Seven Seasons

By the number: Ripken's span of seven seasons between MVP awards (1983, 1991) is the second longest in major-league history to Willie Mays' 10 (1954, 1965).2,124: Consecutive games Ripken has played2,130: Lou Gehrig's record7+ Sept. 6: Projected date to break record

Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff practiced on a limited basis Wednesday, and if he is able to participate the rest of the week, it seems likely that he will reassume the team's primary placekicking duties Sunday. But if Shayne Graham suits up for a second straight game, he claims the Cincinnati Bengals will be just another team to him. Graham spent seven seasons with the Bengals before he and the team parted ways after the 2009 season. In a 24-14 playoff loss to the New York Jets that season -- his last game in Cincinnati -- Graham missed a pair of field goals.

David Lord has resigned after seven seasons as the girls soccer coach at Broadneck High."Dave resigned as of today, May 18, for no cause on our end, but for personal reasons, and he is getting out of coaching," said Broadneck athletic director Ken Kazmarek. "He will be very, very, very sorely missed."Lord (63-29-3) led the Bruins to the playoffs in five of his seven seasons, including a state finalist campaign in 1988 when the team was 12-4 overall.In his final season, Lord led Broadneck to an overall record of 6-4-2.

Billy Lange resigned as Navy basketball coach Monday to return to Villanova as an assistant on Jay Wright 's staff, the Naval Academy announced Monday. Lange resigned after seven seasons in Annapolis. He improved Navy's win total in his first five seasons, finishing 19-11 in 2009. But the Midshipmen went 13-17 and 11-20 the past two years. Navy acknowledged Lange's resignation with a release on its website. "To be associated with such a prestigious instituiton and be a part of the tradition, legacy and family of Navy basketball was a privilege," Lange said in a statement.

If Grant Goldbeck ever stands on the podium and hoists the Bassmaster Classic trophy overhead, he'll have sexy underwear to thank. Contrary to what lots of folks think, cruising the country to fish competitively against other like-minded and like-skilled anglers is an expensive proposition. Unless you consistently finish on the podium at the elite level, prize money won't get you and your bass boat from Alabama to Texas. That's something guys like Goldbeck know only too well. The Maryland native will begin his third season this week fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series, an eight-event competition that every year provides a pipeline to the Classic.

The New Jersey Devils yesterday ended months of speculation on who would become head coach and retained Tom McVie.McVie, 55, guided an inconsistent team to a 4-5-4 record after being named interim head coach on March 4, replacing John Cunniff. The team played its best hockey of the season in the first round of the playoffs, losing to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games."I feel I'm the man for the job," McVie, 56, said in a conference call from his home in Portland, Ore. "I felt when the evaluation was done and everybody sat back, I was the man for the job."

BaseballThe Sporting News: Named Athletics GM Billy Beane Executive of the Year.Expos: Named Pat Roessler batting coach and Brad Arnsberg bullpen coach.Red Sox: P Kent Mercker declined option.Tigers: Exercised option on OF Juan Gonzalez.BasketballCeltics: Waived G Wayne Turner. Signed G Doug Overton.Hornets: Waived G Jason Miskiri.CollegeACC: Named Shannon Higgins-Cirovski women's soccer Coach of the Year. Named M Emily Janss first-team all-conference and M Jackie Mynarski to second team.

There is no doubt that Archbishop Spalding and the Institute of Notre Dame have been the top two teams in the Catholic League over the past seven seasons.The teams met in the Catholic League Tournament championship game yesterday at McDonogh for the seventh consecutive year.And once again, there was little doubt as to who was the dominant team.Crystal Ray pitched a three-hitter with 12 strikeouts and went 3-for-3 with an RBI to lead No. 4 Spalding to a 6-0 victory over the ninth-ranked Indians and its sixth Catholic League Tournament title in seven seasons.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- A Los Angeles Rams assistant coach was half-kidding last week when he said coach John Robinson would have to call the news conference to announce his firing, but that's almost the way it happened.After nine seasons, Robinson announced his resignation yesterday, effective following Sunday's season-ending game in Seattle. The announcement came a day earlier than Robinson planned after news he had told his players he would be resigning was leaked to the media.That forced the Rams to scrap plans for a news conference today.

