Opinion

As we await a week filled with speculation about Ben Roethlisberger's playing status for Sunday's AFC North showdown between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, it's pretty remarkable that the latest chapter in this rivalry could be played without Roethlisberger, Hines Ward and Ray Lewis on the field. It will be the first time since the final game of the 2007 regular season when none of the three have been in the game. That day, Lewis was sidelined with hand and back injuries while Roethlisberger and Ward were rested for the playoffs.

This feature appears every week on the Baltimore Sports Blitz. It's just like “What They're Saying About the Ravens,” but it includes blogger Matt Vensel saying something about what those people are saying. Got it? --- A.J. Perez of Fox Sports says that the Ravens are weathering the loss of inside linebacker Ray Lewis . “The Ravens enter next week's game 2-1 without Lewis. In those wins against Cleveland and Oakland, Baltimore has forced five turnovers,” h e wrote after the 55-20 win over the Raiders.

These two tweets ( here and here ) pretty much summarize the opinions expressed by many people in the WWE Universe in response to part of a segment involving CM Punk, Paul Heyman, Mick Foley and a returning Jerry "The King" Lawler. After what was a thunderous reception for "The King", who returned to work after suffering a heart attack during a live RAW broadcast in Montreal on Sept. 10 , CM Punk and Paul Heyman interrupted Lawler's "thank you" speech. CM Punk centered his promo largely on Lawler's heart attack, calling it a "stunt" and saying that had Lawler stayed in the ring he would have "beaten him to death.

Fact: The empathy factor was a big winner for President Barack Obama. Opinion: It proved impossible for a wealthy CEO-type to compete in the "he cares about us" category. Mitt Romney's "47 percent" comment most certainly (further) strengthened this narrative. But it was the Obama campaign's relentless rhetoric against wealth and income disparity that carried the day with enough middle-class voters. Fact: Democratic candidates successfully exploited the gender gap when nobody was looking.

Keeping your opinions to yourself at work might not be easy in today's supercharged political climate. With the general election just weeks away, political discussions naturally come up in offices, on campuses and at job sites throughout the Baltimore area. But seemingly harmless banter about the latest debate or a candidate's misstep quickly can turn ugly, some workplace experts warn. Strong opinions on candidates and issues can become a source of conflict and tension, experts say, potentially offending colleagues, bosses, even customers.