Simpson

Pro football -- Bypassed in the NFL draft, three Morgan State players -- running back Chad Simpson, defensive end Bryan Wilson and tight end Rohnie Sykes -- have signed contracts as free agents. Simpson signed with the Dallas Cowboys, Wilson with the Washington Redskins and Sykes with the Kansas City Chiefs. ... The New England Patriots released former Ravens linebacker T.J. Slaughter and cornerback Tim Mixon. College baseball -- The College World Series will be played in Omaha, Neb., at least through 2030, under a "memorandum of understanding" reached by the city and NCAA.

Fans of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad would have to agree with poet T. S. Eliot's assessment that "April is the cruelest month," because 50 years ago this weekend, the railroad stopped whisking travelers over its famed Royal Blue Route between Washington, Baltimore and New York City. With annual losses of $5 million on the Washington-New York run mounting, Howard E. Simpson, the B & O's president, made the decision to terminate the service that had operated along the route since the late 1880s.

Dear Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick: So, it's a black thing? Not a sleaze thing, not a betrayal-of-the-public-trust thing, not a breaking-the-law thing? Just a black thing? This would seem to be the message of the recent rally thrown for you at a black church in Detroit. It was, to judge from media reports, quite the shindig. Standing room only; gospel choirs doing that gospel choir thing; posters in red, black and green; chants of "I can make it through the storm!" The church's Cardinal Ronald Hewitt seems to have caught the spirit of the event when he declared, "Kwame Kilpatrick just happens to be the symbol of bold, uncompromising black power in this city.

On March 14, 2008, IRENE ELIZABETH WALKER, Survived by devoted husband, William H., son, Olufemi DaDa, daughters, Elesha Mattos-Cherry and L. Katrice Simpson, brother, Douglas Hill, sisters, Maxine McKnight of VA., and Roselee Moore, grandchildren, Jessica Mattos, Travis Cherry, Melanie Simpson and Victoria DaDa and a host of other family and friends. Friends may call the Family owned WYLIE FUNERAL HOME P.A. OF BALTIMORE COUNTY, 9200 Liberty Road, on Wednesday from 6-8PM. Services held Thursday at Epworth United Methodist Church, 3317 St. Lukes Lane, 10:00am Wake 10:30AM Funeral.

Loretta M. Simpson, a homemaker and longtime Armagh Village resident, died of heart failure Saturday at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. She was 100. Loretta Mansfield was born and raised in Washington. She was a 1926 graduate of the Academy of the Holy Cross, which was then located on Upton Street N.W. in Washington. Until the birth of her son in 1944, she was an office worker for the federal government. In 1942, she married Arthur L. Simpson, and the couple settled into Armagh Village in 1953.

So, O.J. Simpson, whose career as a professional defendant is going just gangbusters, was back in the spotlight (e.g., courtroom) in Las Vegas yesterday because he made a phone call that prosecutors said violated terms of his release on bail regarding that sports memorabilia fracas at the Palace Station. Simpson had tried to send an angry message through the bail bondsman at the You Ring We Spring agency to a co-defendant, a move that angered the judge who originally released him on bail.

You can want your newspaper to be objective, but in the case of the New York Daily News, it decided just to object. And what the News is objecting to is New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas. The newspaper printed "Fire Isiah" signs Saturday, after a fan was tossed from Madison Square Garden for holding up a sign with the same message. The full-page sign came with instructions: "to be held up during next Knicks blowout." Sort of news you can use. Rock the vote So here's why you don't want your daughter dating a top-flight college quarterback.

I'm really upset about a smart-alecky sports Web site that has appeared in the past week. I'm upset because I didn't think of it first. It's RuinRomo.com (no preceding www), and it lampoons the notion that Jessica Simpson's presence at last Sunday's Cowboys-Eagles game, won by Philadelphia, was the reason Dallas quarterback Tony Romo had such a dreadful day (22.2 passer rating). The Web site's gimmick is that you can download a cutout mask of Simpson and wear it at a Dallas game to give the Cowboys' quarterback the heebie-jeebies and - as the Web site name implies - ruin poor Romo.

An interesting contrast is developing between the best team in the AFC and the best team in the NFC that will make a great story line should the two make it to the Super Bowl. The New England Patriots are, of course, the best team in the AFC. With apologies to the Green Bay Packers, for the sake of this comparison, let's assume the Dallas Cowboys are the best team in the NFC. (After all, they have the tiebreaker at the moment for home-field advantage in the playoffs.) In New England, we have the Stepford franchise.

Morgan State running back Chad Simpson and Towson linebacker Brian Bradford have been named to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision coaches' All-America team. Both were named to the first team by the American Football Coaches Association. Simpson, a senior, led the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference with 1,405 rushing yards, setting a single-season record at Morgan. He also led the MEAC in scoring with 90 points and ranked second in all-purpose yards, averaging 161.8 per game.