Rice

I normally agree with op-ed contributor Tom Schaller's views, but his recent column on Susan Rice and the Benghazi affair was an exception ("GOP right to seek answers on Benghazi," Nov. 28). My concern is with the inadequate security afforded to the slain U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, not with any statement made by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice after the event. Ms. Rice had no involvement with security arrangements, which were clearly the responsibility of the military and the intelligence community as well as the State Department.

U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice has become a willing pawn in Senate Republicans' efforts to force President Barack Obama into a costly and unnecessary fight over who will serve as his secretary of state when Hillary Clinton leaves that post in the new year. Once a trio of Republicans announced they would block Ms. Rice's confirmation for a job to which she had not been appointed, her aggressive efforts to smooth matters over have only given her opponents more opportunity to put the president in a box. Secretary of state is a position for which presidents do not typically have to use political capital, but now, at a time when Mr. Obama needs every bit of power he gained through re-election, he is being forced to expend it to defend someone he may or may not have intended to nominate in the first place.

While the Ravens have reason to feel good about their 9-2 record - a mark good enough for what would be the No. 2 seed in the AFC if the playoffs began this week - the positive vibes are not universal among the players on offense. The offense has scored just one touchdown in its last 10 quarters, including the overtime period in Sunday's 16-13 win against the San Diego Chargers. Prior to quarterback Joe Flacco's 4-yard strike to tight end Dennis Pitta with 4:19 left in the fourth quarter, the offense's last score had occurred in the third quarter of the team's 55-20 rout of the Oakland Raiders on Nov. 11 when Flacco connected with wide receiver Torrey Smith for a 20-yard score.

While Ray Rice continued to bask in the glow of his 29-yard, catch-and-run on fourth-and-29 against the San Diego Chargers, quarterback Joe Flacco admitted that he didn't do any reflecting on the play and he didn't plan to. “We got away with one and I'll be glad. I could have looked like a big-time idiot if we don't get that play,” Flacco said. “I kind of went out on a limb there to check the ball down on fourth-and-29. We don't get that, everybody is crushing me: 'What the hell is he doing checking the ball down on fourth-and-29?

A show-stopping play and a catchy saying add up to some head-turning shirt sales -- just ask Ray Rice. Stores report selling hundreds of shirts with Rice's new catchphrase, "Hey diddle diddle, Ray Rice up the middle" -- and the shirts have only been available for several hours. "Ray Rice has a lot of pull in this town," joked John Conigliaro, who owns Great Moments, a shop selling the shirts. In Sunday's game against the San Diego Chargers, Rice scored one of the most memorable plays in years.

Ravens fans are still atwitter about Ray Rice's 30-yard mad dash for that game-saving first down Sunday in San Diego, and why not? It brought the Ravens back from the dead. It put them in position to eliminate the Pittsburgh Steelers from AFC North title consideration this weekend and clinch that title with a victory and a Cincinnati Bengals loss to the Chargers. It was the kind of play that eventually gets a nickname and lends itself to the sort of hyperbole that defines this era of professional sports.

In the 24 hours after running back Ray Rice stunned the San Diego Chargers with his game-saving catch-and-run, the football world - teammates, fans, and former NFL players turned talking heads - marveled at the play, saying it was among the greatest individual efforts they had seen. Ravens coach John Harbaugh believes Rice's remarkable play is “going to go down in history.” “We're all going to talk about the fourth-and-29,” he said at his Monday news conference. “I said [Sunday]

By now, you've all probably seen the key play of the Ravens' 16-13 overtime victory over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday several times. With the Ravens trailing by three points and facing a 4th-and-29 at their own 37-yard line with 1:59 to play in the game, quarterback Joe Flacco looked downfield and didn't see anything he liked. He also didn't want to throw a Hail Mary, so he dropped the ball off to  Ray Rice in the right flat and then watched the Pro Bowl running back make one of the more memorable plays in several seasons for the Ravens.

On the first play of last year's season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ray Rice raced 36 yards en route to a 107-yard, one-touchdown effort. And if not for a holding penalty on wide receiver Torrey Smith, the Ravens running back would have opened the second meeting between the AFC North rivals with a 76-yard sprint to the end zone. Getting Rice into a similar groove Sunday night at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh would seem to be a priority for the Ravens. But offensive coordinator Cam Cameron said he can't rely on past history to predict the future.

In Fells Point, everyone knows Todd Conner's is a Steelers bar. Nearby, Sticky Rice Bmore is a true-purple Ravens-supporting establishment. On Sunday, with the Ravens in Pittsburgh, partisans of the two bars will square off for a day-long "Rumble of the Rivals," a benefit to help people affected by Hurricane Sandy in the communities of Ocean County, N.J. To keep the daylong competition friendly, organizers of the event have come up with a set of elaborate and ridiculous rules that no one could possibly keep track of or take seriously.