Playing Basketball

Felix J. Bucci III had three passions: his family, endless conversation and pickup basketball games."He couldn't resist any of them, but his son and basketball were real special to him. He always wanted to play," said his wife, the former Sharon Toth, whom he married in 1981. "And he always wanted to be with his son."Mr. Bucci, 51, of White Marsh was killed late Saturday when he and his 8-year-old son, Christopher, were struck by a car as they tried to cross Philadelphia Road near Middle River after leaving a convenience store.

It was a September day in 2007 and Seth Allen was riding his bicycle around his suburban Virginia neighborhood the same way he now plays basketball for Maryland - with speed and flair, but also a hint of youthful recklessness. Allen wasn't holding on to the 10-speed's handlebars when he hit a rough patch of pavement and lost control, tumbling off the bike and shattering his left elbow in so many places that doctors had to insert two plates and 24 screws to stabilize the joint. Five and a half years later, the screws and plates remain in the freshman guard's shooting elbow along with the memory of surgeries, painkillers and months of rehabilitation during which his athletic future was clouded.

When John'a Poole started playing basketball with her big sister Jamie in front of their Middle River home, it was love at first sight. "When I was little, it was everything - basketball, basketball, basketball," said the Eastern Tech senior, who turns 18 today. Not much has changed. Poole, whose first named is pronounced "Ja-NAY," got serious about basketball when she was 12 and has been aiming for the WNBA ever since. While many young girls say they want to make it to the WNBA, Poole expects it. "I plan on making it, not maybe," said Poole, a 5-foot-8 forward-guard who, at 16, got a tattoo on her lower back - a silhouette of Michael Jordan in action.

C.J. Keyser, a 6-foot-3 sophomore small forward who transferred from John Carroll to Patterson Mill last week, has not yet been ruled eligible to play basketball for the Huskies. Patterson Mill athletic director Jason Bellamy said there was no update on whether Keyser would be declared eligible for the upcoming Class 2A East region playoffs. The Huskies are set to travel to Edgewood in tonight's opening round and Bellamy said Keyser was not a member of the team.

Poly's Lindsay Willemain has played less than four years of basketball, but she might have some trouble convincing the opposition of that.With performances like last week's 16-point, 15-rebound effort against Mercy and Thursday's 16-point, 11-rebound contribution at Douglass, the 6-foot senior center demonstrates instincts that usually take much longer to develop."

NEW YORK -- He is playing for a program that hasn't had a winning season in more than a decade, in a building that had its best days 50 years ago, against competition that could be considered a level or two beneath him.But Richie Parker doesn't seem to mind.It doesn't matter that he was once considered a big-time college prospect, the kind of New York City high school player whose family's apartment was filled with trophies and the expectation of visits from coaches around the country.All that matters now to Parker, a freshman at Long Island University in Brooklyn, is that he is playing basketball again.

Andre "Silk" Poole knows that success does not come without sacrifice. While he was captain of the Community College of Baltimore County, Essex campus basketball team, Division 1 schools were courting him. Georgetown and Xavier universities were his final choices, but when his grandmother fell ill, he decided to stay home to take care of her, he said. "It was a tough thing, but at the same time, I don't regret it at all," Poole said. "I love her to death." She was on dialysis for 16 years before passing away.

A man dressed in Ku Klux Klan attire scared three black children playing basketball Sunday night in Savage, and Howard County police are investigating whether he might be responsible for a rash of "KKK" graffiti."

BALTIMORE City teenager one of two fatally shot over weekend A teenager was fatally shot yesterday afternoon while playing basketball at a public housing complex in East Baltimore - one of two weekend homicides being investigated by city police. The latest victim, 16, was playing basketball at the Somerset Court Apartments in the 1400 block of E. Monument St. about 3:30 p.m. when an unknown assailant approached and shot him in the head, police said. Roman Paige of the 3300 block of McElderry St. was pronounced dead a short time later at Johns Hopkins Hospital, police said.

Black male friends of writer/director Ron Shelton who have worn crew jackets with the movie title "White Men Can't Jump" emblazoned on the back have reported some interesting reactions in predominantly white neighborhoods.The jacket-wearers have told Mr. Shelton that some white men seemed offended by the title; a few others were downright angry. But an overwhelming majority simply laughed. Real hard."That's how this movie started," Mr. Shelton said. "As a title. I tried it out on people and everybody laughed."

