Mystique

DETROIT -- For the second time in two months, Ford Motor Co. is recalling its new Contour and Mystique compact sedans because of a defect in the fuel systems that could cause fires.Because it cannot make corrected tanks fast enough, Ford said that it has halted production of the cars for a week, which will exacerbate dealer shortages of the cars just as Ford is promoting them with a major introductory advertising campaign.A total of 28,500 cars have the defect, including almost 8,000 Ford Contours and Mercury Mystiques that are already in customers' hands in the United States and Canada.

Maryland Live Casino has opened its version of the Prime Rib, the iconic Baltimore steakhouse that has flourished almost from the second of its founding in 1965 by the Beler brothers. The new steakhouse is operated by the casino and is technically unaffiliated with the Prime Rib restaurants in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington. The casino operators describe the relationship as a licensing partnership with Buzz Beler. He has, by all accounts, played a significant role in pulling off the casino restaurant, whose chefs received training in the Prime Rib ways in the Washington restaurant's kitchen.

All the Dallas Cowboys have left is their mystique.They'll find out how much that's worth Sunday when they face the Jacksonville Jaguars at Texas Stadium.The Cowboys are 3-3 and haven't scored a rushing touchdown. The Jaguars are 5-1 and have James Stewart, who rushed for five touchdowns last Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.Yet the Cowboys are favored by 4 1/2 points.Why?Because they're the Cowboys and the Jaguars are making their first trip to Dallas."I grew up wanting to play in that stadium," Stewart said.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - - The Ravens needed only a matter of minutes to obliterate the team of the decade. From the first offensive play - Ray Rice's sensational 83-yard sprint for a touchdown - the Ravens ambushed the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in front of an announced 68,756 with one of the best starts in NFL playoff history and ran away with a 33-14 victory in an AFC wild-card game Sunday. The Ravens' first step toward the Super Bowl represented an authoritative stomp: The sixth-seeded Ravens (10-7)

Ford Motor Co.'s $6 billion gamble to lure the American baby boomer behind the wheel of a small domestic car begins today with the formal introduction of the Ford Contour and its sister car, the Mercury Mystique.While the jury is still out on Ford's latest offering, there are some early indications that it will be Japanese carmakers, not Ford executives, who will be losing sleep in the days ahead.The editors of Motor Trend magazine predict that the Contour and Mystique will deal the imports a heavy blow, especially as the rising value of the yen makes Japanese cars more expensive in the United States.

NEW YORK - Give Seattle Mariners manager Lou Piniella credit, at least for being stubborn. Even as his team moved inexorably toward elimination in the American League Championship Series, he continued yesterday to deny the existence of the vaunted New York Yankees' "mystique." "There really isn't any," Piniella said. "That's what people don't understand. You've got to go out and play." It's a tough sell around here. The Yankees have been baseball's most successful team since Babe Ruth first donned the uniform, and their postseason history - particularly their recent postseason history - is riddled with big comebacks and clutch plays.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Planes land and take off in the background of the practice facility and offices that the Oakland Raiders have used since moving from Los Angeles. Ferries float to San Francisco from a pier set behind pricey homes. To get the idea that the Raiders are the Raiders again - the AFC West champion Raiders - one must leave the effete digs on Harbor Bay Parkway in Alameda and head east to the industrial area surrounding the hulking Network Associates Coliseum. As the 34-year old facility greets you, there's not enough California sunshine in the world to distract from a welcome consisting of train tracks, shacks with corrugated steel roofs and fans voted the NFL's scariest by players in a recent Sports Illustrated survey.

Carlos the Jackal is losing his mystique.

1960: Soviets hit U-2 spy plane1961: Bay of Pigs1961: Washington, D.C., gets vote1963: Friedan's "Feminine Mystique"

Another caption Sunday should have said the Yorkshire terrier Lively's Peeper won the Best of Toy category at the Maryland Kennel Club competition. German shepherd Altana's Mystique won Best in Show.The Baltimore Sun regrets the errors.

