Off Season

Christmas lights may adorn many houses at the moment and snow may be on the way, but it is still lacrosse season - indoor lacrosse, that is. A fixture for many Howard County players, indoor lacrosse is, paradoxically, a faster, more demanding version of the outdoor game, but one with room for fun, experimenting and a chance to work on that left-handed shot. Many county players - whether they are on club-level travel teams or high school teams - play in the Maryland Indoor Lacrosse League, which uses the indoor fields at the Owings Mills Sports Arena, Perring Athletic Club in Parkville and the newly opened Bare Hills Athletic Club in North Baltimore's Mount Washington neighborhood.

Towson University men's basketball coach Pat Kennedy is eager to start another rebuilding project. Morgan State coach Butch Beard wants to keep his program's recovery effort moving forward. Each school will take its first step at the same place tonight, when the fourth Guardians Classic tournament unfolds at Ohio State's Value City Arena. Morgan State, seeking to build on an 11-16 season that produced more victories than Beard's previous three years combined, will face Robert Morris in the first round.

As thousands of Naval Academy alumni flocked to Annapolis over Labor Day weekend for the first home football game of the season, Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium was ready to show off its new good looks - and a new community walking trail. Construction workers put final touches on the $40 million, three-year renovation project until the last minute Friday, with ice cream vendors, painters and landscapers putting things in place. Bright coats of blue, gold and gray paint had the refurbished stadium looking like a large, trim ship that had just emerged from the yard.

Ballet Theatre of Maryland's artistic director Dianna Cuatto - fresh from last Saturday's memorial tribute to Edward Stewart that included her restaging of Stewart's Sapphire Romance - now turns her attention to the dedication ceremony for the BTM's annex Saturday from noon until 5 p.m. Free and open to the public, the dedication will include mini-classes in jazz, ballet and flamenco, performances by BTM dancers, class registration, face painting for...

Alex Federline, 11, has always enjoyed reading, especially fiction books. His favorite these days is the Harry Potter series. "I have read all of them, and I re-read the third book, The Prisoner of Azkaban," he said. Alex, who will begin sixth grade Monday at Bonnie Branch Middle School, was one of 14,480 students who participated in Howard County Library's summer reading programs coordinated by the Maryland Department of Education. "We're very happy [with the participation rate]," said Christie Lassen, head of marketing and public relations for the county library system.

OCEAN CITY - Rain or the threat of it all morning. Skies so dark you'd swear it was a Sunday during the National Football League season. And wind, gusting from the northeast, prompted small-craft warnings. It was the perfect day for a parade in Maryland's beach town - at least for a few thousand die-hards who say their loyalty and love of the Baltimore Ravens were defined by the 13 long years they waited for a team after the Colts franchise was hauled off to Indiana. Yesterday was the third year in a row with the weather on the iffy side for the annual three-day convention of the Council of Baltimore Ravens Roosts, the governing body for nearly 50 chapters with about 4,000 members.

It has long been a truism among baseball fans that the best thing about Opening Day being played on a weekday afternoon is that it offers a perfectly good excuse to skip work. Last night, thousands of frigid fans discovered the true reason for the traditional daytime setting: It's hard to celebrate the arrival of summer's game when you can't feel your toes. Cold and windy as it was, though, fans tried their best to warm themselves with the consolation that they were enduring a first-ever Opening Night for a good reason - a nationally broadcast, prime-time spectacle that, leaving aside two Tokyo games last week, marked Major League Baseball's official 2004 start.

OCEAN CITY - Alice and Jourdan Kilgour call it "our reward," these slow, frigid days when the couple often winds up on a Boardwalk bench, a front-row seat to watch the inlet meet the ocean. Not that the Kilgours, a pair of semi-retired 60-somethings, don't love the beach during the bustling summer, or in the fall and spring when the tourists and the condominium owners still flock here. It's just that, this time of year, people feel like they have the place to themselves. "We walk the whole length of the Boardwalk, from the inlet to 20th Street and back again," says Alice Kilgour.

While stuffing their belongings in trash bags Sunday, most of the Ravens weren't in the mood to discuss yesterday's 20-17 loss to the Tennesee Titans in the first round of the AFC playoffs. Instead, they were already talking about their promising future, one that relies largely upon whether the front office can retain several key members of the third-youngest roster in the NFL. According to veteran linebacker Peter Boulware, there's a good chance of that happening. "This team is going to be together for a while," he said.

Walk into a winter wonderland this weekend at the Festival of Trees at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. The 14th annual holiday festival benefiting the Kennedy Krieger Institute features uniquely decorated Christmas trees and decorations for show and sale, as well as family activities and entertainment. The festival kicks off tomorrow at 10 a.m. and runs through 9 p.m. More than 300 decorated trees, wreaths, stockings and gingerbread houses - created by local designers, artists, businesses, florists and community groups - will be on display and for sale, as will handcrafted gifts, including pottery, candles, quilts and pillows from more than 100 vendors.