mitt Romney, and while he didn't land any pure knockdown punches, his base is sure to be encouraged by seeing a a president on TV who once again seemed engaged in the fight to hold the White House. What a difference between this Obama and the distracted, somnambulant character viewers saw in his first debate with a dominant Romney. The Democratic president on the screen Tuesday night at Hofstra University seemed like someone who gave a darn -- at least about some of the troubles this nation is experiencing in these hard times.

Orioles fans, take a bow. You deserve it. That was some show you put on at Camden Yards the past two nights. I've never seen anything like it. And I've been around sports in this town for a long time. For two wonderful nights in October, you showed the entire country this could still be a great baseball town, no matter how big the Ravens are. For two nights, in the kind of dreary weather that makes London look like a terrific place, you filled the Orioles' jewel of a downtown ballpark, twirling your orange-and-white rally towels and making enough noise to shake the place - literally.

Run production hasn't been an issue for the Glen Burnie softball team this season, except when Northeast freshman Heather Brown is pitching. Finding the corners with a mix of pitches, Brown stymied the No. 2 Gophers a second time this spring, leading the No. 4 Eagles to a 2-0 win in Anne Arundel County play yesterday in Pasadena. Junior center fielder Jill Mullan drove in the winning run with a triple in the bottom of the sixth and also scored the insurance run. It was plenty for Brown, who scattered three hits and struck out seven to put Northeast at 10-1 on the season and 8-1 in league play.

Nutrition and fitness are so intertwined that it's often hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Eating well provides all the building blocks for a healthy body. Exercise without good nutrition has limited ability to improve body parts and body function.But food alone won't do it, either. Even when you're eating all the right stuff, you need a well-tuned delivery system to get the building blocks to muscles, heart, lungs and other "building sites." Your cardiovascular system is often touted for its ability to protect against heart disease and deliver oxygen to exercising muscles.

The extra police officers sent to the Inner Harbor and downtown to combat unruly youths and crime this past weekend recorded 40 arrests, including more than 10 for drug possession, and two handguns seized. It's a snapshot of crime covering a single, extended weekend, the latest of what is promised to be a summertime-long redeployment of up to 50 officers Thursday night through Sunday mornings to combat crime. It brings the total number of officers in that area to more than 70. Police released the statistics, including a 14 percent drop in violent crime in the Central District compared with the first five months of last year, even as another state lawmaker added his voice to criticism that Baltimore leaders have covered up mayhem to protect the image of the premier tourist attraction.

This weekend's quarterfinal round of the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament features several compelling contests. No. 1 seed Loyola must try to beat Eastern College Athletic Conference rival Denver for the third time this season, No. 3 seed Duke and Colgate will feature Tewaaraton Award finalists in senior long-stick midfielder C.J. Costabile and junior attackman Peter Baum respectively, and No. 5 seed Virginia's high-powered offense will take on No....