Opponent

Your writer who calls for the repeal of Obamacare on its one-year anniversary ("One year later, time to toss Obama health care") needs to get with the program of the rest of the right wing. He has displayed his obsolescence in excoriating Obamacare. Rep. Paul Ryan, in his Republican budget proposal, assumed that Obamacare would do what it is supposed to do, namely cut the deficit significantly. Either Ryan must believe those figures must be true and tacitly endorse the estimated savings of Obamacare, or else it is just a smoke and mirrors act in order to justify even bigger tax cuts for the rich.

— Joining the Big Ten means that Maryland's football team will soon have Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan and other schools as new division opponents. But it also means the school's nonconference schedules are being upgraded and that some previously-scheduled games could be dropped. The Big Ten wants Maryland — which joins the conference in 2014 — and its other members to stop scheduling Football Championship Subdivision opponents. As a result, according to multiple officials, Maryland may drop at least some of their planned games with FCS schools in future seasons.

No. 15 Fairfield's 8-3 loss to No. 20 and Eastern College Athletic Conference rival Ohio State last Saturday meant that the Stags (11-3 overall and 4-2 in the league) finished in third place in the conference, one spot behind the Buckeyes (8-6, 5-1). And that means that the two teams will meet in the semifinal round of the ECAC tournament, which takes place Wednesday night in Denver. The quick turnaround doesn't leave coach Andy Copelan and the rest of Fairfield much time to make any changes in their game plan against Ohio State.

Four Division III teams from the area will open the first round of the NCAA tournament this Wednesday. Stevenson (17-2) will play host to Christopher Newport (8-8), Washington College (12-4) welcomes Colorado College (13-4), St. Mary's (12-6) visits Lynchburg (12-5), and Salisbury (14-5) hosts Susquehanna (12-6). Here is what each coach had to say about his team's respective first-round opponent. Salisbury coach Jim Berkman on Susquehanna: “Not much, other than their coach is a former Sea Gull.

Zone defense is the flavor of the month. What was once thought to be a "less macho" approach is being used by Top 20 teams. Teams who have historically utilized man-to-man schemes have showcased zone defense this spring. North Carolina shut down Maryland for three quarters with a zone defense and won. Expect Johns Hopkins to copy the Tar Heels' strategy and give the Terps a dosage of zone. Georgetown nearly upset Syracuse with a zone. Princeton, Hopkins, Syracuse and even Virginia are playing zone defense in 2011.

Opponent: Jacksonville JaguarsWhen: Sunday, Aug. 31Time: 4 p.m. TV: Ch. 11Opponent: Cincinnati BengalsWhen: Sunday, Sept. 7Time: 1 p.m. TV: Ch. 11Opponent: at N.Y. GiantsWhen: Sunday, Sept. 14Time: 1 p.m. TV: Ch. 11Opponent: at Tennessee OilersWhen: Sunday, Sept. 21Time: 1 p.m. TV: Ch. 11Opponent: at San Diego ChargersWhen: Sunday, Sept. 28Time: 4 p.m. TV: Ch. 11Opponent: Pittsburgh SteelersWhen: Sunday, Oct. 5Time: 1 p.m. TV: Ch. 11Opponent: Miami DolphinsWhen: Sunday, Oct. 19Time: 4 p.m. TV: Ch. 11Opponent: at Washington RedskinsWhen: Sunday, Oct. 26Time: 1 p.m. TV: Ch. 11Opponent: at New York JetsWhen: Sunday, Nov. 2Time: 1 p.m. TV: Ch. 11Opponent: at Pittsburgh SteelersWhen: Sunday, Nov. 9Time: 8 p.m. TV: ESPNOpponent: Philadelphia EaglesWhen: Sunday, Nov. 16Time: 1 p.m. TV: Ch. 45Opponent: Arizona CardinalsWhen: Sunday, Nov. 23Time: 1 p.m. TV: Ch. 45Opponent: at Jacksonville JaguarsWhen: Sunday, Nov. 30Time: 1 p.m. TV: Ch. 11Opponent: Seattle SeahawksWhen: Sunday, Dec. 7Time: 1 p.m. TV: Ch. 11Opponent: Tennessee OilersWhen: Sunday, Dec. 14Time: 1 p.m. TV: Ch. 11Opponent: at Cincinnati BengalsWhen: Sunday, Dec. 21Time: 1 p.m. TV: Ch. 11Pub Date: 7/18/97

Opponent: Toronto Raptors Site: Air Canada Centre, Toronto When: Sunday, noon Radio: WTEM (980 AM)

Good morning --Kobe Bryant-- How hot a start? An opponent's defense can be cited for "holding" you to 28 points.

