Spirit

All the strong qualities that Art Modell brought to the Baltimore Ravens have surfaced. Modell, 87, died Thursday morning of natural causes at Johns Hopkins Hospital , and if the Ravens weren't practicing Friday, it would have been hard to tell that they have a game Monday against the Cincinnati Bengals. It's a somber but celebratory mood over at The Castle. It's sad because a giant of a man is gone, but also a time to share Modell stories. Almost everybody has one. It's one of the main reasons the Modell family and the Ravens agreed to hold a silent viewing and memorial at M & T Bank Stadium on Saturday.

TORONTO -- There was no solemness in the Orioles clubhouse following their 6-4 loss to the Blue Jays on Wednesday night, unless you counted one player bemoaning one of his fantasy football wide receivers laying an egg on the first night of the NFL season. Nope, these Orioles are still relaxed. Yes, they were knocked out of first place with the loss and the Yankees' win over Tampa Bay on Wednesday. But this is a team that battled back from being 10 games behind seven weeks ago. One game isn't going to get them down.

Just days after Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport learned it would lose three daily Southwest flights early next year, it rolled out the welcome mat for three new daily flights by Spirit Airlines. The first flight arrived Thursday morning at Concourse C, making the low-cost carrier the ninth domestic airline at BWI. The Florida-based airline is offering twice-daily round-trip service to Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, and a single daily flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "We have the legacy carriers - United, Delta, American - and we have the low-cost carriers that now includes Spirit.

Once, years ago, while explaining the art of spiritual healing, a wise woman taught: "You can't speak of the spirit to someone lying in a wet bed. " Before invoking the awesome, the ethereal, the Ultimate, we have to change the sheets. The same holds true on a global scale. How can we speak about things of the spirit, about caring for each other, about peace and kindness and justice and mercy, when the world we are mucking around in is a mess? Healthy bodies and healthy cultures do not thrive in sick environments.

The early results of Maryland's sales tax holiday are in: Retailers liked it. So did their customers. But tax policy wonks? Not so much. It will be a couple of months before the state finds out just how much it lost in sales tax revenue during its third annual back-to-school tax holiday. The state had estimated that it would forfeit about $10 million by waiving the 6 percent sales tax on clothing and shoes of up to $100. Is this good fiscal policy? Probably not. Is this money that could be better spent elsewhere by the state?

A growing media and resource company in the city is again shining a light on women who are making a difference in their communities, excelling professionally and offering their lives of service as examples for others to emulate. Monyka Berrocosa, founder of MyCity4Her Inc., an online business resource for women, is organizing the sixth annual Spirited Women of Baltimore Awards luncheon Wednesday. It will honor five women who have contributed greatly to their companies, communities and families.

Now that Michael Phelps is out of the spotlight, some other Baltimore residents have been challenging themselves to their own series of competitions. At the North Oaks senior community in Pikesville, a four-day Wii bowling battle began Monday. While there will be no gold medals handed out, the winner is assured if plenty of glory. Why Wii: Jill Meshey, fitness manager for the community, started weekly Wii bowling and golf events about a year ago. She says the seniors at the center tend to be active and participate in classes like aerobics and flexibility and balance.

Tequila is a colorless, sometimes straw-colored liquor made by fermenting, then distilling, the sweet sap of the agave plant (a durable, long-lived cactus, also known as the century plant). It originated in Tequila, Mexico. Hence the name. While distilleries start with a sweet agave sap, the end result is rather more spicy and sharp-tasting than sweet. Most of the tequilas we buy for our at-home purposes are 80 to 96 proof (meaning they contain 40 to 48 percent alcohol). Some, which are prized by tequila aficionados and poured in tequila bars, such as Azul 17 in Columbia, are considerably more spirited than that.

Nearly seven months removed from his missed 32-yard field-goal attempt in the closing seconds of the AFC championship game, Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff is refreshed, healthy and, by his estimation, enjoying the best training camp of his NFL career, which has spanned a decade. "I feel like I'm hitting the ball really well. I feel like my leg has a lot of pop," the 32-year-old said Saturday after the Ravens held an open practice for fans at M&T Bank Stadium. "I feel like I've improved.

Last year, while working on the independent film "LUV" in Baltimore, Common received the type of treatment typical for a celebrity of his stature. He met the mayor in her office. He played basketball at Carmelo Anthony's gym. But now, reflecting more than a year later, the 40-year-old Chicago-native born Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. says it was meeting the people in their communities that made his brief time in Baltimore "one of the best experiences" the rapper and actor ever had. "I was in the heart and soul of Baltimore," said Common, who returns to the area Saturday for the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion . "I definitely felt a connection to the people.