Ozzie Newsome

At yesterday's first day of mandatory minicamp, Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs felt as if he were back at home, running with the NFL's top-ranked defense on the field and joking with his teammates off it. It was the type of day that makes Suggs excited about this season with the Ravens and beyond. The two-time Pro Bowl linebacker said yesterday that he is interested in signing an extension with the Ravens before he becomes one of the most sought-after free agents at the end of the season.

One day into the Brian Billick sweepstakes, the Cleveland Browns abruptly withdrew from the competition shortly after Billick announced he would make Baltimore his first post-playoff stop, and the Ravens and Billick's agent are optimistic the Minnesota Vikings' offensive coordinator will become the Ravens' new head coach.Billick, his family and agent Ray Anderson flew into Baltimore last night and had dinner at a downtown steakhouse with Ravens owner Art Modell and team vice presidents David Modell and Ozzie Newsome.

George Kokinis has served as an intern, an entry-level assistant and a scout. He took another step up the franchise ladder yesterday, when he was named the Ravens' assistant director of pro personnel. Kokinis, 33, the Ravens' Northeast area scout for the past four seasons, replaces the retired John Wooten, who will serve as a consultant to Ozzie Newsome, the team's vice president of player personnel. Kokinis joined the then-Cleveland Browns in 1991 as a summer intern in the operations department, after earning his master's degree in sports management from the University of Richmond.

As the Ravens' newly appointed director of player personnel, Eric DeCosta will take expanded duties to Indianapolis for this week's NFL scouting combine. After six years as director of college scouting, DeCosta will not only work on the evaluation of the 300-plus college players for April's draft, but he will also address free agency for the Ravens. "It's different, but exciting," DeCosta, 37, said shortly after his promotion. General manager Ozzie Newsome revised titles and job descriptions after director of pro personnel George Kokinis left in January to become general manager of the Cleveland Browns.

The NFL is a copycat league, but usually teams duplicate each other's offensive and defensive schemes, not some struggling artist's design for a logo.The exact culprit in Logo-gate is unclear -- it could be the Ravens; it could be NFL Properties. Suffice it to say that all some poor schlub wanted from the team was an autographed helmet, and now he might get more than $10 million.And you thought Jesse "The Body" Ventura had a good week.With Tuesday's guilty verdict, Ravens owner Art Modell is hereby prohibited from fulfilling his promise to write this column, for fear of plagiarism.

ATLANTA -- Hank Aaron sat behind his desk at Turner Field, holding a printout of yesterday's story about Peter Boulware from The Sun's Web site."My boy," Aaron said.His Ravens.In the course of a 30-minute conversation yesterday, Aaron wondered what has become of Tony Banks, gushed over Chris McAlister and fantasized about landing Florida State's Peter Warrick in next year's draft.That's right, baseball's all-time home run king is a Ravens fan.Aaron, 65, will attend tomorrow's Ravens-Falcons game at the Georgia Dome, but he'll be rooting against his hometown team.

CANTON, Ohio -- They barked. They chanted. They embraced the prodigal son.For one day, at least, Ozzie Newsome was back in the Dawg Pound, back where he carved a reputation as one of the NFL's most gifted and dangerous tight ends.Amid chants of "Oz-zie, Oz-zie," a largely partisan crowd of Cleveland Browns fans ushered Newsome into the Pro Football Hall of Fame yesterday with open arms and vibrating vocal chords.This one-time torrid love affair was back in full bloom."I came to understand and appreciate passion for 13 years, for playing in front of what I consider the greatest football fans in America," the former Browns star said in an eloquent speech on the steps of the building where he was enshrined.

The Ravens repopulated their defense during the first four rounds of the NFL draft and found several high-quality players to help fill the biggest holes remaining on a defensive unit that lost six key contributors during the team's post-Super Bowl roster shuffle. That group included safety Matt Elam, whose rise from a harrowing childhood has made him one of the inspirational stories of the draft, and high-character players Arthur Brown, Brandon Williams and John Simon. The player personnel types call those guys “red star” players, which is the pre-draft equivalent of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

As Ravens tight end Eric Green prepared to fly from Florida into Baltimore today after agreeing to a one-year contract, rookie outside linebacker Jamie Sharper was still in his hometown of Glen Allen, Va., waiting for his agent and team to reach a compromise.Sharper, a second-round draft pick from Virginia, is in the fourth day of a holdout from training camp along with top pick Peter Boulware, a defensive end-linebacker out of Florida State, and Penn State safety Kim Herring, also a second-round pick.

Ravens coach Ted Marchibroda was highly upset with yesterday's practice and gave his team another tongue-lashing, the second in four days.The Ravens play the Steelers, the defending AFC and Central Division champions, Sunday, and a win would put them two games up on Pittsburgh.Marchibroda thought his team would come out to practice, the first hard one of the week after Sunday's opening victory over the Oakland Raiders, with intensity and emotion. Instead, he said, the Ravens were lifeless.