Six Weeks

The best-performing Maryland stock of the year traded for precisely six weeks of it. Under Armour Inc., the Baltimore sports apparel company that went public Nov. 18, topped all local companies on the three major stock exchanges by tripling its share price from the initial offering price of $13 - though the gain was far lower for investors who got in after the start of trading. Goodbye 2005 Year-end stock tables for NYSE, American, Nasdaq, mutual funds.pg 12c-17c

Oft-injured Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts is expected to miss at least another six weeks after making the decision Wednesday to have surgery to repair a muscle in his injured right hamstring. Roberts, who was injured while sliding into second base on a stolen base April 4 in Tampa Bay, visited specialist Dr. Daniel Cooper on Tuesday because he wasn't satisfied with how his recovery was progressing. Cooper will perform the surgery Thursday in Dallas to repair the semitendinosis muscle in his right hamstring.

The calendar says Bob and Barb Lamborn are elderly. The stereotyperssay they should be whiling away their retirement years in pursuit ofrest and relaxation.But ever since they first climbed aboard bicycles to try a 27-mile ride during a Hawaii vacation, the Lamborns have been making a liar out of the calendar and a mockery of society's image of the aged.Five years, 15,000 miles and two life-threatening setbacks later,the Lamborns -- 72-year-old Bob and 61-year-old Barbara -- are riding stronger than ever.

Baltimore issued more than 16,000 speed camera tickets in less than two months this year before shutting the troubled program down over a programming error, according to figures posted by the city. The numbers offer a detailed statistical look at the recent performance of the program targeted this year by state lawmakers. Officials started issuing the $40 tickets for the first time this year on Feb. 20, the figures show. But they announced on April 16 that they had again stopped citing drivers amid reports that one of the city's new cameras had been programmed with the wrong speed limit, resulting in hundreds of erroneous tickets.

It frustrates Wilde Lake's Carl Jackson that he hasn't been able to play up to his full ability this season after signing with No. 10-ranked Penn State Nov. 9.But an unexpected medical problem sidetracked Jackson, who still hasn't regained the kind of conditioning that enabled him to impress Division I coaches at summer camps, where he played even up with some of the top center prospects in the nation.The 6-foot-8, 235-pound center was diagnosed with high blood pressure during a routine physical before basketball practice started, and had to sit out six weeks with no physical activity before the condition was brought under control.

The way to run a clean bid process for the state lottery is easy: Disqualify any bidder employing a lobbyist. Saddam has six weeks more to steal everything left in Kuwait. Got that, you bum? Just six weeks. Overthrowing communism is not enough, Bulgarians belatedly decided, and tossed out the communists as well.

Carole Caines of Pasadena heard of an old saying about the "dog day" cicadas, the annual variety that start singing in the hottest days of July or August. When they pipe up, she says, "count (X) days, and that will be your first frost." But she forgot how long to count. I've heard 45 days, or six weeks, which might work for the Midwest, or Garrett County. Not here. Six weeks gets us to mid-September. East of the mountains, average first frosts are in October.

The best part about being a baseball writer is the six weeks or so you spend in Florida or Arizona each spring, though it's not like you're on vacation. I always bring golf clubs down here and then use the bag as the world's biggest paperweight. ( For more, go to baltimoresun.com/schmuckblog)

MINNEAPOLIS -- Seattle SuperSonics guard Ricky Pierce is scheduled to undergo surgery today to remove a bone spur on the left foot.Pierce, 34, is expected to be out four to six weeks, and six weeks from today is the first game of the NBA playoffs."

Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III, heading to the hospital soon for surgery, will be off his feet for weeks -- but not off the job for long, if he has his way.Ruppersberger is scheduled to enter Johns Hopkins Hospital on Friday for an operation to reconstruct his right ankle and repair ruptured tendons."

