Pressure

Pregnant women do not tip over, and researchers say an evolutionary curve has a lot to do with the reason why. Anthropologists studying the human spine have found that women's lower vertebrae evolved in ways that reduce back pressure during pregnancy, when the mass of the abdomen grows by nearly one-third and the center of mass shifts forward considerably. That increases pressure on the spinal column, strains the muscles and generally reduces stability. Even without the benefit of advanced study in biomechanics, women tend to deal with the shift - and avoid tumbling over like a bowling pin - by leaning back.

CLEVELAND -- Brian Billick got the last laugh, and something he treasures even more -- the last word.The only way Billick would have been happier yesterday is if his post-game news conference had been broadcast live on Cleveland television."

There is one way for Kansas to look at a season that already includes losses at Saint Louis and Massachusetts, not to mention a rare home defeat to Iowa that broke a 62-game winning streak at Allen Field House.Nobody will be chanting "Rock, Choke, Jayhawk" at them if the Jayhawks do their now-expected cameo in the NCAA tournament. This is a season of lowered expectations in Lawrence, a season when few are paying attention to coach Roy Williams and his team."I said before the season that we were probably going to lose more games this year than we've had in a long time," junior guard Ryan Robertson said by telephone Tuesday.

Sharon Case knew her son believed deeply in himself long before the Ravens discovered that quality in their new starting quarterback.Stoney Case will feel the pressure when he takes the field in front of a cheering, packed house on Sunday, knowing he must lead his team to its first victory of 1999 against the Cleveland Browns. You don't have to tell Case about pressure. Long before he began a nondescript, five-year tour of the NFL, a journey that has taken him through three teams, a heap of disappointment and finally to the doorstep of his first golden opportunity, Case knew pressure quite well.

Defending Class 1A state champion Glenelg, which went 26-1 last winter but lost a couple of key starters, put Howard County opponents on notice last night about one thing: That was then, 32 minutes of heat is now.Pressuring the ball pretty much end-to-end the entire game, the visiting Gladiators befuddled Oakland Mills, 60-46, causing chaos on the Scorpions' in-bound plays, passing and perimeter shooting, allowing not a single fast break.Taller Oakland Mills got few second shots in both teams' league opener because of Glenelg's collapsing, scrapping defenders.

Gary Williams finds himself in a strange and ironic position after a decade as the basketball coach at the University of Maryland.He has taken a program that was soaked in scandal and defeat and turned it into one of the nation's best, as evidenced by the Terps' four trips to the Sweet 16 since 1994 and the steady stream of blue-chip recruits saying yes to his scholarship offers.But after a fourth straight Sweet 16 loss against St. John's on Thursday night, it's clear some changes are in order.

1 The Ravens have to do a better job of protecting the quarterback. St. Louis got a lot of pressure up the middle to disrupt Scott Mitchell's three-step drop last week, and the Steelers will try the same tactic.2 Stop Jerome Bettis. The Ravens have shut him down in the last couple of meetings. The key: Don't allow him to straighten up his shoulder pads at the line of scrimmage, thus stopping him from running north and south.3 The Ravens must put pressure on quarterback Kordell Stewart. Forget all the talk about new offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride.

The three seniors on Kentucky have played on two straight Final Four teams, and helped win a NCAA championship as sophomores. The two seniors on Syracuse were part of a team that lost to the Wildcats two years ago in the final. Two of three seniors on UCLA helped the Bruins win the tournament as freshmen.As for Duke, seniors Steve Wojciechowski and Ricky Price, and fourth-year junior Trajan Langdon, have yet to be part of a tradition in which the Blue Devils went to seven Final Fours in nine years and won national championships in 1991 and 1992.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A first-year manager of a team brandishing grandiose plans along with a monstrous payroll.This year he is Ray Miller.Last year that man was Jim Leyland."

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Umpire Drew Coble once said that ejecting Cal Ripken from a game at Memorial Stadium was like "throwing God out of Sunday school."Orioles manager Ray Miller described Mike Bordick's plight in similar terms, saying that succeeding Ripken at shortstop was "almost like replacing God in his house."And, with Ripken moving to third base, having him live next door.No one will ever know the pressure Bordick experienced taking over for Ripken, one of the great shortstops in major-league history.

It could be worse. The Ravens could be the Tennessee Titans or the Washington Redskins. But in retrospect after six games, the Ravens (3-3) are right near reasonable projections unless you're drinking the purple Kool-Aid. The Cincinnati Bengals game at home got away from them, and it's an uphill climb to get to the postseason, but what did you expect playing the San Diego Chargers, New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings on the road? Right now, the Ravens are an average team, and no one knows exactly where they're headed with 10 games remaining.

