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Two major developments unfolded on Monday's episode of WWE RAW. The first was a big one in many ways - Paul Heyman revealed a new client, Michael McGillicutty, now known as Curtis Axel (Curtis after his father "Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig, Axel after his grandfather Larry "The Axe" Hennig). Though many fans complained about it not being a bigger name (RVD was speculated throughout the day), this is a great move and an even greater opportunity for a superstar to not only have instant credibility being aligned with Paul Heyman (arguably the greatest mouthpiece in pro wrestling history)

Consider this our encore applause for Macklemore's performance at Preakness. This weekend, the self-made Seattle rapper took the stage at the Triple Crown's second jewel and delivered a set that included his two most recognizable songs -- "Thrift Shop" and "Can't Hold Us" -- but also the song "Same Love," in which he stands up for same-sex marriage and gay rights in an unabashedly forward way. Here's a link to the song's video on YouTube....

Baseball Former Orioles first baseman Kevin Millar has signed with the St. Paul Saints, a team in the independent American Association. Millar began his pro career with the Saints in 1993 and went on to hit .274 with 170 homers in the majors over 12 seasons with four teams. He played last season with the Toronto Blue Jays, then was signed to a minor league deal by the Chicago Cubs, who released him March 30. Men's college lacrosse Loyola senior attacker Cooper MacDonnell and junior Jake Hagelin were named the Eastern College Athletic Conference Offensive Player and Goalkeeper of the Year, respectively, on Tuesday after a vote of the conference's coaches.

The Orioles have been getting quite a bit of national pub these days. They've been rising up everybody's power rankings , and this fella who plays third base seems to be a topic of conversation wherever you turn (even after losses like today's). Well, the Oriole Bird is getting his share of the love, too. Forbes revealed its 10 most popular mascots in pro sports on Tuesday, and our furry friend who patrols the aisles at Camden Yards is among them . As they explain, the mascots were chosen on the following crieteria: "Awareness, likeability, attention-getting, photo-friendliness, interaction and fun. " Fans were also asked if a given mascot happened to be his “absolute favorite” or “one of my favorites.” The Orioles' success on the field seemed to also be a factor in The Bird being chosen.

Frank Ferguson, a Washington Golf & Country Club professional, shared top scoring honors with amateur Mike Lutz of Annapolis Golf Club, as each posted a 2-under-par 68 in the annual Middle Atlantic PGA pro-am at Rolling Road Golf Club yesterday.Lutz, who played in the morning half of the field, was 1-under par for each nine in shooting 34-3468, and Ferguson, an afternoon player, got to 68 when he made a 30-foot birdie from the back fringe of No. 16 with a deft pitch shot.Four pros trailed Ferguson by one stroke in the 60-pro field, including current MAPGA match play champion Jack Skilling, Columbia CC; Bob Bowes, Wicomico Shores GC; and Dennis Winters, formerly an Eisenhower GC assistant and now at the University of Maryland GC. Three more were at 70 -- host professional Billy Bassler, one-time Rolling Road assistant pro John McNaney and Frank Laber, Longview GC, who shot the back nine in 39, then had the day's low nine on the front, 31.

The Fair Lanes $150,000 PBA Open ended yesterday with the finals televised on Channel 13 locally and on ABC nationally.Several bowlers from Carroll County took part in the Pro-Am event earlier in the week at the closest national tour stop ever to Carroll -- Fair Lanes Kings Point, about three miles west of the county line.One of those bowlers was Alvin Dubois of Sykesville.Dubois owns a construction company, Masterkraft, and originally is from Houston, but he and his wife, Jean, have made their home in Sykesville for about five years.

HAVANA -- The only club golf professional in Cuba has a 7 handicap and wears black sneakers, faded blue jeans and a blue-and-white sport shirt on the job.He wedges himself behind a desk in his office that doubles as the pro shop at the Diplo Club. He can sell you a set of Dunlop clubs for $475, a dozen balls for $32, a hat for $1.50. He can sign you up for greens fees: 18 holes for $30, rental equipment for $10, the caddie's tip for an additional $10. He has all day to sit and chat because business is slow, very slow.

It doesn't take much to get Joe Inman talking. Sometimes the former PGA Tour player doesn't even need a question to take off on a monologue.Part way through a recent conversation, he offered, "I tell people I turned more guys pro, because they'd see me and they'd think, 'Hey, if he can make it, I can make it.' "Inman made it well enough to earn some $750,000 during a 14-year career that ended after the 1986 season. "I was almost 40, had no job and no rich relatives. I had to go to work," he says.

The showdown started shortly after 6 p.m. earlier this week, the first night of "Monday Night Football" season. There was kicking, screaming and sweating for three hours or more. Each team fighting for recognition as the best. Each individual fighting for a spot on the Pro Bowl team.Everybody fighting for their 15 minutes in the spotlight.It's a five-month battle where the winners walk away with endorsement contracts, calendars or maybe even their own trading cards, while the losers go home empty-handed, or sometimes even lose their jobs.

