Maryland

Henceforth, let there by a rule that nothing can be compared to Maryland's failed investment at Rocky Gap, located just outside Cumberland in Western Maryland, except for Rocky Gap and perhaps any other $55 million white elephant loss that comes along. We know Rocky Gap. Rocky Gap is an acquaintance of ours. Sorry, Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay resort in Cambridge, but you're no Rocky Gap. Incidentally, let us insert a reminder here. Even the infamous Rocky Gap hotel and conference center isn't Rocky Gap anymore.

With three days until Maryland's return to the Big 33 Football Classic for the first time since 1992, five replacement players for the team's roster were announced Wednesday. Three Gilman defensive standouts -- lineman Henry Poggi, and linebackers Micah Kiser and Miles Norris -- won't play in the game. Neither will Severna Park's Mike Minter and Potomac's Marcus Pickens, according to a news release from the Big 33 Scholarship Foundation, Inc. Poggi and Kiser were selected as co-All-Metro Defensive Players of the Year last fall after leading the Greyhounds to the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship, while Norris made the All-Metro first team.

As the Maryland players prepare to play against Pennsylvania in Saturday's Big 33 Football Classic at Hersheypark Stadium, they're practicing with a new head coach. Gilman's Biff Poggi stepped down last week as Maryland's coach in the high school football all-star game, and Quince Orchard's Dave Mencarini replaced him in the role. "Dave Mencarini was involved with the whole coaching staff from the beginning, so we made him the head coach," Maryland team director Scott Ripley said in a phone call Wednesday.

Editor's note: Each week, InsideMdSports.com provides this blog with a Maryland recruiting feature that previously appeared as premium content on its site. Following his reclassification last year, Norristown (Pa.) Westtown School wing Jared Nickens has seen his recruitment take off, and is in the narrowing stages of deciding where he will play his college ball. Nickens, who scored 13 points during the underclassmen game at the Mary Kline Classic earlier this month, provided some insight into taking the extra year.

The Last Word is an occasional Baltimore Sun Q&A series that checks in with outgoing Maryland football and men's basketball players. Former Maryland defensive lineman A.J. Francis has brought his big body and big personality to Miami. Francis, signed by the Dolphins to a free agent deal, reported for minicamp this week. Francis - who grew up idolizing The Rock, Charles Barkley and Reggie White - ended his college career with 43 tackles (including four sacks) in his last season.

With a new long-term racing deal in place, increased breeding activity in the state and planned improvements to Maryland's two thoroughbred tracks, horse racing seems to be barreling toward a brighter future in a state where it had once been so important. Bettors have been slower to catch on, though. Total handle at Pimlico Race Course for the 36-day meet increased 12 percent to $188 million, the track announced Tuesday. But the per-day handle dropped 12 percent,  from $5.2 million to $4.6 million, thanks in part to seven racing days added so that the meet would span the entire length of the Triple Crown.

Maryland Wine Week is back. The 11-day celebration of the state's wine industry begins Friday and runs through June 24. Organized by the Maryland Wineries Association, the third annual promotional event has restaurants and wine shops throughout the state offering discounts and specials in addition to a full schedule of winemaker dinners and other events featuring Maryland wine and winemakers. Johnny's (4800 Roland Ave., 410-773-0777, johnnysdownstairs.com) will spotlight a different Maryland winemaker at evening wine tastings from June 18 to 23. The free tastings, which will include light snacks, are from 5 to 6 o'clock each night.

This year's Baltimore Pride is the first since marriage equality was passed in the state, but far from the first for Marylanders who grew up with gay parents. A recent study released by the Williams Institute, a think tank at the UCLA School of Law, found that 20 percent of same-sex couples in the Baltimore region are raising children. Just five other regions in the country had higher percentages. Based on data from the 2010 U.S. Census, Maryland now ranks 12th for the highest percentage of same-sex couples raising children.

Ask a native son to write a love letter to Maryland and among her many virtues, Old Bay will surely be extolled. We local folk are fiercely prideful about the quirky bits of living in our state that encompass the saying, "It's just a Maryland thing. " We relish the exclusivity of a select few oddities that make our state great. At the same time, we love introducing outsiders to our traditions and lifestyles. On the short list of items that makes a person feel home here in the Old Line State, Old Bay gives most us the greatest warm and fuzzies.

Editor: Congratulations to David Craig in his bid for Governor of the State of Maryland. I wonder if Mr. Craig realizes that for each Maryland county, there is a county teacher's union. There are many teachers in the State of Maryland, many students of voting age who want to become teachers and even more family and friends of teachers. If there was never any additional room in the Harford County budget for teacher pay increases in the past...