Quarterback C- Joe Flacco has become a slow starter. He threw mostly short and underneath passes, and seldom challenged the Bengals deep. Flacco had chances, and he missed Mark Clayton for a possible late touchdown that would have sealed a win. Running backs C The three-headed monster has become a one-headed monster. Ray Rice played well, and that 48-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter was sensational. But Willis McGahee and Le'Ron McClain were nonfactors. Receivers C- Did they play in this game?

1 Pressure Tom Brady. The New York Jets came up with the blueprint to stopping the Patriots quarterback when they collapsed the pocket and made Brady move laterally. The Ravens' inconsistent pass rush has to step up to the test. 2 Keep playing stingy red-zone defense. The Ravens are tied atop the NFL with the best defense inside the 20, holding teams to two touchdowns in eight red-zone possessions. Last Sunday, Brady was 3-for-10 in the red zone for 10 yards and no touchdowns. 3 Steve Hauschka handles the pressure (and wind)

The player the Navy coaches have nicknamed "Big-Play Bobby" has averaged less than one carry per game over the course of his college career. He has made a measly five catches in four seasons. And he has failed to record a single statistic in 17 of the 35 games in which he has played. No, senior slotback Bobby Doyle doesn't get the ball all that often in the Midshipmen's triple-option offense. "But when he touches it, good things happen," coach Ken Niumatalolo said. In his career, Doyle has scored touchdowns on a 17-yard run and on a 38-yard catch.

The crushing full-court press wasn't getting anything done against unflappable Siena. A double-digit lead had evaporated. And, from those black folding chairs on the Louisville bench to the plastic red-and-blue seats all around the arena, it was clear to everyone that the top-seeded team was starting to panic. Coach Rick Pitino called a timeout and made a challenge. "You've got to prove to yourselves now you're a great basketball team," he told his rattled players. His carefree senior got the message.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Aubrey Huff gripped a bat and a ball for the first time since late September yesterday, hoping that months of inactivity again result in one of the finest offensive seasons in the American League. Huff, who reported to Fort Lauderdale Stadium yesterday with a bleached blond hairdo and several new tattoos, acknowledged his offseason preparation basically amounted to his doing very little. And that was by design. After the 2007 season, Huff had hernia surgery, which prevented him from doing any baseball-related activity until he arrived at spring training.

This season, the Ravens' offensive line has dealt with zone blitzes, random defensive schemes and freelancing safeties. When the Ravens take on the defending Super Bowl New York Giants tomorrow, the offensive linemen will occupy themselves with only the Giants' four defensive linemen. But that doesn't make the task any easier. Of New York's 30 sacks - which rank third in the NFL - 26 1/2 have been made by the defensive linemen. That's a whole sack more than the total compiled through the first nine games of last season by the same unit that also included Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora.

The Ravens have 12 sacks in six games, which might be good for some teams, but not for the Ravens. Of the 12, just three have come from defensive linemen. It has gotten to the point where you don't have to tell them about the problem; they're talking about it themselves. "I don't know if you guys have noticed - I haven't gotten any sacks yet," Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata said. "So I'm working on pass rushing." And so are end Trevor Pryce and tackles Justin Bannan and Marques Douglas.

Withdrawing sports media notes while wondering why my bank is now charging for those lollipops it keeps by the tellers' windows: * Cue up the David Bowie/Queen "Under Pressure," because that's what everyone talks about for this weekend's Ryder Cup. (The pressure, that is, not Bowie or Queen.) Between ESPN and NBC, 26 hours of the U.S.-Europe biennial golf event will be televised (today, 8 a.m., ESPN; tomorrow, 8 a.m.; and Sunday, noon, WBAL/Channel 11 and WRC/Channel 4). "The pressure is amazing at the Ryder Cup - higher than any other event in all of golf," NBC's Johnny Miller said, according to highlights of a conference call this week.

I think the new Baltimore Sun is very nice, very informative, very colorful. It will take me a while to get accustomed to where my favorite sections and features are. But the search is worthwhile. Keep up the great service. Marge Griffith, Pasadena I am deeply disheartened by the new format of the once-venerable Baltimore Sun. As a former newspaper reporter and long-time professor of journalism, I have lived through many of the changes major newspapers suffer: pressure to close foreign bureaus, pressure to shorten stories and pressure to mimic television by elevating celebrity news (and newscasters)