Joker

Even if Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck doesn't lose his starting job to Trent Dilfer, he had better watch his back. Dilfer, who went from Ravens backup to Super Bowl-winning starter last season, has been filling in the past few weeks for the injured Hasselbeck. But he's an even bigger threat as a practical joker. Dilfer's target last year was current Ravens second-year quarterback Chris Redman. "One night, I cleaned out Chris' locker," Dilfer told Laura Vecsey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The reunion tour for the New York Mets' 1986 world championship team opens next spring at Camden Yards, the participants in Orioles uniforms.The ex-Mets on board: manager Davey Johnson, left-handers Jesse Orosco and Randy Myers, and now right-hander Roger McDowell, who signed a one-year, $750,000 deal yesterday with incentives based on appearances.McDowell, who turns 35 in two days, will bolster the Orioles' middle- and late-inning relief. Orioles general manager Pat Gillick said last night that McDowell will be used as a setup man for Myers, the club's new closer.

Be forewarned: What you are about to read may or may not be real. Today is, after all, April Fools' Day. And this is an interview with an expert fooler. That would be one Joey Skaggs, New York painter, sculptor and satirist. For 30 years he has been duping the media. He sees it as effective social commentary. Not to mention huge fun. A few of Skaggs' more infamous pranks: Hippie tour, 1968: After tourists started cruising the East Village to gawk at hippies, Skaggs put 60 hippies in a bus for a tour of suburban Queens.

The most famous student of Ball So Hard University strutted in front of a throng of reporters Wednesday. And naturally, he wore a black Ball So Hard University T-shirt as he explained where his school spirit came from. "A lot of guys on this team attended Ball So Hard University, including myself," Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs said. "The dean of students and president of the school is actually Shawn Carter," better known as Jay-Z. Suggs created an internet sensation before Sunday night's 23-20 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers when he said his alma mater was “Ball So Hard University” as the Ravens defense was introduced in a NBC graphic.

SAN DIEGO -- No practical joke is too low, no goal too high for the Big Cheese of the Green Bay Packers. With Brett Favre, every day is the Mardi Gras, even when he's not in New Orleans."

If Neil Edwin Prescott, who calls himself a "joker," is nothing more than a fun-loving, sarcastic gentle giant, why was he stockpiling several thousand rounds of ammunition and a cache of two dozen weapons, including semiautomatic rifles and pistols ("Police: Crofton man planned mass shooting, called himself 'joker,'" July 28)? His friends may be laughing, although I'm glad the police took Mr. Prescott seriously and have him in custody. With mass shootings happening all too frequently, we can't afford to sit around and wait until someone makes good on a threat to blow up everyone up at his former workplace.

In the movies, Gotham City police required a giant spotlight to find Batman. Montgomery County police didn't have to go quite so far, finding him cruising around in a Lamborghini Wednesday in Silver Spring and pulling the unidentified man over for not having proper tags. The bizarre picture was posted to the department's official Twitter page today, followed by a note clarifying that the "Batmobile" wasn't towed.  Officer Janelle Smith, a police spokeswoman, said the driver is a Good Samaritan who dresses up as Batman and visits sick children at local hospitals.

At one point in The Black Dahlia, the three leads - Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart as hotshot detective pals in the L.A.P.D., and Scarlett Johansson as the woman they love - watch an improbable revival of Paul Leni's The Man Who Laughs, a mad silent-movie masterpiece. Adapted from Victor Hugo's novel, it derives a tingling romantic-masochistic allure from a man with a smile carved as punishment into his face. It's daring for director Brian De Palma to inject this movie into a pop entertainment; The Man Who Laughs, however great it is, remains a factor in mass culture only because Batman creator Bob Kane based the Joker on this woeful laughing man. The Black Dahlia (Universal)

"Liver and onions - the poor man's gourmet delight. " - Stevens Bunker, retired Baltimore sea dog The taste sensation of beef liver is like licking a piece of smooth, shiny metal. To the bite, the texture is akin to corduroy - wide wale and brown - and leaves a subtle film across your tongue and the roof of your mouth. Liver and onions - a staple of working-class communities with strong German heritage, and therefore an old favorite in old Baltimore - endures here as a savory snapshot of the way our grandparents ate. "It reminds me of shopping with my Nonnie, my Italian grandmother," said Kathleen Birrane of Dulaney Valley of adventures some 40 years ago at the Pantry Pride in Mount Washington.

When police raided Neil Prescott's Crofton apartment last month, after the 28-year-old allegedly threatened in a phone call to shoot up his former workplace, they found two dozen firearms and accessories, including a night scope and thousands of ammunition rounds - all of it legal and properly registered. There are no limits on how many guns a qualifying person can own in Maryland, and Prescott, who has been charged with misusing a telephone, is something of a hobbyist. The man police say called himself a "joker" like the Aurora, Colo., shooter - holds a collector's designation that allows him to amass regulated firearms, including handguns and certain assault-type weapons, at a faster rate than other buyers.