For Baltimore sports fans, now is the early spring of our discontent. Could it really be that just six weeks ago, we were living in sports fandom ecstasy? The Baltimore Ravens were parading down Pratt Street hoisting a Vince Lombardi Trophy, having won the Super Bowl , the highest honor in U.S. professional sports. There was even a bit of afterglow leftover from the Orioles' surprising season and playoff effort, the first time Baltimore's Major League Baseball franchise had reached the post-season since 1997.

Donald Hill-Eley has always told his Morgan State football players that life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond. Now, after enduring as strange a few months as any college coach could fathom, Hill-Eley is striving to live by his own lesson. In late November, following the Bears' third straight losing season, Hill-Eley accidentally received an e-mail outlining the university's plan to seek his replacement. For almost six weeks after that, as rival coaches ramped up recruiting for 2013, he heard nothing official about his status.

After two years of failing to post CitiStat reports online - and nearly two months without holding a meeting - Baltimore has named a new CitiStat director, who is pledging better transparency and performance from the vaunted good-government program. Chad Kenney, who was named director in August after two years as an analyst for the program, has made five reports available on the city's website, tracking the performance of the Departments of Transportation and General Services.

The Orioles clubhouse wasn't exactly in a celebrating mood after Saturday's 5-4 victory over the Yankees that again tied up first place in the American League East. The broken left thumb suffered by lead off hitter and Gold Glove outfielder Nick Markakis, which will sideline him at least six weeks and end his regular season, was obviously the talk of the night. Buck Showalter said he gave a hug to Markakis in the dugout tunnel and they shared “a private moment.”  Showalter was rather emotional when he left the podium after his post-game press conference.

It takes a lot to force Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis from a game. He's played the past few days with a deep purple bruise on his left bicep from taking a pitch there last week in Toronto. When he was recovering from surgery on his right wrist, manager Buck Showalter's toughest task was making sure Markakis didn't sneak off and start swinging a bat prematurely before the stiches from his surgery healed. So when Markakis walked off the field just moments after taking a 92-mph fastball to his left hand, the Orioles dugout knew something was wrong.

Not long after the Maryland General Assembly last adjourned back in mid-April, gasoline prices were approaching $4 a gallon. Currently, a price-conscious shopper can purchase a gallon of regular unleaded in the Baltimore area for as little as $3.50. That's a 50-cent swing in prices, essentially a 12.5 percent discount from just one month ago. So, Mr. and Mrs. Average Maryland Consumer, has this drop in prices had a huge impact on your life? Has it revived the economy? Put the unemployed back to work?

Who's hot Andruw Jones of the Braves has at least two hits in six straight games. Who's not The Indians' 41-59 record is their worst at the 100-game mark in 12 years. Line of the day Erubiel Durazo, A's DH AB R H RBI HR 3 3 2 3 2 On deck Jim Brower of the Giants goes for his seventh win as he faces the Diamondbacks tonight. He said it "I had 110 pitches, and I believe 107 were fastballs." Bartolo Colon, White Sox starter, kidding in part after earning his first win in six weeks, against the Indians

It's amazing how quickly months of caked-on tunnel grime can be whisked away with a jug of Soot-B-Gone and a $250,000 Mercedes-Benz. The potent one-two punch is how the Maryland Transportation Authority keeps tiled walls in the Fort McHenry and Baltimore Harbor tunnels glistening from the beginning of April through Thanksgiving. For the overnight scrubbing operation, workers mix the anti-soot soap with hundreds of gallons of water and place the solution on the backs of two bug-eyed, German-engineered trucks called Unimogs.

Orioles left-hander Zach Britton has no structural damage in his injured left shoulder, but it continues to appear likely that he will start the season on the disabled list after his visit with renowned orthopedist Dr. James Andrews on Wednesday. Britton visited Andrews in Pensacola, Fla., for another opinion on the recent flare up of inflammationon his left shoulder. Andrews saw no structural damage, but he received two rounds of platelet rich plasma injections to help settle the inflammation.