Sports Fans

You think sports fans are superstitious? That baseball players have the corner on game-day rituals? I say they've got nothing on parents whose baby just slept through the night for the first time in weeks. After a couple of months of being solidly spoiled by several hours in a row of glorious sleep thanks to a sleeping baby, my husband and I were completely thrashed when he suddenly stopped sleeping more than a handful of hours at a stretch. And this continued for days and days, probably months if we calculated it (which trust me, we don't want to do)

As the Orioles and Ravens try to work out a scheduling conflict that has put in jeopardy the NFL's hopes of opening up the regular season on Thursday, Sept. 5 at M&T Bank Stadium, the relationship between the two downtown neighbors has again come under scrutiny. That's a shame because over the past year or so, the synergy between the Orioles and Ravens never appeared better. Ravens players wore cartoon bird hats and frequently brought up the Orioles during their playoff run. When the Orioles played the New York Yankees at home in Game 2 of their playoff series, half the Ravens' roster was at Camden Yards.

Even if you're not into soccer, I hope you saw this one. This was a finish for the ages, as good as it gets in any sport you can name. This was the U.S. vs. Algeria in the World Cup on Wednesday, loser goes home, a tense match made even more nail-biting by the fact the Americans kept finding new and creative ways to blow easy goal-scoring opportunities. When Landon Donovan scored his thrilling rebound shot in the 91st minute -- three more minutes and the U.S. would have been packing its bags to go home instead of advancing with a 1-0 win -- the crowd around me at Slainte Irish Pub in Fells Point erupted.

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.

RESERVE the Barcalounger and pour me a tall, frosty mug of 1 percent milk. It's time for my kind of spectator sport -- the 1999 Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, which will be held today and tomorrow in Washington.Words are, ironically, almost insufficient to describe my love of spelling bees. In a sports-obsessed world, they are a non-athlete's sweet delight.They are pinnacles of studious achievement, showcases of familiarity with Latin roots, rare public rewards for people given to reading the dictionary for fun.And the world series of spelling bees is the Scripps Howard.

Charles Woolston renews a spring ritual today, attending the Orioles game just as he has every opening day since 1964, celebrating the beginning of baseball just as he did as a young boy on the Eastern Shore.The assistant provost at University of Maryland Baltimore County, Dr. Woolston, 52, admits to being as passionate and emotional a fan as anyone else.But, as the professor who teaches a course called Sports and American Culture every fall semester, he has more than a rooting interest in the game.

Parents often lament that their sons are not enthusiastic readers. Yet these same boys can be found devouring sports magazines and the sports pages of newspapers. If you are trying to encourage your boy child to read, play to this strength. Introduce him to sports books.Jim Trelease, in "The Read-Aloud Handbook," suggests these authors.* Matt Christopher, the most popular sports author for grades 1-4* Alfred Slote, grades 5-7* Thomas J. Dygard, grades 7-10* John R. Tunis, a writer from the 1930s through the 1960s.

It's late afternoon at one of Baltimore's most beloved museums, and in the shafts of light streaming through the windows, three curators stand in a contemplative circle, scrutinizing the life-size, full-color treasure on the wall. Its colors are brilliant, its condition excellent. None has seen a more sensitive portrayal. So Michael Gibbons, director of Sports Legends at Camden Yards, and his two colleagues set a price on Johnny Unitas, Quarterback of the Century: $200. "He's gonna look great over somebody's bar," says the museum's curator, Shawn Herne.

I truly love those rare occasions when sports becomes something much bigger than a game, when the boundary lines between the playing field and our everyday lives blur. And I truly hate when it's artificial, when we assign profound meaning to something that simply defies logic or explanation, pretending sports is the framework when it's really just faint background noise. That's why it was so laughable to hear ad nauseam last week that when New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle's plane crashed into a Manhattan high-rise, we were suddenly given this sharpened sense of understanding, that the death of a major league pitcher was what we all really needed to put sports into proper perspective.

Every Sunday afternoon was golden. The athletes played only for love of the game. And the stands were always full of Baltimore fans -- the best sports fans in the world.That's pretty much the rose-colored view of "Gone But Not Forgotten II," another nostalgia-rama from Maryland Public Television. "Gone II," which airs at 8 tonight on Channels 22 and 67, revisits Maryland sports franchises and leagues from the 1930s to the '50s.Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodricks narrates the program. It's important for readers to know that I consider Rodricks a friend.

