Opinion

On paper, Sunday night's WrestleMania looked as if it could be one of the strongest installments in the event's 28-year history. In execution, it was anything but. I personally avoided Twitter and Facebook, so that the thoughts I would be sharing here would be as purely mine as much as possible. The show lacked the feel of WrestleMania; the first hour felt rushed and most of the matches seemed to be missing something. The show wasn't bad by any means, so I don't want people to misread what I am saying, but I expected more.

Only 30 horses have made it to the Belmont Stakes with a chance to win the Triple Crown. Eleven have succeeded. This is whyI'll Have Another's quest to become the 12th at Belmont Park on June 9 will captivate a nation that long ago stopped paying close attention to the way thoroughbred horses run. Every contender vying to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 is a Cinderella - a term not commonly used to describe...

The woman who says she represents North American Power is not telling the truth about the benefits of buying electricity from her company. "You can save up to 10, 15, 20 percent of your bill, depending on your usage," she says in a telemarketing call to my house. But the rate she eventually quotes is only about 7 percent less than the standard price offered by Baltimore Gas & Electric — something the average customer would have no way of knowing. And of course the percentage savings won't vary even if my "usage" goes up to that of a steel mill.

ESPN analyst Quint Kessenich was in the network's studio in Charlotte, N.C., where he helped provide coverage of the 16-team field in the NCAA tournament. The former Johns Hopkins All-American goalkeeper, who can be followed on Twitter via @QKessenich, provided his opinion on Loyola's resume as the No. 1 seed, Penn State's omission from the field, and his stance on not expanding the field. This is part one. Check back Tuesday for part two of the Q&A Loyola is the top seed in the NCAA tournament.

Coworkers who live in Baltimore long ago disabused me of the notion that being a journalist will get you out of jury duty. I remember one woman I used to work with serving on multiple juries. Still, when I get one of those calls from an opinion pollster, I've always been able to wriggle off the hook by telling him or her that I work for a media company. So it caught me off guard Monday evening when the caller told me that my employment didn't disqualify me from the poll she was taking.

I find Sy Steinberg's letter to the editor ("Protesters rewarded for disruptive behavior," March 29) about the settlement given abortion protesters to be very disturbing. Mr. Steinberg writes that "the protesters are inciting the public, who are entitled to be free of a bunch of grotesque signs. " This statement implies that we, the public, have a right to be free of free speech. That is a very dangerous attitude and our right to free speech should be cherished whether or not we agree with the speaker.

The college lacrosse season has rounded the clubhouse turn and teams are racing down the backstretch, a third of the way through the regular season. Trends are developing, surprises are emerging and myths need to be busted. Here are some of the myths and what I think about them: Myth: Lacrosse is the fastest sport on two feet. Opinion: It is, at times. But too often the game has become slowed down by stick technology that makes dislodging the ball impossible, over coaching, specialization and rules that allow teams to stall.

Ravens cornerback Chris Carr saw a specialist in Texas this week to get another opinion on his injured left hamstring, an injury that forced him out of last Sunday's victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Carr has been dealing with hamstring soreness since early in training camp. "It's been frustrating because there's been a lot of work put into it. It's just been one of those nagging things, but I think it's going to be better pretty soon," Carr said. "That's what I'm looking for. I went to Texas and saw somebody, and got another way of looking at the injury.

As a reporter, you are taught to keep your opinions out of the stories you write. But the blogosphere has allowed certain freedoms that didn't exist before. As someone who has covered and followed University of Maryland athletics since coming to The Baltimore Sun more than 25 years ago, I have the unique perspective of not only comparing coaches but athletic directors as well. I think it's too soon to judge Kevin Anderson's tenure in College Park, but in talking with Anderson for a story that appeared on the Sun's website Wednesday night and in the newspaper on Thursday, my feelings for the job he has done over the past 18 months have certainly changed.

Friday's edition of The Sun included an article on the top defenseman for five of the six teams participating in Saturday's Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Four of the five aforementioned have been named All Americans and one was arguably compiling an equally worthy season before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury last year. Lacrosse is a sport where goals are desired by fans and TV networks and players on the offensive side of the field throw no-look passes and shoot from behind their heads or between their legs.

The two names you read here and pretty much everywhere else in the days leading up to the draft as it related to the Ravens and their original 29th overall pick were Alabama linebacker Dont'a Hightower and Wisconsin center Peter Konz . As it turns out, neither was as high on the Ravens' draft board as we all thought. In a live chat yesterday on the Ravens' team website, www.baltimoreravens.com , director of player personnel Eric DeCosta said that the team had about seven players that it really liked in the first round and Hightower was “not one of the players that we would have traded to get.” Again, that doesn't mean that the Ravens weren't interested in Hightower, but it does make it pretty clear that they liked several other players better.

Orioles closer Jim Johnson remained hospitalized Wednesday as doctors tried to determine what is causing flu symptoms and an infection that has dogged him for more than a week. "They want to identify it, and [with] bacteria, you're talking about some things you've got to be careful with," manager Buck Showalter said. "But he's in great hands … and at some point, he'll rejoin us and then we'll start talking about baseball. Right now, he's about getting the body healthy.

One of the organizations I have long respected in this community is the Boys and Girls Clubs of Harford County. It went through some rough times many years ago, in the mid-1990s . Its executive director resigned for "undisclosed reasons," according to an article in The Aegis in May 1997 announcing the appointment of a new executive director, Don Mathis . He took over after a "few tumultuous years of poor management," ...

As a reporter, you are taught to keep your opinions out of the stories you write. But the blogosphere has allowed certain freedoms that didn't exist before. As someone who has covered and followed University of Maryland athletics since coming to The Baltimore Sun more than 25 years ago, I have the unique perspective of not only comparing coaches but athletic directors as well. I think it's too soon to judge Kevin Anderson's tenure in College Park, but in talking with Anderson for a story that appeared on the Sun's website Wednesday night and in the newspaper on Thursday, my feelings for the job he has done over the past 18 months have certainly changed.

Right now, top Orioles pitching prospect Dylan Bundy is in the middle of a perfect game. He has pitched six real-time professional innings, retired 18 consecutive batters and struck out 12 of them. Never mind that he has done it over two three-inning appearances for the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds, this is some otherworldly stuff and it has already sparked a debate both inside and outside the Orioles organization about the right way to handle one of the best young pitchers to pass this way in a generation.

I find Sy Steinberg's letter to the editor ("Protesters rewarded for disruptive behavior," March 29) about the settlement given abortion protesters to be very disturbing. Mr. Steinberg writes that "the protesters are inciting the public, who are entitled to be free of a bunch of grotesque signs. " This statement implies that we, the public, have a right to be free of free speech. That is a very dangerous attitude and our right to free speech should be cherished whether or not we agree with the speaker.

On weekday mornings, I'll post the most controversial, shocking and (of course) ridiculous stories for your reading pleasure. That way, when you walk into work, you'll be the master of witty conversation National  • Thank God you live in America: China arrests Christians for having Easter service . (AFP)  • Thank God you live in America, II: Syria's bloody weekend . (Financial Times)  • Taliban stages huge prison break . (AP)  • The heroism of regular people: Attempted plane hijacker  overpowered . (Reuters)

Opinion: There's one certainty heading into today's NFL draft: Every team will say its first-round pick was "the guy we wanted all along." Fact: Another sign of how far the Orioles' attendance has fallen: They drew almost 6,000 more fans per game in their last season at Memorial Stadium than they did last year at Camden Yards. And you have to go all the way back to 1988 to find a lower per-game average than this year's figure of 22,853.