Rolex

The Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship ended yesterday without completing the 11th and final race of the week. Northerly winds died as the teams gathered off Annapolis and afternoon sea breezes failed to develop. With first place decided Thursday, the remaining race was expected to be a showdown for second and third between 2001 Rolex winner Cory Sertl (38 points), former Rolex Yachtswomen of the Year Jody Swanson (47 points), and 2004 Olympian Carol Cronin (48 points). Cronin won a redress hearing after Thursday's competition.

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Annapolitan Margaret Podlich and her crew are working hard to prepare for the prestigious Rolex Women's International Keelboat Regatta in Newport, R.I., Sept. 10-17.Sailing with Podlich will be Annapolitans Joni Palmer, Jill Sander and Laura Nye, and Kim Couranz of Arlington, Va., and Beth Scheidt of Edgewater.Their boat, Spot, is a J/24 owned by Podlich and her husband, Steve.Podlich, daughter of John Bonds, executive director of U.S. Sailing, has been sailing since she was 3 weeks old and grew up racing with her family.

The Orioles announced via their communications department's Twitter account that Tejada will wear uniform No. 9 this season. Tejada, who had been No. 10 in his first stint with the Orioles, said Tuesday he wasn't concerned about getting it back from Adam Jones, who had joked earlier in the week that Tejada could have it for a Rolex watch. Tejada had worn No. 4 with the Oakland A's, but the Orioles retired that number in honor of Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver.

He sat there, at the defense table, a broken man. Despite an education capped with an MBA, a wife and young child and a close extended family, Patrick McDevitt, now dressed in a prison jumpsuit, admitted he could not stop using other people's money. A federal judge ended that spending spree yesterday with a 2 1/2 -year prison sentence for the Timonium man. McDevitt, who tearfully apologized to his friends and family in U.S. District Court in Baltimore yesterday, filed $399,537 in false claims to his employer for reimbursement of fake business expenses, court records show.

Since 1985, the biennial Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship, organized by the U.S. Yacht Racing Union with the Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport, R.I., as host, has been a milestone in women's sailing.Contested in J/24s, the regatta typically attracts the top women sailors from across the nation and around the world, and thisyear was no exception.Among the 46 skippers leading this year's teams were former RolexYachtswomen of the Year Betsy Allison, J. J. Isler, Heidi Backus Riddle and Jody Swanson.

Sally Barkow and her Team 7 crew continued to sail away from the competition at the Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship regatta in Annapolis yesterday, winning two of three races. With five wins in eight races overall, Barkow has been so dominant that her throwout was a third-place finish in the first race of the regatta. The 2003 Rolex champion from Nashotah, Wis., holds a comfortable 20-point lead over Cory Sertl, the 2001 Rolex winner from Rochester, N.Y., going into the penultimate day of racing today.

State police arrested three people yesterday and seized hundreds of counterfeit Rolex watches and Oakley sunglasses that were being sold to unsuspecting patrons at a Howard County flea market.According to Sgt. David Keller, police began an investigation about two weeks ago when an employee of Oakley Inc. filed a criminal complaint alleging that counterfeit Oakley sunglasses were being sold from stands at Flea Market World on U.S. 1 north of Route 175 in Jessup.About 7 a.m. yesterday, police bought a counterfeit Rolex watch for $25; the real thing costs about $10,000.

With its purple spinnaker marked with an orange flame, the Up and Coming will stand out in the fleet of 67 teams from seven countries competing this week in Annapolis. The Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship, one of the most competitive of the all-women regattas, is even more so with the Summer Olympics less than a year away. But the dockside chatter may have more to do with Team Levitra, the crew aboard Up and Coming, whose sponsor is duking it out with the maker of Viagra.

The Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway will take the green flag for its 40th anniversary run tomorrow at 1 p.m., with at least three Baltimore-area drivers in the starting field. Marc Bunting of Monkton, who finished 30th in yesterday's qualifying, is teaming with Jacksonville, Fla.'s Simon Gregg, the son of the late, legendary sports-car driver, Peter Gregg; Mike Hazenans of the Netherlands, and Stefano Zonca of Italy to drive for American Viper Racing in the GTS class. "I love endurance racing," said Bunting, who this season will be competing in the American Le Mans Series, which will have a race in Washington, D.C., in July.

