Legs

Whether Maryland can overcome a depleting run of injuries this season and reach a bowl game is uncertain. But this much we know about the Terps' battered offensive linemen: They are one resilient bunch. The original two starting guards suffered broken legs two weeks apart. Maryland@Florida State Tomorrow, noon, Ch. 13, 105.7 FM, 1300 AM Line: Florida State by 7 1/2

Now that Rob and Amber Mariano are out of The Amazing Race: All-Stars, perhaps the remaining teams will start thinking about the race instead of fixating on their main competition. Rob was annoying when he talked about how all the other teams were worrying about them, but after he and Amber finished first for three consecutive legs, he showed that they were right to be concerned. But on this show, it only takes one bad leg to lead to a team's undoing, and that's what happened Sunday. Who will lead the pack now?

If Barbaro had been quickly put down after he shattered his leg in full view of a horrified Preakness crowd last May, the Kentucky Derby winner might now be just a sad footnote. If the gifted colt had continued to recover after heroic surgery put him back on four feet and grazing by mid-August, he might already have returned to his home stable in Pennsylvania - destined for a decade or two as a beloved pasture potato. With his death yesterday, though, Barbaro and his fans seem cruelly cheated.

You don't need barbells and elliptical trainers when you have a cof fee table and recliner. The living room is rife with possibilities for a Super Bowl workout - beer curls over the coffee table, squats over the recliner and push-ups from the arm of the couch. Here are a few exercises guaranteed to work up a sweat worthy of an NFL kicker, if not a linebacker. But choose your guests wisely. Performing beer cheers in front of snorting, hooting friends takes determination and mental toughness.

If you have any doubt that racism is alive and well and on a continuous shooting spree in the American psyche, why not ask the experts? Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will have an opinion on this. So will Madonna G. Constantine, the Columbia University Teachers College professor whose office door was defaced with a noose two months ago. Or ask the African-American artist Kara Walker, whose exquisite, implacable, loose-cannon retrospective at New York's Whitney Museum of American Art is about race first and last.

NOW THAT IT is November, the nation is asking, "How are we going to cook the turkey this year?" OK, maybe not the entire nation. Would you believe half the nation? How about a handful of serious fans of the big bird, including yours truly?Even before the Halloween candy pile has disappeared -- by the way, the Tootsie Rolls were especially good this year -- my thoughts turn to turkey. What can be done, I ask myself, to deliver that traditional feeling of stuffed-bird bliss that comes from a proper Thanksgiving feast?

SLIP ON A banana peel, and that's supposed to be funny. Whether it's old-time slapstick comedy, a Donald Duck cartoon or "America's Funniest Home Videos," we all seem eager to guffaw at another's pratfall.Slip on an orange peel, and that's grounds for a million-dollar lawsuit. Nothing funny about it. Especially if the victim ends up with serious injuries.As you might know by now, a Baltimore woman is suing the Cranberry Mall and Baugher Enterprises produce stand there for negligence. Orange peel left on the mall floor caused her to fall and sustain permanent injuries, claims Bertha Hayden in the lawsuit.

For Chuck Schumacher, 33, heading to the baseball diamond in early spring is a habit. He's been doing it since he was 8.But unlike a lot of grown-ups, Schumacher didn't switch to softball as he aged. He still plays baseball, albeit in an over-30 rec league. "I just happened to see an ad in the paper about the league," the Crofton resident says.A lifelong athlete who played football, basketball and baseball through high school, Schumacher finds that in his 30s the challenge isn't staying fit, it's fitting it in. Between his job as a sales representative and the fact that he and his wife are expecting their first child in October, his playing time is limited.

FOLKESTONE, England -- Vietnam took Eugene Roberts' legs, but not his competitive heart.He's a groundbreaking marathoner and swimmer, a 53-year-old grandfather from the Baltimore area who refuses to let age or circumstances prevent him from realizing his dreams.His enduring goal is as crystal clear as the French coast that lies some 21 miles across a cool, salty and historic body of water.He wants to swim across the English Channel.Perhaps as early as tomorrow, Gene Roberts will plunge into the chilly water near the white cliffs of Dover in his third attempt to swim the English Channel and land on the sandy beaches of Cap Gris-Nez in France.

A Washington schoolteacher and former nun who was stopped at gunpoint by Frederick County deputies for driving too slowly appealed her conviction yesterday and said she would fight again in court to prove she is a law-abiding woman who was roughed up by overzealous officers.The teacher, Ester Maria Pena, made headlines last summer when her hands were cuffed behind her back, her legs were shackled, and she was photographed and fingerprinted before she was released more than three hours after her arrest.