An Offer We Can't Refuse - The Mafia in the Mind of America George De Stefano Farrar, Straus and Giroux / 438 pages / $26 Years ago, writing about the legacy of Mario Puzo, I said, "If there is a God and he is indeed Catholic, then Puzo is burning in hell." Before The Godfather was published in 1969, historians of organized crime in the 20th century told us that some major stars of the modern mob had names like Arnold Rothstein, Owney Madden, and Logan and Fred Billingsley. After The Godfather, the only major crime figures who got any attention were the ones whose names ended in vowels.

Betty Friedan, the visionary, combative feminist who launched a social revolution with her provocative 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique, died yesterday, her 85th birthday. She died of congestive heart failure at her home in Washington, said Emily Bazelon, a cousin speaking for the family. She said Ms. Friedan had been in failing health for some time. Her best-selling book identified "the problem that has no name," the unhappiness of post-World War II American women unfulfilled by traditional notions of female domesticity.

ST. LOUIS -- Somewhere in the great beyond, The Babe was munching on his sixth hot dog and having a belly laugh at Boston's expense. "They think I was holding them back," he said with a chuckle. "Like I really cared enough to go all the way back down there and kick that ball through Buckner's legs. That's rich." Grantland Rice raised an eyebrow. "So you really didn't have anything to do with it?" "Well, I won't say I had absolutely nothing to do with it," the Bambino replied. "I did create the Yankee mystique, which I suppose might have been the Red Sox mystique if they hadn't sold me to build stage props."

WASHINGTON - After months of being viewed by Democrats as an improbable if persistent candidate, Howard Dean has erased questions about his staying power and has forced his rivals to alter their strategies to counter his increasing influence on the race, according to party leaders, strategists and even rival campaigns. Over the space of a week, Dean lined up two important labor endorsements and became the first Democrat to withdraw from the public campaign finance system. That strategy, though potentially risky, will allow him to outspend his rivals and further establish himself as an unconventional driving force in the primaries.

NEW YORK - It wasn't enough that the New York Yankees kept their season alive last night. That's only half the fun. They also took special care of a certain curse that once again had the strength to wrap itself around their most hated rival. Will it ever let go? Down to their last five outs, the Yankees overcame a three-run deficit in the eighth and got a leadoff home run from Aaron Boone in the 11th to defeat the Boston Red Sox, 6-5, in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.

Rudolpho Alfonzo Rafaelo Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla was once the most talked-about movie star in America. Even today, 76 years after his death, people who have never seen his silent films know the word Valentino is cultural shorthand for a lover of considerable promiscuity and mystery. Thursday on Turner Classic Movies, the cable channel celebrates Valentine's Day by once again introducing audiences to Rudolph Valentino's sensual magic. Five of his films are on the schedule, beginning with a newly scored version of Camille at 8 p.m., and ending at 3 a.m. with his final appearance, Son of the Shiek.

Another caption Sunday should have said the Yorkshire terrier Lively's Peeper won the Best of Toy category at the Maryland Kennel Club competition. German shepherd Altana's Mystique won Best in Show.The Baltimore Sun regrets the errors.

Research shows that lying to Congress can be addictive.France invaded Rwanda to help the bad guys.Pretty soon everyone in Maryland will be able to access Internet, and what will be left of its mystique?It looks like no one can win Wimbledon this year.

NEW YORK - Give Seattle Mariners manager Lou Piniella credit, at least for being stubborn. Even as his team moved inexorably toward elimination in the American League Championship Series, he continued yesterday to deny the existence of the vaunted New York Yankees' "mystique." "There really isn't any," Piniella said. "That's what people don't understand. You've got to go out and play." It's a tough sell around here. The Yankees have been baseball's most successful team since Babe Ruth first donned the uniform, and their postseason history - particularly their recent postseason history - is riddled with big comebacks and clutch plays.