Locker

The NBA started the new decade in lockdown as league officials and Washington law enforcement agencies investigated a report that Wizard teammates Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton drew pistols and pointed them at each other in an argument in the dressing room at Verizon Center. CBS Sports had previously reported that D.C. police were investigating reports that Arenas and Crittenton had brought guns into the dressing room. Arenas acknowledged he had three pistols in the safe in his locker, saying he put them there to keep them away from his young children.

Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas stored unloaded firearms in a locked container in his locker, according to the team, and the NBA is looking into the situation. The Wizards issued a statement saying there was no ammunition in the container. Arenas and the team have notified authorities and the league. Arenas told the Washington Times he took his guns to the arena after his daughter was born this month. About a week later, he said he handed them over to security to give to police.

Washington quarterback Jake Locker announced Monday he will return to Washington for his senior season. In a statement released by the university, Locker said he will not make himself available for the 2010 NFL draft and instead will return to the Huskies for one more shot at restoring the program to prominence. "I am very excited about this team's opportunities and potential for the upcoming season, and I am looking forward to being a part of it," Locker said. NFL draft pundits have raved about Locker's skills - running back speed combined with the bulk of a linebacker and an arm capable of making all the throws the NFL requires - with some believing he could be one of the first picks in the April draft if he made himself available.

The Knicks won't sign Allen Iverson , believing any short-term gain would hinder their plans to build for the future. Team president Donnie Walsh said Friday the team won't make any additions at this time despite its 2-9 record. He added the decision to pass on the former MVP had nothing to do with Iverson's ability to play or his character in the locker room. "I've always admired him," Walsh said. "I think he'd be a great addition for a team that's in a different position than we're in, and I hope he gets picked up."

If I hear the hyphenated adjective "must-win" attached to another Ravens game this year, I'm going to sever my other Achilles tendon and spend the rest of the NFL season watching another 100 "Gunsmoke" reruns on TV Land. When the Ravens play the Cleveland Browns on national television Monday night, it's going to be about a lot more than just winning. It's going to be about self-esteem. It has to be the night they get their groove back. Forget about the proverbial must-win situation - especially since they've already lost the last couple of times that term has been applied.

Ed Reed was beyond consolation. The Ravens' Pro Bowl safety was drifting between distress and agony when reporters approached his locker after Sunday's shocking 17-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. "Guys, I ain't talking," he said. "I don't have anything good to say." So there he stood, towel wrapped around his midsection, facing toward his locker, repeating a variation of that declaration over and over, like a tape recorder on automatic cycle. "I'm not doing interviews today. I'm sorry, I can't.

When Nick Adenhart picked up his father, Jim, from the airport April 7, the Los Angeles Angels pitcher spoke excitedly about his first start of the season, against the Oakland Athletics, the next night. "He went through the A's lineup - what this guy liked, what he didn't like, what he was going to throw them," Jim Adenhart said. "After he was finished, I put my arm on his shoulder and said, 'Man, you sound like a pro.' " On April 8 at Angel Stadium, Nick Adenhart, a 22-year-old right-hander from Williamsport making only his fourth big league start, showed the promise that comes with being an organization's top pitching prospect, throwing six shutout innings against the A's. A few hours later, Adenhart was dead, killed when the car in which he was a passenger was broadsided by a drunken driver.

The visceral shocks are also shocks of recognition in The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow's spellbinder about Army bomb squads in Iraq. Watching it, you feel you're in the presence of art completely of the moment and also aesthetically new. This film pioneers observational action moviemaking. It sensitizes you to changes in atmosphere that portend danger and convey hidden meaning while furthering the plot and the characters. And it does so while reporting aspects of the Iraq war that have never before been fleshed out. Whether the men are blowing off steam in Camp Victory or pulling off a defusing operation in a sandy Baghdad street, anything in sight can set off reverberations with mortal consequences.

The summer's best American movie, "The Hurt Locker", opens in Baltimore one week from today. It's the culmination of a four-year process that began when journalist-screenwriter Mark Boal told director Kathryn Bigelow that he had an assignment from Playboy to be embedded with an Army bomb-defusing squad in Iraq. Bigelow thought, "There's a movie there. I didn't know what he would come back with, I didn't know any of the details, but I was certain it was a film."They went on to revive the once red-hot tradition of journalistic moviemaking.