Name: : Joby Gorillapod flexible tripod (original) What it is: : This plastic tripod has a clip that screws into a digital camera for easy locking between camera and tripod. But to call this a tripod is almost misleading. It's a kind of plastic "creature" whose legs can wrap around railings, chair backs, table legs - your imagination is the only limit. It's perfect for leveling your camera on uneven surfaces or, as I said, attaching in places where a regular tripod wouldn't have a chance.

Jen Zoltoski is expected to make her 2008 soccer debut in the coming days. It will be an emotional and satisfying moment for the John Carroll senior. Zoltoski, who plays defense, had to recover from surgery on both legs this summer. She suffered from pain in both legs while playing lacrosse last spring and eventually was diagnosed with compartment syndrome, a condition that results when pressure within the muscles builds to dangerous levels. This prevents nourishment from reaching nerve and muscle cells.

The Minnesota Vikings' sputtering offense could be without its biggest star against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Running back Adrian Peterson, the NFL's leading rusher and the 2007 Offensive Rookie of the Year, missed practice yesterday with a hamstring injury. Peterson said he is hopeful he can play against the Panthers, but he took a step back one day after participating in practice on a limited basis. "It's a concern," coach Brad Childress said. "Your legs are your legs. We'll just see how he comes out by the time we get to Sunday."

For 30 minutes they swim together, two strangers lapping the pool in adjacent lanes at the Merritt Athletic Club in Towson. Finally, the older woman climbs out and slumps on the deck, in awe of the teenager still plugging away. "She just keeps going, doesn't she?" the woman says. A man standing nearby nods. "You know," he says, "she has no legs." The woman's expression tells all. Jessica Long has wowed another. Today, Long, of Middle River, will try to wow the world at the XIII Summer Paralympics in Beijing - the Olympic Games for disabled athletes.

Seth Peichert, 24, paddled his 17.5-foot kayak into the Inner Harbor yesterday on the last leg of a nearly 1,500-mile trip that began near Miami on April 1. The Towson resident had spent 90 days on the water and most nights camping on sandy beaches. He had lost 20 pounds from his lanky 6-foot-5 frame, grown a thick beard and despite gallons of sun block, he sported a leathery tan. Family and friends who had followed his trip along the Intracoastal Waterway and up the Chesapeake Bay on the Internet gathered at the Inner Harbor Marina and quickly spotted the white kayak as it rounded the turn from the Patapsco River.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MARYLAND AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE FUND KENT KRABBE FOR FOUR YEARS, KENT KRABBE has been in charge of the quasi-state agency that provides automobile liability insurance for those Marylanders unable to afford it. Krabbe, an attorney who spent many years in private practice, said he welcomed the challenge of overseeing an agency that, today, employs more than 400 people. Krabbe, who is single, recently purchased a home in the Wyman Park area. He has one grown son, who also lives in Baltimore.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Eight Belles was grabbing all the real estate she could as she pounded down the front stretch in a long-striding effort to catch the amazing Big Brown as he streaked toward victory. It was a race Big Brown would win by 4 3/4 lengths, but Eight Belles had shown her stamina and determination, and the 157,770 fans at Churchill Downs for the 134th Kentucky Derby went crazy as the favorite and the only filly in the race came home 1-2. And then the unthinkable happened. As Eight Belles galloped out around the first turn, she stopped, went to her knees and then collapsed on the track.

The idea, as explained to me by the 16-year-old, was this: We buy a pingpong table for some serious father-and-son bonding and when that goes south - say, about 10 minutes later - he and his friends can play. Fine. Anything for the youth of America. So we drive to the nearest mammoth sporting goods store and pick out a nifty mid-priced model. Naturally, it comes in a box that weighs as much as an elephant and has to be assembled. "Is it easy to put together?" I ask the sales guy. "Sure," he replies.

If you have any doubt that racism is alive and well and on a continuous shooting spree in the American psyche, why not ask the experts? Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will have an opinion on this. So will Madonna G. Constantine, the Columbia University Teachers College professor whose office door was defaced with a noose two months ago. Or ask the African-American artist Kara Walker, whose exquisite, implacable, loose-cannon retrospective at New York's Whitney Museum of American Art is about race first and last.

Whether Maryland can overcome a depleting run of injuries this season and reach a bowl game is uncertain. But this much we know about the Terps' battered offensive linemen: They are one resilient bunch. The original two starting guards suffered broken legs two weeks apart. Maryland@Florida State Tomorrow, noon, Ch. 13, 105.7 FM, 1300 AM Line: Florida State by 7 1/2