Magic

Angie Miller and her steely-eyed focus transmitted into the homes of 10-plus million American Idol viewers won her 50,000 followers in the Twitterverse the week of the show's Top 10 reveal -- nearly 18,000 more social media fans than her next highest competitor. More than two months later, the 18-year-old  Beverly, Mass., native tripled her followers, effectively blowing away the other wannabes on the cyberspace portal. Why then didn't the magic of the 140-character phenomenon carry her into Thursday's finale?

If you believe that the Orioles' unexpected run to the postseason in 2012 was something of magic, then the most dazzling trick the organization pulled off was consistently pulling productive starters out of their sleeves. Executive vice president Dan Duquette, who had been out of baseball for a decade, stockpiled pitchers in his first offseason with the Orioles, adding to the group of now-not-so-young arms compiled by his processor, Andy MacPhail, then practically running a shuttle that shuffled players from Norfolk and Bowie to Camden Yards.

Orlando Magic forward Brian Williams, who collapsed Aug. 11 during a summer-league game in Redondo Beach, Calif., doesn't appear to be suffering from any major heart problems, a medical consultant to the Magic said Wednesday.Dr. Kerry Schwartz, a member of the Florida Heart Group, said tests administered in California indicate Williams' heart isn't damaged."There are no major valve problems, no coronary artery obstructions," Schwartz said. "I would say his prognosis is good. I certainly think he will be able to [resume]

Donald M. Cohen, a retired credit manager and magician who was known as "Magic Don," died May 1 from a heart attack at his Edgewood home. He was 87. The son of a bar owner and a homemaker, Donald Martin Cohen was born in Baltimore and raised in the city's Pimlico neighborhood. He was a graduate of city public schools. After serving in the Army during World War II, Mr. Cohen returned to Baltimore. He worked as a credit and collections manager for Farber's Inc., a North Eutaw Street furniture store, for 20 years until retiring in 1992.

Historic Savage Mill presents this annual event today at 8600 Foundry St. Visitors can enjoy live music, free entertainment, a visit from Santa and a Parade of Trees. Call 800-788-6455 or go to savagemill.com for more information.

BOSTON — In the end, it was the beginning of the games that doomed the Magic and sent them on an unwanted vacation. The Celtics followed a familiar pattern in a clinching 96-84 victory in Game 6 on Friday night, charging out to take control and earn their second trip to the NBA Finals in three seasons. They will face the winner of the Western Conference finals between the Lakers and Suns, which the Lakers lead 3-2. The Celtics built upon early leads in three of their four victories, a tell-tale Game 3 rout putting the Magic in an inescapable 0-3 series hole.

I was one of 25,000-plus "businessmen" playing hooky at the "Businessman's Special" Thursday at Oriole Park. Most of us spent the entire five hours and 14 minutes at the Yard, meetings, phone calls and emails waiting for another day. (Note to my partners: I did go in early to get a few things done before heading to the game. I need this job so I can buy more O's tickets.) We stayed though the nail biting and nerve racking 14 innings to the glorious end. To leave sooner would've been to jinx the home team and be the sorry cause of a lost opportunity.

They won't get far Ira Winderman Sun Sentinel What the Magic should do is undo what they did. Why make any move while Carmelo Anthony is still on the market? That's the move the Magic needed, one that likely could have been made through a far less disruptive process, with the type of rebuilding pieces that could have benefited the Nuggets, pieces such as Marcin Gortat, Brandon Bass, Mickael Pietrus, J.J. Redick and other serviceable parts that could have fast-tracked a Denver rebuild.

The Magic showed they could survive with Dwight Howard in chronic foul trouble. With him on the floor, they looked dominant. Howard had 21 points and 12 rebounds in one of the most crushing wins in Magic history, a 114-71 victory over the visiting Hawks on Tuesday night in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal. Howard added five blocks and avoided the fouls and frustration that overwhelmed him in the first round, helping the Magic go ahead by as many as 46 points.

