New Rules

NFL coaches and players have loudly voiced their displeasure about the new league rule on kickoffs, which has reduced one of the most exciting plays in the game to something almost as predictable as an extra point. But the greatest condemnation against the change might have been the silence heard during the Ravens' first preseason game at Philadelphia. "Usually people get excited at kickoffs," Ravens special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg said. "I don't know if they went to the restaurant or the concession stand or what they did, but it was pretty quiet.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh isn't a fan of the new kickoff rule, which has led to an increase in touchbacks around the NFL. In the Ravens' preseason opener at Philadelphia, six of the seven kickoffs resulted in touchbacks. "If you look at the Eagles-Ravens preseason game, it was just a yawner," said Harbaugh, who has an increased knowledge of kickoffs after being a long-time special teams coach with the Eagles. "I wasn't very impressed with it the first week. " The new rule — which moves kickoffs five yards up to the 35-yard line — was passed because of safety.

With Marshal Yanda out with back spasms, the Ravens did some experimenting at Saturday's practice, moving Oniel Cousins from starting right tackle to right guard. The Ravens had talked about moving Cousins to guard in the offseason. When they re-signed Yanda, the team scrapped that plan and decided to give Cousins a shot at right tackle. Now, with Yanda temporarily sidelined, Cousins has shifted to Yanda's spot at right guard and Jah Reid has taken over at right tackle.

I was a guest at a recent high school reunion for members of my sister's class of 1961 and, in conversations with some of the men, noted that each had served in the military. They had either been drafted or they had enlisted to avoid the Army. One had gone into the Navy, eventually becoming a SEAL; another had become an Air Force pilot. They spoke of the draft as a fact of life - something no Americans have experienced for nearly 40 years now. These were Cold War warriors - high school graduates in the year of the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba and the year barbed wire and machine gun nests went up at the border of East and West Germany.

With Baltimore in the midst of Restaurant Week, there are probably many happily dining on rockfish these days, and rightly so. Rockfish (more commonly known as striped bass) represent one of the Chesapeake Bay's most treasured bounties, both a worthy challenge to anglers and a delight on the dinner plate. But if there is a lingering bitterness surrounding the catch of the day, it is the still-fresh memory of last winter's poaching incidents. Natural Resources Police hauled in an estimated 26,000 pounds of rockfish caught illegally in unattended gill nets.

Maryland football coach Randy Edsall said Thursday that there is "misinformation" in the media about rules he has imposed — such as not permitting players to wear ball caps, do-rags or earrings during meetings — and that team members aren't complaining about the tighter discipline. "I think there is a lot of misinformation out there in terms of people wanting to be able to write stuff and fabricate things about what's going on," Edsall told reporters. "I think a lot of people made a mountain out of a molehill, to tell you the truth.

Capitol Hill is inching closer to passing landmark regulatory reform that will help encourage investment and create jobs. The REINS Act would require that Congress review and approve any new regulation expected to cost more than $100 million. In 2010 alone, despite the weak economy, the Obama administration issued 3,752 new rules - and 224 of them cost more than $100 million. The REINS Act would go a long way toward stemming the tide of costly and regressive regulatory policies coming from Washington.

Tomorrow is the annual summertime pony swim across the Assateague channel. The wild ponies that inhabit the Chincoteague, Va., portion of the Assateague Island National Seashore will be rounded up sometime around "slack tide" and herded across the water to the carnival grounds, where they will be auctioned off. It's a big event that draws thousands to the region every year. If you're in Ocean City, it's probably no more than a 90-minute drive or less to the southern end of the shore in Chincoteague, Va. (Tomorrow it may take longer depending on traffic, of course.)

Rule No. 1 in P.M. Forni's book "Choosing Civility: The Twenty Five Rules of Considerate Conduct" is "Pay Attention. " I think that rule, if enough people chose to follow it, would make dining out in Baltimore a thousand-fold more pleasurable, overnight. [The Civil Dining conversation started here .] Forni elaborates on this rule, as he often does, with a an illustration from the dinner table, specifically, the practice of passing salt-and-pepper together even when only one is asked for. "(K)

Not counting her seven custom-made beehive wigs, her cat's-eye glasses and her flamingo purse, Charlene Osborne holds little closer to her heart than the bedazzled rhinestone tiara that was fixed onto her lacquered bouffant as she was crowned Baltimore's Best Hon two years ago at Honfest. But this year, Honfest will be at least one beehive short. Osborne is among those who have pledged to boycott the annual event to protest what they consider to be the co-opting of a Baltimore institution: the fabled hon. "I consider myself a hon, raised by a real hon in Dundalk, which is hon territory," says Osborne, who's 49. "But I do not support the trademarking of the word and the strict handling of all things hon — it's very un-hon.