Professional Athletes

In a decision with important implications for professional athletes in Maryland, a hearing officer this week cleared Orioles outfielder Brady Anderson and former outfielder Mike Devereaux of claims they owed back taxes and said neither man should have been taxed as a resident.The decision may clear up an ambiguity in Maryland's taxation of athletes, where the state had argued that many players should be taxed as residents if they keep a home here year-round.Anderson claims residency in Nevada, where he owns a house, not Maryland, where he has an apartment with rented furniture.

PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES are not like the rest of us. They may be doubled over with stomach flu, but they still can lead their team to victory in a championship game, as Michael Jordan did recently.They win the Masters golf tournament even with the weight of the world pressing on their young shoulders, as 21-year-old Tiger Woods did earlier this spring.They attract thousands of people willing to wait in line 12 hours for a momentary glimpse and an autograph, as Cal Ripken Jr. found out at several book-signings recently.

Perhaps you have a boring job, the kind of job where the most interesting thing that ever happens is when the vending machine gets refilled, an event that sends an electric current of excitement through the cubicles. ("Whoa! Dibs on the bagel chips!")Perhaps sometimes -- when you're sitting in yet another pointless meeting, staying awake by deliberately inflicting paper cuts on yourself -- you think: "I wish I had a job wherein I could go to exciting events and meet famous people. I wish I were a sportswriter!"

When Cal Ripken was young, he cheated against his grandmother at playing cards. He gave up a home run and took the loss that would have sent his Little League team to the World Series in Williamsport, Pa.But Ripken overcame these shortcomings, and that's the point in "Cal Ripken Jr., Count Me In," an autobiography he wrote with Greg Brown.The book, which will include 20 to 25 full-color illustrations and 20 to 25 photographs, will be published Sept. 23 and priced at $14.95, with the proceeds going to the Kelly and Cal Ripken Jr. Foundation, which supports literacy, health and community-service programs.

The accident on the highway stopped traffic en route to the airport in Pittsburgh.Gridlock does not care who is on board, doesn't care when his flight is scheduled to depart, doesn't care why he needs to get where he is going.Cal Ripken arrived at the airport way behind schedule. The final boarding call long since had come and gone and Ripken was in danger of missing his flight to Orange County, Calif., where the Orioles would start the second half of the season the following day.But there he stood, propping an elevator open with his luggage, signing autograph after autograph before finally having to excuse himself and rush to catch the flight.

One player you won't be seeing at the major league baseball All-Star Game in Baltimore this Tuesday is New York Mets pitcher Anthony Young.Even casual followers of the game probably know Mr. Young has lost 26 games in a row. The previous record of 23 consecutive L's was set more than 80 years ago by Cliff Curtis of the Boston Braves, a team every bit as hapless as the '93 Mets.Some say Mr. Young wouldn't be in the majors if the Mets weren't so hard-up for pitching. Then again, he has pitched well enough to post decent numbers -- for almost any team but the Mets.

LAST month the television program "Day One" ran a profile of Jimmy Johnson, the coach of the Dallas Cowboys.Jimmy put life and work in perspective for those of us watching at home; he admitted that when he was offered the job with the Cowboys, his commitment to the team was so total that he ditched his wife of 26 years."

PHILADELPHIA -- When the city of Philadelphia announced two months ago that it was levying a city wage tax on visiting professional athletes, a lot of people, including a number of visiting professional athletes, laughed.But the city is having the last laugh.The Philadelphia Daily News has learned that the city is close to striking deals with the four major professional sports leagues and their unions that would clear the way for the city to start collecting back taxes from out-of-town athletes.

BARCELONA, Spain -- Anna Seaton has a degree from Harvard, a 10-year-old Toyota pushing 100,000 miles and a resume that reads like a page from the temporary want-ads: bicycle messenger, carpenter's apprentice, nanny and waitress.But she isn't complaining.Seaton is an Olympian, a rower who trains at dawn, dreams of gold and lives on $12,000 a year."Rowing is probably one of the last amateur sports left," she said. "We're used to the economic hardship and the anonymity. But we're part of the new Olympics."

In June, a group of Carroll senior citizens put a new twist on the idea of the "golden years," traveling to upstate New York to compete for gold medals in a national athletic competition.Ten county athletes took part in the biennial U.S. National Senior Sports Classic III in Syracuse, which featured six days of competition in 18 events --from archery to softball -- for athletes 55 and older.Among the 5,000 people who came from across the nation to competewere former Olympians and professional athletes.

