Mookie

Oysterback, Maryland -- Thank you, thank you very much, Operator. Operator? Hello, is that you, Miss Desiree? Thanks for accepting the collect call. What? Oh, yeah, it's me. Wade, and Mookie. Say hello to Miss Desiree, Mookie! Hear him! Aw, Miss Desiree, be nice. What? You'll have to speak up, it's pretty noisy in here.Jail? Na, we're not in jail, heh, heh, heh. Na, we're up to Baltimore. What? Oh. Mookie wanted to see Tawnee, so we come up to Port Deposit last night, but she was out, so we come on over to Baltimore.

When we were kids, our parents would take us for a couple of weeks each summer to Harvey, a quiet village on a lake in the mostly rural Canadian province of New Brunswick. On afternoons when it rained in Harvey, my brother and I would hunt down a deck of cards for a game that we called "Canadian fish." Canadian fish played the same as go fish, with an important twist: We cheated. You were supposed to cheat. We palmed cards off the draw pile, and hid them up sleeves and down socks. We asked for cards we didn't hold; we denied holding those that we did. The more extravagant the violation, the better.

Oysterback, Maryland. -- We was all right, Huddie, I swear we was. Wade and Mookie and I only had about seven, eight beers apiece. Besides, it wasn't our fault that Wade had the gun. He'd just bought it offen a guy down the road and hadn't finished up the paperwork on it, that's all.It wasn't really concealed, he had it stuck in his belt. You just couldn't see it when the cops pulled him offen the truck 'cause his jacket fell down over it. They was no call to throw him up against the door like that, and that's what I told the judge, too.Hell, all we was gonna do was go bass fishin' over to Tom's pond up to Windy Hill, but we got over to Tom's and his old lady told us not to go fishin' there because they had a whole bunch of swans layin' around the pond, and they didn't want 'em all riled up. You know what swans is like when they gets all riled up and they're nestin'?

HERE WE HAVE inspiration from the battered, broken junkie streets of East Baltimore. Here, at the center of one of the most depressing tales of city life, is Rachel Rogers. Attention must be paid, and the moment savored, by all who yearn for a new day, when the drug addicts come clean and the dealers disappear and the children play without fear on the sidewalks. Here we have the story of Rachel Rogers, who did the right thing. Maybe it was guilt of having spent, at the age of 28, half her life addicted to cocaine and heroin -- of having been a regular customer of the killer-dealers -- that persuaded Rogers to stop lying and to tell the truth about what she saw. Maybe it was the horror of experience, a tormenting memory of that March night a year ago in the rain on Harford Road.

BaseballBlue Jays: Fired coaches Nick Leyva, Gene Tenace, Alfredo Griffin and Willie Upshaw. Announced that coaches Mel Queen and Jim Lett will remain in the organization.Giants: Purchased the contract of P William Van Landingham from Triple-A Phoenix. Designated 1B-OF Desi Wilson for assignment.Mariners: Named Lee Pelekoudas vice president of baseball administration, Larry Beinfest assistant to the vice president of baseball operations, Benny Looper director of player development, Frank Mattox director of scouting and Ken Compton director of pro scouting.

ONE OF MY most vivid memories of sixth grade is the big fight in the spring of 1969. Mookie went toe-to-toe with the teacher.Mookie was a big kid, at least he seemed that way to me and my classmates. He was somewhat of a loner, he often was absent and he struggled with schoolwork. I don't think he volunteered an answer to a single question the entire year. When he did talk, it was to other students during class time, or comments to the teacher that had nothing to do with the lesson.We were in an experimental all-boys class at William Henry Harrison Elementary, a North Philadelphia public school that the system named in honor of a president who served only a month before dying of pneumonia.

HERE WE HAVE inspiration from the battered, broken junkie streets of East Baltimore. Here, at the center of one of the most depressing tales of city life, is Rachel Rogers. Attention must be paid, and the moment savored, by all who yearn for a new day, when the drug addicts come clean and the dealers disappear and the children play without fear on the sidewalks. Here we have the story of Rachel Rogers, who did the right thing. Maybe it was guilt of having spent, at the age of 28, half her life addicted to cocaine and heroin -- of having been a regular customer of the killer-dealers -- that persuaded Rogers to stop lying and to tell the truth about what she saw. Maybe it was the horror of experience, a tormenting memory of that March night a year ago in the rain on Harford Road.

From the Land of the Rising Sun comes another step on the road to the apocalypse: virtual pets. The little, egg-shaped computer games at the end of a keychain -- Tamagotchi (about $15, from Bandai Ltd.) and Giga Pets (about $10, by Tiger Electronics Inc.) -- have overrun Japan, and are now on salke (along with some new imitators in the United States. Retailers are hoping the craze continues here. To put them to the tes, we adopted pets out into two homes -- one with a real pet, one without.

The New Jersey Nets and Washington Bullets, who close out the first half of the NBA season at the Capital Centre tonight, are trying to improve their present standing and outlook for the next TTC three months.Both teams appear long shots to make the playoffs, but Nets coach Bill Fitch and the Bullets' Wes Unseld have taken different approaches to end the downward spiral.Fitch seemingly escaped an early dismissal when New Jersey won 12 of 15 games in January, but rumors resurfaced after the Nets began February with five straight road losses.

LANDOVER - This had the look of being a meaningless game at the beginning of the season. And sure enough, it is, but for a vastly different reason. Neither the Washington Redskins nor the Arizona Cardinals are going to the playoffs, making today's game at FedEx Field one of only three this weekend with no postseason implications. Going into the season, most figured the preseason Super Bowl favorite Redskins (7-8) would have the NFC East locked up by now and that the Cardinals (3-12) would be where they are. Arizona, which has played in its fair share of pointless games over the years, did not disappoint, but the Redskins did. The season has turned into a disaster for a team with a $100 million payroll.

