Rafter

Beneath the grand marble hall of the Maryland Institute, College of Art, student Raymond Stein has created a shrine to the desperate struggles of Cuban refugees.His installation shows an empty rowboat balanced sideways against a dark mural of two visions of the Virgen de la Caridad, the patron protector of Cuban sailors and rafters. A huge cluster of painted bananas dominates another wall. Fellow senior Michael Loveland, who shares the basement gallery space, has assembled metal parts reminiscent of an airplane fuselage.

Six months after its owner started a renovation, Barfly's Pub is finally open. The Locust Point bar, which has taken over Rafters' old space on Fort Avenue, had its grand opening last Friday and has been in opening mode for about two weeks. It has been remade as a casual neighborhood bar with an ample beer menu and several wine options. Already, it's drawing small crowds, even on the Monday night I went. Owner Michael Leeds bills it as an "upscale dive bar," but Barfly's still needs some time to develop the personality of a dive and spruce itself up to be "upscale.

Maryland has told former basketball players Ernest Graham and Johnny Rhodes that they will soon join 16 other Terps whose names and numbers appear on banners hanging from the Comcast Center rafters. The players — from different eras — confirmed in interviews Thursday with The Baltimore Sun that they have been notified by the athletic department that they will be honored this season. Maryland does not retire basketball numbers. Instead, the school hangs mock jerseys from the roof and holds ceremonies for players.

Planning for this weekend's three days of Christian services at the Camden Yards stadium has stirred such enthusiasm among churchgoers frightened by drugs and crime that the revival may become an annual healing effort, the organizers said yesterday.Meeting to discuss the sermons they will preach, the Rev. Harold A. Carter and the Rev. Frank Madison Reid III said their large inner-city congregations and an ecumenical group of other churches saw such a need for the revival that planning normally expected to require about a year was accomplished in three months.

WASHINGTON -- Things seemed to be all too easy for Stefan Edberg going into the quarterfinals of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic.The tournament's second seed and defending champ had not been challenged in his two previous matches in any sense. He had surrendered a total of seven games and had faced just four break points (he saved all).To reach the semifinals, all he had to do was get past a third unseeded player -- Italy's Cristiano Caratti -- and survive a rain delay.And Edberg did just, persevering through a nearly four-hour delay and early subpar play to down Caratti, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-1)

WASHINGTON -- Things seemed to be all too easy for Stefan Edberg going into the quarterfinals of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic.The tournament's second seed and defending champ had not been challenged in his two previous matches in any sense. He had surrendered a total of seven games and had faced just four break points (he saved all).To reach the semifinals, all he had to do was get past a third unseeded player -- Italy's Cristiano Caratti -- and survive a rain delay.And Edberg did just, persevering through a nearly four-hour delay and early sub-par play to down Caratti, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-1)

WASHINGTON -- Andre Agassi, who said, "I felt like I played well," after an opening victory in the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, found out just how faulty first impressions can be last night.After Agassi won a first-set tiebreaker against 15th seed Patrick Rafter of Australia, his game was last seen departing Rock Creek Park at about 8: 30 p.m.Nine straight games the No. 3-ranked player in the world lost, first being shut out in the second set, 6-0, then being cuffed around again in the third, 6-2.Then, in an even bigger upset, South African qualifer Neville Godwin continued his giant-killer number, defeating third seed Jim Courier, 6-4, 6-4, in the nightcap.

There comes a time in every rehab when the roof just has to be done. The old drywall buckets that have been collecting rain while other work gets done have got to go.There are reasons why a bad roof isn't always the first item on the rehab agenda. In a big project there are lots of pipes and vents that run through the roof. You don't really want a plumber sawing away on a brand-new roof surface; if he makes a hole, you'll have to call the roofer back to repair it, or risk losing your guarantee.

WIMBLEDON, England - Patrick Rafter is playing on borrowed time. He doesn't know how many serves are left in his surgically repaired right shoulder. He doesn't know how many last best chances he'll have to win Wimbledon. But today, he'll try to turn back the clock and attempt to defeat Andre Agassi in a potentially compelling Wimbledon semifinal. It's a classic encounter of a serve-and-volley specialist (Rafter) against a baseline return artist (Agassi). Last year, Agassi routed the Australian in three sets.

This is where the Shenandoah meets the Potomac, where the Appalachian Trail joins the C&O Canal path, where past and present converge as well. A lot of things come together in the misty, mystic hamlet of Harpers Ferry, W.Va. - often, in its history, tragically so. Here, abolitionists led by John Brown clashed with backers of slavery in an ill-fated attempt to take over an arsenal and launch a slave revolt. Here, north meets south, as the two sides did repeatedly - less than two years after Brown's attack - during the Civil War. Control of the town changed hands eight times.