Pro

When I read the letter critical of the pro-life movement ("Pro-life sanctimony," March 10), I felt the need to respond. The author claims that the only concern pro-lifers have is the delivery of live babies, but they have no programs to help with the situation. Pro-lifers care very much about the care and well-being of the mother and her child. As one who has done volunteer work with my local pregnancy center for almost 30 years, I can attest to this fact from many years of experience.

COLLEGE PARK -- More than a dozen former Maryland football players made their way onto the field at Byrd Stadium on Wednesday, likely for the final time in their playing careers. It was the Terps ' pro day, and the players were looking to show off their capabilities to 14 NFL scouts on hand. It's a nerve-racking experience. The players took part in a series of drills that tested their speed, agility and athleticism in hopes that their performance will lead to a team calling their name during April's NFL draft.

Anquan Boldin was always one of the more interesting players to talk to in the Ravens' locker room. The tough wide receiver, who was traded Monday to the San Francisco 49ers as another salary-cap casualty, was wary of the media. He wasn't hostile and he recognized that as a veteran player and team leader, he had an obligation to talk to reporters. But the message that resonated from Boldin in every interview was this: he was here to play football. And nothing else really mattered.

In a story that ran in Sunday's Baltimore Sun ( and here online ), Inside Lacrosse editor John Jiloty was quoted expressing doubts about the LXM Pro lacrosse tour. Jiloty was actually discussing criticism he had heard from others in the industry, not expressing his own opinion of the operation. The Sun (and I) regret the confusion. Jiloty was one of the first people to write about LXM Pro and the West Coast lacrosse movement. He authored a cover story for the December 2010 edition of the magazine that lauded the group for the work it had done to grow lacrosse.

I would counter the headline on Maria Santo's criticism of pro-choice advocates ("Dishonesty underlies abortion law," March 5) with one of my own: "Extreme sanctimony underlies pro-life argument. " Anti-abortionists - please, can we call them what they really are? - can make a cogent argument for their cause, and I agree with them that "killing babies" is a crime. However, I find it ironic that the same folks who think it is reprehensible for a mother to abort a baby she can't afford, hasn't the skills to raise or simply can't abide how the child was conceived - rape, for instance - never offer any solutions to those problems.

After leading the Johns Hopkins University to a national title in lacrosse, Kyle Harrison figured he might make a living off the sport for three years. Eight years later, lacrosse continues to pay his bills. "There was no real path for a lacrosse player to go out and continue doing that for a living," Harrison said. "Candidly, that felt like an abrupt end to something I'd dedicated so much time to. It didn't feel fair. " After several years in the sport's most established pro league, Major League Lacrosse, Harrison joined some other entrepreneurial lacrosse players to forge their own path in Southern California.

I was frankly "flabbergasted" (and I haven't used that word in a long time!) when I viewed the opinion pages of the March 7 Columbia Flier. I counted nine letters in support of Ms. Maria Santo's extremely anti-abortion letter which appeared in the Feb. 28 edition of the Flier.  And how many letters taking the opposing pro-choice view appeared in the opinion pages of the March 7 Flier? None!  Zilch! Nada!  Imagine that! I'm left to assume that either 1) the editors at the Flier are "cherry-picking" the letters to the editor to push a particular bias or agenda on the abortion issue;  2)

Columbia Pro Cantare offers something old and something new for its next concert on Sunday, March 10, at 3 p.m. at First Evangelical Lutheran Church. There's a religious link of sorts between the old and new pieces, so having this concert take place in an Ellicott City church is spiritually fitting. The old piece dates back to the 19th century and will be familiar to many chorus and audience members alike, because Sunday's concert marks the sixth time that Columbia Pro Cantare has done Gabriel Faure's Requiem.

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 Gordon McGuinness, who writes about the Ravens for Pro Football Focus. MV: The Ravens just made Joe Flacco the NFL's highest-paid player (for now). Some say Flacco got paid too much. But looking ahead are there still key areas in which Flacco can potentially improve going forward?

I just finished reading the My Word segment in the Feb. 28 issue of the Columbia Flier. I don't think that I have ever seen the issue of abortion presented in such an elegant, thoughtful and straight forward manner. For many years, I have watched as medical technology has progressed in virtually every area including pre-natal and premature birth care. I wondered how pro-abortion advocates could possibly oppose the eventual reality of medical advances...