I was, as were many other sports fans, proud and excited about the accomplishments of the Baltimore Ravens in the month of January. However, it can not be denied that the Baltimore Sun sports writers neglected to mention the triumphant performance of a young professional boxer named Emanuel Taylor. Mr. Taylor, a local prospect in the junior welterweight division with a record of 15 wins and one defeat, was fighting a more experienced Ramon Serrano of Philadelphia with an 18-1 record.

There is little question that Art Modell would be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame by now if he had not uprooted the financially strapped Cleveland Browns and moved the franchise to Baltimore almost two decades ago. The rest of his legacy as one of the NFL's most visionary owners is unquestioned, and no one can look at the amazing popularity and profitability of the sport and deny that Modell's fingerprints are all over it. So, here's hoping...

I wrote a little about this before. But now I want your opinion. So come sit down by the bar, grab a Boh and give me your two cents (no, that's not the suggested tip). The Ravens play in the AFC title game Sunday. One upset win over the New England Patriots and Ray Lewis and company are back in the Super Bowl for the first time since 2000-01. Meanwhile, the Orioles host FanFest on Saturday and record crowds would not be a surprise. The club, after all, made the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.

Let the news sink in: The University of Maryland is headed for the Big Ten Conference in 2014. Even 72 hours after it became public knowledge that the school was negotiating to join the Big Ten and a day after it was made official, that's still pretty hard to believe. Hook up with those football powerhouses in the Midwest? Wasn't Maryland a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference? What happened to six decades of tradition? Small wonder that many Maryland fans, students, athletes and boosters are angry about what can only be described as an abrupt decision.

It came down to the final round of the world's longest tug-of-war over water, but the city of Annapolis delivered Saturday on its vow to save face against rival Eastport and win the annual match billed as the "Slaughter Across the Water. " As supporters screamed, "Tug! Tug! Tug!" 33 men and women strained to pull a thick rope and hold their ground as if their lives - not just bragging rights - depended on it. From the Annapolis side of Spa Creek, they faced off against the Eastport team, barely visible more than 1,600 feet away on the opposite shore.

You think sports fans are superstitious? That baseball players have the corner on game-day rituals? I say they've got nothing on parents whose baby just slept through the night for the first time in weeks. After a couple of months of being solidly spoiled by several hours in a row of glorious sleep thanks to a sleeping baby, my husband and I were completely thrashed when he suddenly stopped sleeping more than a handful of hours at a stretch. And this continued for days and days, probably months if we calculated it (which trust me, we don't want to do)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - So last week I spent six days seated in the cockpit of the engine that is driving sports journalism. I filled in for Mike Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser on the hit TV show Pardon The Interruption. It wasn't the first time I'd done the show, but it was my longest engagement and first in about three years. The show hasn't changed much, but its impact on my profession has certainly increased. I learned a lot and came to some realizations that might be enlightening. ESPN, the network that created and carries PTI, is obviously the worldwide leader in sports, and PTI has quickly developed into the new face of sports journalism.

COLLEGE PARK - Shout and scream at the opposing team. Chant and cheer until your voice grows hoarse. But by all means, do it with class. That was the message from University of Maryland athletic coaches last night at a forum organized by a student task force charged with a more challenging task than winning games: curtailing offensive behavior by sports fans. Putting the University of Maryland at center court in a national debate over how to limit rowdy fans without violating free speech, the 16-member task force asked coaches, members of the Board of Regents and students to voice their suggestions last night.

According to most pollsters, the coming presidential election is close, a "dead heat" with President Obama holding a thin lead in several crucial states. I'm really amazed. In my opinion, this election shouldn't even be close. It should be a landslide for Romney. Why? Well, let's put this presidential election in the language of sports, which a large segment of the public can readily understand. These are the voters who have been dumbed down by our public schools, and who H. L. Mencken called the "Boobus Americanos," and what Rush Limbaugh fondly refers to as the residents of Rio Linda, Calif.

If it's possible to look back on last year's inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix without dwelling on the economic backlash that turned it into a financial 50-car pileup, it was a pretty cool event. The downtown area was packed all weekend and race organizers estimated that close to 150,000 fans from near and far showed up for three days of IndyCar and American Le Mans Series racing. It all went off without a hitch, until they started counting the receipts. Now, it's time to find out whether the novelty has worn off or the race will catch on big-time and become a second Preakness-like celebration at the other end of each summer.