He sat there, at the defense table, a broken man. Despite an education capped with an MBA, a wife and young child and a close extended family, Patrick McDevitt, now dressed in a prison jumpsuit, admitted he could not stop using other people's money. A federal judge ended that spending spree yesterday with a 2 1/2 -year prison sentence for the Timonium man. McDevitt, who tearfully apologized to his friends and family in U.S. District Court in Baltimore yesterday, filed $399,537 in false claims to his employer for reimbursement of fake business expenses, court records show.

Three men were indicted this week on charges that they broke into a house in Owen Brown on Jan. 17, hid in the basement until the owner and his girlfriend returned and threatened to kill them while stealing $50,000 in electronics, jewelry and cash. Deron Maurice Webb, 24, of Elkridge, Tjon M. Johnson, 25, of Columbia and Shamal I. Chapman, 26, of Laurel are each facing 20 charges ranging from armed robbery and assault to burglary and false imprisonment. They are being held in the Howard County Detention Center on bails ranging from $250,000 to $1 million after their arrests in late March.

Married with three kids, Mary Beth Marsden knows about family time. The Baltimore County resident juggles career and chaos without seeming to bat an eyelash. The key: Playtime. Sometimes adults "forget how much fun it is to play," Marsden, 46, says. Her family enjoys games like Nickelodeon Trivial Pursuit. "It's good until people start throwing the pieces." (We hope it's the kids, not the adults.) 1. A new Dell laptop "Because, over the holidays, I spilled coffee on my keyboard and completely fried it."

A Timonium man agreed yesterday to give up the dozen Rolex watches he bought with some of the almost $400,000 he bilked from his employer by lying on expense forms. In U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Patrick McDevitt, 38, pleaded guilty yesterday to wire fraud from a scheme to submit $399,537 in false claims to his employer for reimbursement of doctored expenses. His attorney could not be reached for comment late yesterday. According to the plea agreement, McDevitt worked as a communications manager for the battery company SAFT America Inc. out of its Cockeysville office.

One day, my dad bought himself a new Rolex. He was about 70 and had cancer. His entire life he never wore a watch. "Why would anyone need a watch?" he would ask. "I can always tell the time within five minutes." As kids, we would test him and, more often than not, he was right. "What do you think of my new watch," he asked from the couch. He sat slightly tilted, maybe from the pain, with a blanket over his lap and a dozen pill bottles on the coffee table beside him. Slanting afternoon sunlight filled the room from a row of windows behind him. I was home for a weekend visit during that long last year.

The Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship ended yesterday without completing the 11th and final race of the week. Northerly winds died as the teams gathered off Annapolis and afternoon sea breezes failed to develop. With first place decided Thursday, the remaining race was expected to be a showdown for second and third between 2001 Rolex winner Cory Sertl (38 points), former Rolex Yachtswomen of the Year Jody Swanson (47 points), and 2004 Olympian Carol Cronin (48 points). Cronin won a redress hearing after Thursday's competition.

His friends and fellow sailors often refer to Jim Brady as "Diamond Jim," although he bears no resemblance to the blustering, ostentatious gambler.The title acknowledges the glittering string of victories he has amassed, especially over the past year, in which nearly every event he sailed became another jewel in his sailing crown.Today, shortly after noon at the august and elegant New York Yacht Club, the 27-year-old Annapolis resident will be named the 1990 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year.Brady will receive an engraved Rolex watch and see his name engraved on a diamond-like Steuben crystal trophy permanently displayed at the NYYC as he joins American sailing's most elite class, whose achievements have shone above the competition.

The number 20 Punt return touch downs, breaking the 1992 league mark of 17. The quote "If I make it, it would be great, but that would mean I have to go get all my linemen a Rolex watch, and I'm not ready to do that yet." Michael Bennett, Vikings running back, on possibly making the Pro Bowl.

With one day to go in the Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship, regatta leader Sally Barkow and her Team 7 crew are taking the rest of the week off. The 2003 defending champion ended yesterday's racing in Annapolis with such a commanding lead that she has no need to sail today's final competition. Barkow reeled off two more wins, giving her a total of six out of 10 races, and 14 points overall. "It didn't feel that easy," said Barkow, 25, of Nashotah, Wis., who also won the Yngling World Championship this year.

Sally Barkow and her Team 7 crew continued to sail away from the competition at the Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship regatta in Annapolis yesterday, winning two of three races. With five wins in eight races overall, Barkow has been so dominant that her throwout was a third-place finish in the first race of the regatta. The 2003 Rolex champion from Nashotah, Wis., holds a comfortable 20-point lead over Cory Sertl, the 2001 Rolex winner from Rochester, N.Y., going into the penultimate day of racing today.