For nearly a week, dozens of Maryland youths have rubbed elbows with the pros on the football field, picked their brains and even caught a glimpse of a real Super Bowl ring. But they also took time to talk about the challenges they face daily: choices about drugs, about girls, about school. The 80 or so boys and young men participated in a new football camp called Commitment 4 Change, which aims to teach children from ages 8 to 17 how to better play the game - and equip them with what they need to succeed both on and off the field.

Two points: First of all, Bill, nice picture. Unfortunately, Goodfellas stopped filming 20 years ago. Second, the only thing dumber than this question is your ill-thought, the-Russians-are-coming answer. This isn't Red Dawn. And it's time our athletes stopped acting like it. I'm a major proponent of athletes protecting themselves. I think they should do what everyone else does: avoid dangerous situations. For example - and my only regret is that I couldn't share this with Plaxico Burress a week ago - maybe shady New York City nightclubs aren't the best places for married fathers to be in the wee hours of morning.

Good ol' Charles Barkley has made plenty of boneheaded comments over the years, but when he defiantly stated in a Nike commercial in the early 1990s that he wasn't a role model, he was absolutely right on the money. He went on to say: "I am not paid to be a role model. I am paid to wreak havoc on a basketball court. Just because I can dunk a basketball does not mean I should raise your kids." For all the good guys who do community service and reach out to today's youth, the likes of Cal Ripken Jr. and Warrick Dunn to name a couple, there seem to be twice as many poor examples, such as Adam Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, Michael Vick and Ron Artest.

Should professional athletes be role models for kids? Why is there even a question? Whether we want them to be or not, they are. And whether they want to be or not, they are. When I was growing up, I wanted to play tennis like Billie Jean King. My stepson, Jordan (Jordy to his friends), is named for Michael Jordan and wants to play basketball like the late NBA Hall of Famer "Pistol" Pete Maravich or Dirk Nowitzki, currently of the Dallas Mavericks.. Professional athletes have everything kids want: skill, talent, popularity and money.

Michael Phelps' challenge didn't end when he clinched his eighth gold medal. Now he must figure out what to do with the tens of millions of dollars he's expected to earn through endorsements. How should he invest it? And how does he avoid becoming another one of those young professional athletes who are suddenly rich beyond their dreams but end up barely scraping by in middle age? Phelps reportedly earned $3 million to $5 million a year from corporate endorsements before the Olympics.

Steve McNair was tougher than a piece of cheap beef jerky. Erik Bedard is as soft as wet Kleenex. Who knows whether either of those statements is even remotely true, but they've become almost gospel to fans in our small part of the sports universe. We admire the way McNair played through pain, gritting his teeth and dragging his bruised and battered body onto the field each Sunday. And we snickered with glee when we saw Bedard going on the disabled list (yet again) with an injury because it confirms our belief the Orioles made the right move in trading him. One athlete was tough; the other was not. Problem is, it's rarely that simple.

Most of us know how it feels to get a muscle cramp: Just plain excruciating! Although doctors are not in complete agreement about what causes muscle cramps in athletes, there are some steps that all of us can take to try to prevent them, says Andrew Tucker, medical director of the Union Memorial Sports Medicine program. Most of us have experienced a cramp - an involuntary contraction in one or more of our muscles. What causes the muscle cramps that athletes often suffer? It's controversial.

In a few hours Wednesday evening, a quietly mediocre season erupted into a debacle for mass consumption as the Orioles lost, 30-3, to the Texas Rangers. The cliche in sports says that every loss is just one game and that professionals must forget them quickly. But can a defeat be so grisly that it makes the rebound impossible? Not according to Orioles executive vice president Mike Flanagan, who once started a game against the last-place Toronto Blue Jays that ended in a 24-10 defeat. In his next start, he struck out 13 in a nine-inning no-decision against a fearsome Boston Red Sox offense.

In the ever-competitive business of health care, Union Memorial Hospital has taken a shot at a marketing coup with legendary golfer Arnold Palmer lending his name to the hospital's sports medicine program. Palmer took a break yesterday from the Constellation Energy Classic at Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley to announce the establishment of the Arnold Palmer SportsHealth Center at the Baltimore hospital. Union Memorial hopes that Palmer, playing in his first tournament in almost a year and just days after his 77th birthday, will provide an example for other professional athletes and "weekend warriors."

I LIVE IN A COUNTY WHERE many parents think their sons or daughters will receive an athletic scholarship or professional contract. These kids participate in their sports year-round, and if they don't, the coach tells them that they aren't going to be on the team next year. Is this bad for the kids, both emotionally and physically? What percentage of high school kids actually get scholarships? Joe O'Ferrall, Ellicott City DEAR JOE / / I'm going to take a stab at the last question first, because it really gets to the heart of the other questions.