Magic will make change Ira Winderman Sun Sentinel Of course Stan Van Gundy won't keep his job with the Magic, and he's coaching them in name only now, simply collecting checks until someone, perhaps his "source" in the front office, puts him out of his misery by issuing him his sought-after golden pink slip. The Magic will do what seemingly every team in sports does, go from a hard-driving coach to an easygoing type in a bid to change the culture and appease the restless.

Don't tell anybody in the Orioles clubhouse that there is some kind of magic in the air, because they work too hard to make it seem real. That's going to have to be our little secret. How else do you explain a team that shakes off adversity the way Chris Davis shrugs off an 86-mph fastball down and away - all the way into the left-field bleachers. The Orioles awoke on Friday morning wondering just how long second baseman Brian Roberts would be lost after suffering a painful leg injury in the ninth inning of Thursday's victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The same question followed the Orioles through a maddeningly uneventful offseason and a happily uneventful seven weeks of spring training. Would the magic that carried them to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years survive the winter and carry over into 2013? It's way too soon to tell, of course, but there was certainly a magical quality to Tuesday's 7-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in the regular-season opener for both teams at sold-out Tropicana Field.

Being a native Baltimorean, I am, like my friends and neighbors, an extremely proud Baltimore Ravens fan. Their hasty deconstruction left a bittersweet taste in the mouths of many fans ("New Texan bids us farewell," March 23). We have collectively learned over the years that professional sports have morphed from a mode of entertainment for the masses to big business that monetarily draws from the masses. But still we seek diversions in our cramped lifestyles that are a truly a form of escapism.

Every year, police in Baltimore City respond to thousands of calls related to domestic violence. Officers arrest and charge abusive partners, judges issue protective orders to women who fear for their lives, and domestic violence counselors struggle to help battered women and their children recover from the physical and emotional traumas they have suffered. Yet despite the resources of time, money and manpower invested in these efforts, the killing hasn't stopped, or even slowed appreciably.

Buck Showalter remembered sitting in the Orioles clubhouse as a driving rain delayed the first playoff game Baltimore had hosted in 15 years. "Do you think the fans will stay?" asked a relatively new Oriole. "Hell yes," replied closer Jim Johnson. The Orioles manager told the story to illustrate the connection between his team and Baltimore. And that bond, which Showalter helped restore, was a big reason why he received The Baltimore Sun's 2012 Marylander of the Year award on Monday.

Georg H.B. Luck, whose career teaching the classics at the Johns Hopkins University spanned two decades and included studying the role magic and witchcraft played in the theology and world of the ancient Greeks and Romans, died Sunday from complications of cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. He was 87 and a longtime resident of the city's Poplar Hill neighborhood. "Georg was a modest man who had great gusto for the things that interested him," said Richard A. Macksey, a noted Baltimore bibliophile and professor of humanities at Hopkins.

The question came at John Harbaugh from a thicket of cameras and microphones, one of those existential-type deals football coaches hate. "Does it feel like a charmed season at all?" a TV guy wanted to know. "You've had so many close wins. Is it big-picture like that or does it not matter? Do you get a sense of something special with this season?" Harbaugh looked like a man who'd just eaten a bad piece of fish. "I don't believe in magic," the Ravens coach said quickly. "I never have.

To most area basketball fans, Friday nights Mercy-Institute of Notre Dame matchup was just another game. To fans and alumnae of the two schools, it's simply known as "The Game". Calling it a rivalry would kind of be an understatement. It's all about pride, and it's all about bragging rights. In the 47th edition, it was Mercy that outlasted IND, 42-28, in front of roughly 4,000 fans at the Towson Center. Kristina Bayton led the Magic (6-13) with 12 points, while Brooke Fields paced the Penguins (9-8)

Thundering herds of "My Little Pony" fans will be descending on Baltimore next August for the fifth BronyCon, a bi-annual convention of rabid fans of the cartoon TV series "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. " Thousands of fans are expected to mass at the Baltimore Convention Center for the Aug. 2-4 event. Although targeted at a young, mostly female audience, the animated show has attracted a surprising number of young adult and teen fans - known as "bronies," short for "bro ponies.