LANDOVER - This had the look of being a meaningless game at the beginning of the season. And sure enough, it is, but for a vastly different reason. Neither the Washington Redskins nor the Arizona Cardinals are going to the playoffs, making today's game at FedEx Field one of only three this weekend with no postseason implications. Going into the season, most figured the preseason Super Bowl favorite Redskins (7-8) would have the NFC East locked up by now and that the Cardinals (3-12) would be where they are. Arizona, which has played in its fair share of pointless games over the years, did not disappoint, but the Redskins did. The season has turned into a disaster for a team with a $100 million payroll.

For the Atlanta Hawks, Wednesday's game against the Golden State Warriors could not have come at a better time. The Hawks were approaching a record they wanted no part of -- becoming the second team in NBA history to have double-digit winning and losing streaks in the same season.By beating the Warriors, Atlanta ended a seven-game losing streak. But the Hawks have looked nothing like the team that started the season with 11 straight wins. Since that start, the Hawks have been a below-.500 team (10-12)

BaseballBlue Jays: Fired coaches Nick Leyva, Gene Tenace, Alfredo Griffin and Willie Upshaw. Announced that coaches Mel Queen and Jim Lett will remain in the organization.Giants: Purchased the contract of P William Van Landingham from Triple-A Phoenix. Designated 1B-OF Desi Wilson for assignment.Mariners: Named Lee Pelekoudas vice president of baseball administration, Larry Beinfest assistant to the vice president of baseball operations, Benny Looper director of player development, Frank Mattox director of scouting and Ken Compton director of pro scouting.

From the Land of the Rising Sun comes another step on the road to the apocalypse: virtual pets. The little, egg-shaped computer games at the end of a keychain -- Tamagotchi (about $15, from Bandai Ltd.) and Giga Pets (about $10, by Tiger Electronics Inc.) -- have overrun Japan, and are now on salke (along with some new imitators in the United States. Retailers are hoping the craze continues here. To put them to the tes, we adopted pets out into two homes -- one with a real pet, one without.

ONE OF MY most vivid memories of sixth grade is the big fight in the spring of 1969. Mookie went toe-to-toe with the teacher.Mookie was a big kid, at least he seemed that way to me and my classmates. He was somewhat of a loner, he often was absent and he struggled with schoolwork. I don't think he volunteered an answer to a single question the entire year. When he did talk, it was to other students during class time, or comments to the teacher that had nothing to do with the lesson.We were in an experimental all-boys class at William Henry Harrison Elementary, a North Philadelphia public school that the system named in honor of a president who served only a month before dying of pneumonia.

LANDOVER -- The Atlanta Hawks' Mookie Blaylock entered last night's game against the Washington Bullets second in the league in steals, yet when the announcer yelled "two minutes" to the crowd, the guard with the fastest hands in the league had no steals to his name.No problem. Blaylock was simply saving his best for last.He recorded three steals over the game's final 1:44 -- victimizing Calbert Cheaney twice -- to help the Hawks steal a win from the Bullets, 99-96, before 12,345 at USAir Arena.

For the Atlanta Hawks, Wednesday's game against the Golden State Warriors could not have come at a better time. The Hawks were approaching a record they wanted no part of -- becoming the second team in NBA history to have double-digit winning and losing streaks in the same season.By beating the Warriors, Atlanta ended a seven-game losing streak. But the Hawks have looked nothing like the team that started the season with 11 straight wins. Since that start, the Hawks have been a below-.500 team (10-12)

LANDOVER -- The Atlanta Hawks' Mookie Blaylock entered last night's game against the Washington Bullets second in the league in steals, yet when the announcer yelled "two minutes" to the crowd, the guard with the fastest hands in the league had no steals to his name.No problem. Blaylock was simply saving his best for last.He recorded three steals over the game's final 1:44 -- victimizing Calbert Cheaney twice -- to help the Hawks steal a win from the Bullets, 99-96, before 12,345 at USAir Arena.

Oysterback, Maryland -- Thank you, thank you very much, Operator. Operator? Hello, is that you, Miss Desiree? Thanks for accepting the collect call. What? Oh, yeah, it's me. Wade, and Mookie. Say hello to Miss Desiree, Mookie! Hear him! Aw, Miss Desiree, be nice. What? You'll have to speak up, it's pretty noisy in here.Jail? Na, we're not in jail, heh, heh, heh. Na, we're up to Baltimore. What? Oh. Mookie wanted to see Tawnee, so we come up to Port Deposit last night, but she was out, so we come on over to Baltimore.

Oysterback, Maryland. -- We was all right, Huddie, I swear we was. Wade and Mookie and I only had about seven, eight beers apiece. Besides, it wasn't our fault that Wade had the gun. He'd just bought it offen a guy down the road and hadn't finished up the paperwork on it, that's all.It wasn't really concealed, he had it stuck in his belt. You just couldn't see it when the cops pulled him offen the truck 'cause his jacket fell down over it. They was no call to throw him up against the door like that, and that's what I told the judge, too.Hell, all we was gonna do was go bass fishin' over to Tom's pond up to Windy Hill, but we got over to Tom's and his old lady told us not to go fishin' there because they had a whole bunch of swans layin' around the pond, and they didn't want 'em all riled up. You know what swans is like when they gets all riled up and they're nestin'?