Name: Gene Ward Job description: Head PGA pro at the Columbia Association-owned Hobbit's Glen Golf Club for about 12 years. Before that, head pro at Allview Golf Course (now Fairway Hills), also CA-owned. Administers the golf program, which includes tournaments, two outings a month, several ladies leagues, a seniors league. Four full-time employees, including two assistant pros who teach. About 20 seasonal workers. Course sees more than 50,000 rounds of golf annually. Age: 69 Residence: Columbia, "about a mile from the golf course."

The kick knifed through the thick fog and split the uprights at Memorial Stadium, giving the Colts a 10-7 victory in sudden-death overtime. In a flash, fans swarmed the field. Down came the goal posts. Up went Toni Linhart, on someone's shoulders. Linhart's 31-yard field goal defeated the rival Miami Dolphins late in 1975 and all but clinched Baltimore's first of three straight AFC East titles. It was the kick of a lifetime for Linhart, who died Sunday morning of cancer, at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium . He was 70. One of only six Austrian-born NFL players, Anton Hans Jorg Linhart signed with the Colts in 1974 after one season with the New Orleans Saints and an 11-year soccer career in Europe.

Colleges Ex-Raven Testaverde chosen for football HOF The National Football Foundation announced that former Ravens quarterback Vinny Testaverde will be a member of the 2013 College Football Hall of Fame Class. Testaverde starred at Miami from 1982 to 1986. The entire class will be unveiled today during a news conference at the NASDAQ OMX MarketSite in New York's Times Square at 11:30 a.m. The Football Bowl Subdivision Class will be inducted at the NFF awards dinner Dec. 10 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.

The NFL Network has started to slowly reveal its list of the top 100 players of the 2012 season. But knowing how little thought some players give while filling out their ballots, I have a hard time taking that list seriously. The list that interested me more was the top 101 players of 2012 from the guys over at Pro Football Focus . Six PFF analysts put together the list, and they say they based it not on the reputation of players but solely on how they played in the 2012. They also tried to treat each position equally so the top 20 guys aren't quarterbacks.

Wade Johnstone started playing squash in his native Australia when he was 3 years old. In the 28 years since, the sport has left him exhausted, frustrated, lonely, perpetually broke - and very happy with it all. Last week, Johnstone finished his daily workout and slouched in a chair at the Bare Hills Racquet and Fitness Club in northern Baltimore, where he has been the head squash pro for more than eight years. Six white-walled squash courts with glass doors sprawled in front of him. His office, which is little more than a desk and burgundy swivel chair, sat behind him. “This is my second home,” the 31-year-old said with a laugh.

Columbia Pro Cantare thematically goes abroad for its concert of "Music of Spain and Latin America" on Saturday, May 4, at 8 p.m. at the Jim Rouse Theater at Wilde Lake. Not only will some of this music be unfamiliar to many listeners, but it's also new for the chorus. "It's a complex program," says Columbia Pro Cantare music director Frances Motyca Dawson of a concert that includes pieces from Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba. Although Dawson's Howard County-based chorus did a Latin American program in 2008, she says the upcoming concert promises to be even "more inclusive.

The Baltimore sports scene is blessed with a bunch of talented bloggers who bring their unique perspective to the conversation. Each week, I hope to chat with one of them in a regular feature called Blogger on Blogger. This week, I exchanged emails with blogger Gordon McGuiness, who writes about the Ravens for Pro Football Focus and also contributes to Russell Street Report and the Purple Reign Show . MV: What are your thoughts on the team's 2013 draft class, specifically Matt Elam and Arthur Brown?

Longtime Chartwell Country Club golf pro George Jakovics shocked board members, who were meeting to put the final touches on this weekend's 30th anniversary celebration, by announcing his resignation Tuesday night.Jakovics, well-known in the mid-Atlantic area, was the pro at Chartwell for the last 21 years and only the third in club history.Steve Tobash was the first pro 30 years ago and was succeeded by the late Dick Slickner, who died of a heart attack just last week. Jakovics took over in 1970.

Anthony "A.J. " Williams works in science by day and in the sweet science by night. He's accustomed to the good-natured verbal jabs he takes about his pursuit of a boxing career. "They actually just make jokes about it all day every day," the 26-year-old fighter said of his colleagues at Parexel International, a bio/pharmaceutical services organization, where he works as a research technician in Baltimore. "When I was an amateur, I had to be clean-shaved. So I came into work with a pencil mustache looking like I was someone's father.

After Hunter Machin bowled his first 300 in late January, he celebrated in a pretty nontraditional way: He went home and took a nap. But Machin's perfect game was anything but traditional - after all, he was only 12 years old. While most of his fellow seventh graders at Dundalk Middle School are focusing on homework and playing with friends, Machin is busy at the bowling alley, winning tournaments against kids more than six years his senior and...