Nameless

Fact: Five of the 12 teams in the CFL are having financial problems or contemplating moving (Ottawa, Hamilton, Las Vegas, Shreveport, Sacramento).Opinion: Baltimore and the NFL: a league without a team. Baltimore and the CFL: a team without a league.Fact: The past five Heisman Trophy winners -- Andre Ware, Ty Detmer, Desmond Howard, Gino Torretta and Charlie Ward -- have barely registered a blip in the NFL.Opinion: Upset special on Saturday: Auburn 23, Florida 20. (And Michigan 21, Penn State 16.)

Baltimore's nameless Canadian Football League team was to make what may amount to a last stand for its chosen name today in a Chicago courtroom.Attorneys for the franchise were to try to persuade a panel of U.S. Court of Appeals judges to throw out a court order issued last month by an Indianapolis federal judge.The injunction, sought by the NFL, temporarily barred the CFL team from calling itself the Baltimore CFL Colts or any similar-sounding name likely to be confused with the NFL's Indianapolis Colts.

Michele R. Marks is a slight woman who carries a heavy psychological burden.About 18 years ago when Michele was seven years old, a neighbor allegedly sexually abused her for an extended period. This supposed friend of the family did things to her in his basement and car, she says, that still haunt her.Michele's story is one of dozens of cases of sexual child abuse and assault that are tried every year in Carroll County. In Carroll, these cases receive a fair amount of attention because there are so few other violent crimes on which to focus.

Rafael Palmeiro hit a home run in Saturday's game at Oriole Park and caused all kinds of mayhem. The ball went into the right field flag court, and the crowd went nuts trying to get it. Dave Walcher, who was there, says a woman sitting on the flag court pavement, eating one of Boog's great beefy sandwiches, got smashed. So did her sandwich. But get this: One of Boog's employees replaced the sandwich. For nothing. Which is nice. But what I want to know is: Does Boog know about this?Happily unmarriedAbout a year ago, her daughter's friend stared at PeggyMassey and said: "I'm having a vision.

A certain columnist who shall remain nameless -- that noted wordsmith, initials K.R., pictured to the right -- recently wrote that the Orioles should release Leo Gomez.Off with his head!A personal aside to Lay-o, with apologies to Bryan Adams: Please forgive me, I know not what I do. Please forgive me, I can't stop writing about you.Oh, Peter Angelos is loving this.It's Angelos who demanded the Orioles keep Gomez, Angelos who insisted, "He's a very able player" when his front office failed to trade the third baseman-in-exile and contemplated his release.

Title: "The Crocodile Bird"Author: Ruth RendellPublisher: CrownLength, price: 361 pages, $20 English suspense writer Ruth Rendell has created a memorably mysterious setting for her new novel. Shrove House, a remote stone mansion miles from any neighbors, is the only world 16-year-old Liza Beck has ever known. She and her mother, Eva, live in the gatekeeper's cottage, looking after the property, which stands empty most of the year.In this isolated milieu, Eva has given her daughter a classical education -- Liza understands Latin and French, and has read the great works of Shakespeare and Dickens.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. -- Victor Mladenovic, 1 year old, is rarity in Sarajevo. He is a child with a name.He has a name for only one reason: He had the good sense of timing to be born the day before the Serbs first shelled Sarajevo. A year later, a wily wire-service photographer had the idea to shoot Victor (that is, photograph him) to illustrate the first anniversary of the conflict. Presumably, the photographer may stop by next year, if Victor survives, for another shot.Most children in Sarajevo as well as Somalia, Sudan and other sites of newsworthy desolation receive no names in our news.

Lorenzo Orestes is a hero. He is the Cuban pilot who defected to the United States in a military jet 22 months ago and then flew back to Cuba in a Cessna a few weeks ago to rescue his family.Jorge Proenza is also a hero. He and 47 others escaped from Cuba when they seized a commercial airliner last month, landing in Miami to applause and TV cameras.When it comes to Haitian refugees, however, we do not find heroes.In fact, we do not even find their names. After searching through dozens of stories on the men, women and children who have braved 600 miles of open water to come to the United States, I cannot find a single Haitian refugee named in the press.

A spokesman for Binney & Smith, maker of Crayola crayons, denies that the company has run out of ideas.But he admitted that the Easton, Pa., company had failed to develop names for 16 new crayons and is asking for help."

EPITAPHS.Bill Pronzini.Delacorte.232 pages. $19.After nearly 20 novels and numerous short stories, little is known about the San Francisco private investigator called Nameless. The few details are that he is nearly 60, dark-haired, and of Italian descent.In "Epitaphs," Pierto Lombardi, a friend of Nameless, asks a favor. He wants Nameless to investigate his granddaughter, Gianna, who is charged with stealing money from her landlord.When Nameless begins looking into the matter, the charges are dropped by a terrified landlord, who had been beaten -- and Gianna cannot be found.