Heat impressive Shandel Richardson Sun Sentinel The Knicks are the league's only unbeaten team. But the team playing the best is the Heat. It sounds silly to say when the Knicks spanked the Heat last week, but no team has been more impressive than Miami. The Heat are leading the league in scoring, which is trouble for the rest of the NBA. Erik Spoelstra will have his team returning to its defensive identity soon as Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis adjust. Now, the league's best defensive team has an offense that has proved difficult to defend.

Golf Hutsell leads by 2 at MAPGA Pro tourney     David Hutsell , PGA director of instruction at The Elkridge Club, closed with four straight birdies Monday to take a two-shot lead in the Middle Atlantic PGA Professional Championship in Williamsburg, Va. Hutsell, the defending champion in the event, shot an 8-under-par 64 on the Woods course at Kingsmill Resort. "I really focused on practicing my short game before coming to Kingsmill," said Hutsell, who missed only one fairway and one green in regulation.

As Terrell Suggs attempts to come back after successful surgery to repair his partially torn right Achilles tendon, there remains scrutiny over how the Ravens' outside linebacker sustained the injury in the first place. Two days after Suggs told my colleague Mike Preston that he is "going to shock a lot of people" with a healthy return from the injury sometime during the regular season, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported again that Suggs was injured in late April while playing basketball in Arizona, something Suggs had strongly denied to us . Schefter had two employees of the gym in Arizona saying on the record that Suggs was injured playing in a tournament.

Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher is plenty busy with the football season, so he hasn't really gotten a chance to see his adoptive brother, Sean Tuohy Jr., play basketball much. But that figures to change soon. Tuohy, a senior Briarcrest Christian School, has committed orally to play basketball at Loyola University beginning next season. “It's big," Oher said. "I get to go to most of the home games, just to see him play. I didn't get a chance to watch him in high school much so I get a chance to watch him a lot more, especially if he's coming up here to play.

Moviegoers who saw Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher's saga depicted in the "The Blind Side" recall Sean Tuohy Jr. as the future football star's rambunctious little brother who interrogated big-time college coaches when they came to the family's Memphis, Tenn., home on recruiting trips. Tuohy is now a senior at the same private high school where Oher was discovered, and a pretty good basketball player - good enough to earn a scholarship at Loyola University, where Tuohy has committed orally to play beginning next season.

A 21-year-old man was shot in the face and shoulder in Northeast Baltimore while playing basketball Sunday afternoon, police said. The victim was playing ball on the rear side of the 5200 block of Loch Raven Blvd. when he heard yelling, followed by gunshots, said Detective Kevin Brown, a spokesman for city police. He was driven to an area hospital and arrived about 1 p.m., which is when officers were called. Brown did not have any information about the victim's condition or a possible motive in the shooting.

Chelsea Watkins, Hammond SPORT BASKETBALL GIRLS STATS -- The sophomore point guard is in her second year starting on varsity and was named a team captain this season. Watkins' biggest strength on the court is her versatility. Along with playing strong defense, she is averaging 9.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists this season for the Golden Bears. SIDELINES -- When she's not playing basketball, Watkins is usually competing in something. She plays field hockey in the fall, lacrosse in the spring and has been a member of the Huntington Dolphins swim team for 11 years.

When the Class 2A state boys basketball championships are discussed, Randallstown dominates the conversation. And senior guard Tione Womack knows all about championship teams, having played on two in his career. He has been the catalyst and floor general for a Rams team hungry for its fourth straight title. The three-year varsity player and two-year captain has averaged 12.7 points, 7.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game while directing a team focused on another deep run. After the season, he'll be thinking about playing basketball in college.

There was a time, many years ago, when Chris Carr did not particularly care if his football career ended. He doesn't mind talking about it. Carr finds it fascinating, in fact, to contemplate the role that fate played in steering him toward the present. You can make a pretty convincing case that he's been the Ravens best cornerback this season, and that he's exceeded everyone's expectations this year — except his own — with how consistently he's played. But getting here required a bit of random luck both the Ravens and Carr can be thankful for. Carr was a high school senior in Reno, Nevada, when it happened.

Brendan Timothy Sullivan, a college student who enjoyed sports and music, died Monday of a cardiac arrest at his Marriottsville home. He was 19. Mr. Sullivan was born in Silver Spring and spent his early years in Hyattsville before moving to Marriottsville in 1999. He was a 2008 graduate of West Nottingham Academy in Colora, where the 6-foot-9-inch player was the varsity basketball team's center. His athletic prowess earned him the school's Best Male Athlete Award. At the time of his death, Mr. Sullivan was studying business at Howard Community College and the University of Phoenix.