WASHINGTON -- Mitch Richmond was glistening yesterday.The television lights at an MCI Center news conference might have had something to do with it, reflecting off his silver jewelry, his diamond earrings and bald head.But for the veteran guard, traded last week to the Wizards along with Otis Thorpe for Chris Webber, it also may have been a glow of happiness.Richmond long had wanted out of Sacramento, where he toiled for seven seasons, with just one playoff appearance.It wasn't supposed to be this way for him. Richmond spent his first three seasons in the league with the Golden State Warriors, reaching the playoffs each year while playing alongside Chris Mullin and Tim Hardaway.

Towson University basketball coach Pat Kennedy, whose contract expired with a first-round loss in the Colonial Athletic Association, resigned after a seven-year run that produced 144 losses and no winning seasons. Mike Waddell, Towson's athletic director, made the announcement in a release Monday and said a national search will begin immediately. Waddell said he hoped to have the new coach in place "soon after the Final Four is complete in Houston, sometime during the first week in April or thereabout.

The Ravens found a replacement for injured fullback Le'Ron McClain on Tuesday, signing free agent Jason McKie , who spent seven years with the Chicago Bears. To make room for McKie on the roster, general manager Ozzie Newsome announced the team had released safety Ken Hamlin . McKie, 5 feet 11 and 247 pounds, played with the Bears from 2003 to 2009. He started 11 of 16 games in 2009 with Chicago and was released last March. In 88 career games, including 47 starts, he contributed on goal-line offense, catching passes and blocking.

Talking about Pedro Silveren's wedding brings tears to the eyes of Betsy Harner. It probably always will. Silveren played for the short-season Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds in 2006 and 2007. He got married in March 2009, but his mother couldn't make it out of the Dominican Republic for the wedding, and Silveren asked Harner to walk with him down the aisle. "Oh my gosh, you can't even imagine what that meant to me," said Harner, wiping her eyes. Betsy and Michael Harner became close to Silveren by opening their home to him as a host family.

If Grant Goldbeck ever stands on the podium and hoists the Bassmaster Classic trophy overhead, he'll have sexy underwear to thank. Contrary to what lots of folks think, cruising the country to fish competitively against other like-minded and like-skilled anglers is an expensive proposition. Unless you consistently finish on the podium at the elite level, prize money won't get you and your bass boat from Alabama to Texas. That's something guys like Goldbeck know only too well. The Maryland native will begin his third season this week fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series, an eight-event competition that every year provides a pipeline to the Classic.

The Ravens cut running back Jamal Lewis yesterday, but the salary cap-related move doesn't signal the exit for the franchise's all-time leading rusher. Faced with few options in the free-agent market, the Ravens will continue talks in an effort to bring back Lewis, whose production has declined the past few seasons. "We are involved in negotiations with Jamal Lewis, and there has been good dialogue," Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said. "Jamal has been a significant contributor to us in the last seven seasons.

A long and winding basketball road traveled by Anton Jenifer finally reached heaven's door about 30 minutes from his Baltimore home. The union of Jenifer and Bowie State has been a happy and productive one for both parties, climaxing nearly eight years and countless starts and restarts for the former Walbrook High All-Metro guard, who will lead the defending Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association champions into the league tournament tomorrow in...

Steve Harward, whose C. Milton Wright team was his fifth playoff entry in seven seasons as the school's football coach, has been named The Baltimore Sun's Harford County Football Coach of the Year.During a 10-0 regular season -- the third straight for the Mustangs -- the team outscored its foes 262-33, posted six shutouts and allowed only one team as many as two touchdowns. Wright made the state semifinals for the second time in three years, losing to Linganore, 34-12."At the start of the season, we were young but had good quickness.

Whenever Severn School needs a basketball or football coach, athletic director Fred Hewitt picks up the phone and calls Jim Doyle.Doyle is back for a second run as Severn School's boys basketball coach and has had two stints as football coach.Doyle succeeds Charles "Tank" Duckett, who stepped down after two seasons (33-19, .635) because of health problems and a job relocation."We are pleased to have Jim Doyle return to the Severn coaching staff," said Hewitt.Doyle coached the Admirals' basketball team for seven seasons (98-67, .594)

After being turned down by several of the reported leading candidates, there were indications yesterday that Notre Dame is on the verge of hiring Georgia Tech's George O'Leary as its next football coach. A Notre Dame group, including athletic director Kevin White, was in Atlanta this weekend, apparently to interview O'Leary. A report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said that O'Leary would meet with his Georgia Tech players today, then travel to South Bend to be introduced as the Irish coach tomorrow.