Ken Rosenthal

Packer and agendasWhen Billy Packer calls the NBA the "enemy of basketball" for luring talented underclassmen out of school, he might indeed be making a self-serving statement -- as Milton Kent asserts in his column March 6.But Kent goes on to accuse Packer of "money-grubbing hypocrisy" while providing zero support for this charge. Is there any real evidence that a TV announcer loses money whenever a college player jumps early to the NBA?At best, the argument would be a labored one. One could just as easily argue that Kent is an agenda-driven reformer who believes society is improved when universities are exploited by superior athletes with no lasting academic goals.

Where do media get figures on what things cost?Where do the media get the "cost" numbers they seem compelled to report to support many news stories?The Sun on May 14 reported that Anne Arundel County wasted $3.3 million responding to false burglar alarms last year. Where did that number come from?Did the police response require additional police to be hired? Or, was the number calculated using an average hourly rate times the time estimated for the police already on the payroll? Was it an actual, above-budget expenditure?

Recent listeners to Stan "The Fan" Charles' nightly talk show on WJFK (1300 AM) probably have gotten the sense that getting callers to dial him up consistently has been something of a struggle.Well, the new Arbitron ratings for the spring are in, covering a period from March to June, and they quantify what has mostly been an impression, that Charles is hurting in his new time slot, 7-10 p.m., and at the new station.Among all adults aged 18 and over, Charles' show attracted an average of 1,100 listeners per quarter-hour, a far cry from the 18,300 who were dialed into Greg Sher's show on WBAL (1090 AM)

Ripken deserves supportI am writing in support of one of Baltimore's biggest heroes, Cal Ripken Jr.My problem is that it seems Cal's "fans" are not as loyal to him as he is to them. Because he has had a rough start this season, many people are immediately questioning his abilities and referring to Cal being washed up.How many seasons has he stayed with Baltimore when he could probably have made more money elsewhere? How much has he done for Maryland, Baltimore and his hometown, both personally and professionally?

Leave Belle alone I beg of Baltimore's sportswriters, leave Albert Belle alone. I contend that many of his problems are caused by the media agitating him and meddling in his business. Sports columnists in The Sun already have been piling on negatives, and Belle hasn't even played a game for the Orioles. With that type of treatment, should we be surprised if he goes off before the season is over? Leave him alone, and let him play ball. If he doesn't want to talk to the writers, so be it, and who could blame him?

It's time for the Orioles to conduct their annual midsummer auction of veteran talent. That's how they got rid of Mike Flanagan in the first place. They'd be crazy -- and heartless -- to do it again. Flanagan, 39, already is drawing serious interest in talks with the New York Mets, but manager John Oates indicated last night that he would not endorse a trade unless the club received an overwhelming offer. That's good news for Flanagan, who not only wants to finish his career in Baltimore, but to pitch in the final game at Memorial Stadium, where he competed in the World Series in 1979 and '83. "I had a vision of pitching at some point in the last game -- in the last inning or just in the game," Flanagan said.

Cal Ripken Jr. has played 1,436 consecutive games, but Ernie Tyler's streak puts his to shame. Tyler, the Orioles' field attendant, has worked 2,499 straight games at Memorial Stadium. His streak began Opening Day 1960 -- four months before Ripken Jr. was born.Tyler hasn't missed a pitch from his stool on the third base side of home plate since the final days of the Eisenhower presidency. Spry as ever, he's still jogging fresh balls out to the plate umpire, still retrieving foul balls off the screen.

Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent was among the VIPs who attended the final game. He sat in a field box beside the Orioles dugout, and he spoke affectionately of the ballpark he visited often during the 1970s, when he worked in Washington."

It's called the Charm City Classic, and the idea is for top high school boys basketball teams from Baltimore to face nationally ranked opponents in a local setting.There's just one problem this year.Dunbar and Lake Clifton, the two premier programs from the city's public schools, declined to participate, tournament director Bill Spotts said.Why?Spotts points the finger at Bob Wade, the interim director of interscholastic sports for Baltimore City schools.Wade helped launch a rival tournament -- the Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke Basketball Academy -- that took place at Coppin State on Jan. 9-11.