OPPONENT -- Browns Site -- Cleveland Browns Stadium WHEN -- Sunday, 4:05 p.m. TV -- Ch. 13 Line -- Ravens by 6 PG 9E

Here's who the Ravens' AFC North rivals have selected thus far in the 2013 NFL draft. Cleveland Browns Round 1, pick 6: LSU DE Barkevious Mingo Pittsburgh Steelers Round 1, pick 17: Georgia LB Jarvis Jones Cincinnati Bengals Round 1, Pick 21: Notre Dame TE Tyler Eifert   What they're saying about the AFC North teams' first-round picks --Terry Pluto of The Cleveland Plain...

No. 10 Washington College took the uncertainty out of its postseason plans by walloping Swarthmore, 16-5, Wednesday night and clinching a spot in the Centennial Conference tournament. The same cannot be said for the team's opponent in the tournament. How No. 19 Gettysburg fares against McDaniel on Saturday will determine whether the Shoremen (12-3 overall and 5-3 in the league) get the No. 3 or No. 4 seed. If the Green Terror (5-10, 2-5) upset the Bullets (8-6, 4-3), Washington would earn the third seed and meet Franklin & Marshall (10-4, 6-1)

Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to sign a law abolishing capital punishment in Maryland next week, though a referendum effort may be on the horizon. O'Malley's spokesman Raquel Guillory confirmed Thursday that the death penalty repeal law is scheduled to be signed on May 2. Maryland will become the sixth state in as many years to abandon state executions. Five men, all convicted of murders dating back to 1983, are on death row. O'Malley, who pushed for repeal, has said the men's fates will be considered on a case-by-case basis.  Maryland has had a de facto moratorium on executions since a 2006 court ruling overturned details in the process for carrying them out. The last execution in Maryland occurred by lethal injection in 2005.  After hours of impassioned debate in the General Assembly earlier this year, lawmakers voted 109-76 for repeal.

An Anne Arundel County judge handed the Key School a victory Tuesday, allowing the 55-year-old Annapolis private school to go ahead with plans to turn the 70-acre Annapolis Golf Club into an outdoor campus for athletics. A request by residents of the surrounding Annapolis Roads community to block the proposed landscape of playing fields, tennis courts, parking lot and a maintenance facility was turned down by Circuit Judge Paul G. Goetzke. An appeal, however, is possible. "This is an important day for us," said Marcella Yedid, head of the school, noting that the school has been working with Anne Arundel County on the site plan.

Wednesday night's first-round meeting between No. 4 seed Frostburg State and No. 5 seed Mary Washington in the Capital Athletic Conference tournament is a re-match of a contest that the Bobcats won, 13-11, a week ago. That might be an advantage for Frostburg State, but coach Tommy Pearce said the advantage is more mutual than one-sided. “We get to see them on film against us, but they also get to watch film of us,” he said Tuesday. “So we're both learning from this film, and they're seeing some of the same stuff that we're seeing.

Graduation depleted Goucher of four starters - three on offense - and the program eventually bid farewell to the most successful coach in its history, but that did not prevent the team from extending its success in the Landmark Conference. Saturday's 7-6 overtime decision over Scranton cemented for the Gophers (7-7 overall and 5-0 in the league) the top seed and home-field advantage in the upcoming conference tournament with just one more league game against the Merchant Marine this Saturday.

Opponents of Maryland's tough new gun-control law said Wednesday that they will not seek to petition it to referendum and instead will back a lawsuit planned by the National Rifle Association. "This is a constitutional right that should not go to the citizens to vote on," said Republican Del. Neil Parrott of Western Maryland, founder of the mdpetitions.com group that has successfully petitioned three other laws to referendum in the past two years. Flanked by representatives of the NRA, Maryland-based gun-rights groups, and other Republican lawmakers, Parrott announced the plans to a crowd of 70 at a Jessup fundraising event for mdpetitions.com.

As many of the Ravens gather in Owings Mills today for the first voluntary workouts of the offseason, the organization is still awaiting word on its opponent for the Sept. 5 NFL regular-season opener. There was plenty of speculation that the league's regular-season schedule would be released tomorrow. However, that won't be happening, according to NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "The schedule is not completed and a release date has not been determined," Aiello wrote in an email to The Sun. The schedule is traditionally unveiled before the draft.