Sportswriter

Reprinted from Sunday's late editions. Cameron Crockett Snyder, a sportswriter for The Sun who covered the Baltimore Colts during their heyday and was honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, died Friday of lung cancer at his home in Fullerton. He was 93. "He was a great fellow. Everybody liked Cameron," said former Colt Art Donovan, a Hall of Famer. "He knew football because he played in college. Sometimes, at Colts practice [in the 1950s], the coaches let 'Toughie' fill in at offensive guard."

Like most films depicting historic accounts of real-life events, the bio-epic "42" carries the immediate disclaimer that it is based on a true story, leaving room for interpretive analysis and creative license. Consequently, dramatic interpretations are by their nature subject to scrutiny and debate. While the film sticks close to the well-chronicled historic record regarding Jackie Robinson's unique place in time as the first African American to play in the major leagues, its sins are mostly of omission.

William K. "Bill" Free, a retired Baltimore Sun sportswriter and sports car enthusiast, died Friday of a perforated bowel at his Reisterstown home. He was 66. Mr. Free was born in Frederick and raised in Creagerstown. After graduating in 1961 from Thurmont High School, where he played baseball, basketball and soccer, he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1965 from the University of South Carolina. Mr. Free served in the Army as a sportswriter and then went to work as a newspaper reporter for the Gettysburg Times, Waynesboro Record and Harrisburg Patriot-News before beginning his 39-year career with The Baltimore Sun's sports department in 1969.

It's a sad day in the Annapolis area, where longtime Capital columnist and sports editor Joe Gross died early Wednesday. He was 72. Joe was one of the first people I met when I got to Baltimore in 1990. Back then, he was the Annapolis Capital, writing daily columns about sports and local news and just about anything that might be of interest to Annapolitans. Everybody knew him and I'm guessing that everybody liked him, since I never met anyone who didn't. He took his Annapolis sports very seriously, covering Navy athletics for 30 years and attending 50 Army-Navy games as either a sportswriter or a fan. He also covered the Orioles, Colts, Redskins and Ravens and was a regular presence around the Baltimore sports scene.

When metro reporter Rafael Alvarez first arrived at The Sun as a clerk in the sports department, he was filled with the dream of becoming a prize-winning reporter and animatedly expressed his career ambitions to Jimmy Jackson, a veteran of the staff."

A. Douglas Brown, a veteran sportswriter for The Sun and The Evening Sun who covered all of Baltimore's professional teams in nearly four decades of reporting, died Sunday of cancer at his home in Pasadena. He was 66.Mr. Brown was remembered by colleagues as a consummate professional with a reputation for even-tempered reporting, no matter the subject."Doug gave his all to every assignment, whether it was a high school game or the World Series," said Bill Tanton, who was his sports editor at The Evening Sun for more than 20 years.

IF YOU ASK ME," said Slats Grobnik, "that woman sportswriter got what she deserved when the guy waved his whatsis at her in the locker room."I didn't ask you."Then ask me and I'll tell you."You already did."Oh. Yeah, I guess I did. What I mean is, she brought the whole thing on herself. If she hadn't been there, it wouldn't have happened, would it?"If we weren't sitting here having a beer, we wouldn't be sitting here having a beer, would we?"I don't understand what that means."I don't either.

"Dad? I'm in the press box at Yankee Stadium."I cupped my hand over the phone, barely able to contain the excitement I knew it would be unprofessional to reveal. Bob Reimer's oldest daughter was covering an Orioles-Yankees series from that storied place."Will they show you on TV?" he asked, and I could hear him smiling."Oh, Dad," I said, exasperated.The Sun had hired me as a sportswriter just months before, and sent me to an important -- and emotional -- baseball series that weekend in New York.

I wish someone on the copy desk of The New York Times had picked up on and questioned Dave Anderson's use of "Bawlmore" in a column he wrote the day after the Colts put an end to purple mania and the Ravens' dream of possibly going all the way to the Super Bowl XLI. Anderson wrote that natives pronounced Baltimore as "Bawlmore," and then used it throughout the column. I reread it several times and wondered if it was a not-so-subtle way of making fun of how folks speak in these latitudes -- a linguistic put-down of the city.

Perhaps you have a boring job, the kind of job where the most interesting thing that ever happens is when the vending machine gets refilled, an event that sends an electric current of excitement through the cubicles. ("Whoa! Dibs on the bagel chips!")Perhaps sometimes -- when you're sitting in yet another pointless meeting, staying awake by deliberately inflicting paper cuts on yourself -- you think: "I wish I had a job wherein I could go to exciting events and meet famous people. I wish I were a sportswriter!"

My Super Bowl is over. In fact, you can cancel Christmas, too. Three days before the Super Bowl, I got to see Beyonce up close. She was on stage at the Convention Center here in New Orleans and I was in the fifth row from the front. Only those who had reserved seats had better seats than mine. Of course, I had arrived about an hour and 15 minutes early. And when the time finally arrived, when she strolled out on the stage, I melted. My new nickname is Butter. I just stared and gawked.

Anna Burns Welker added her name to the list of Patriot Wives Pouting (see Gisele Bundchen) when she went after Ray Lewis' reputation on Facebook after the AFC Championship game Sunday. "By the way, if anyone is bored, please go to Ray Lewis' Wikipedia page. 6 kids, 4 wives, Acquitted for murder. Paid a family off. Yay. What a hall of fame player! A true role model!" The wife of the Patriots' wide receiver Wes Welker, who dropped two passes during the game, later apologized, saying her post was "emotional and irrational," and attributing her outburst to the frustration she felt after the Patriots' 28-13 loss.

Three Diamond Farm's Private Tale hopped at the start and was last all the way to the far turn, but from there he was relentless in pursuit, weaving through traffic to win Monday's $125,000 Native Dancer Stakes at Laurel Park. Mike Trombetta trains Private Tale, a 5-year-old son of Tale of the Cat, who completed the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1minute, 45.85 seconds. Front-runner Javerre held on to take second, while Adirondack King loomed large in the stretch but had to settle for third.

Media Sun's Preston named top Md. sportswriter The Baltimore Sun's Mike Preston has been honored as the Maryland Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association for the second straight year, it was announced Thursday. Preston, who has covered the Ravens since the franchise came to Baltimore in 1996, first as a beat reporter and then as a columnist, has worked for The Sun since 1983. He is a native of Essex and a graduate of Towson State, where he played football.

Mary Lee Steadman, who assisted her late sportswriter husband, John F. Steadman, in the production of his six books, died June 1 of dementia at St. Joseph Medical Center. She was 83. The daughter of a firefighter and homemaker, Mary Lee Kreafle was born in Baltimore and spent her early years near Mondawmin, before moving to Ednor Gardens when she was in the eighth grade. She was a 1947 graduate of Catholic High School and worked for the Maryland Casualty Co. before her marriage in 1953 to John Steadman, who was then a News-Post sportswriter and was later named sports editor of the News American in 1958.

Ravens Preston named Md. Sportswriter of Year The Baltimore Sun's Mike Preston , who has covered the Ravens since the franchise came to Baltimore in 1996, first as a beat reporter and then as a columnist, has been honored as the Maryland Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. Preston, who has worked for The Sun since 1983, is a native of Essex and a graduate of Towson State, where he played football. He will be honored at the organization's 53rd annual awards event in June in Salisbury, N.C. This is Preston's first Sportswriter of the Year honor.

Surely, being a sportswriter must be included in the newly published "Jobs Rated Almanac," which sent us to our nearest book store to peruse a copy. Inside the red cover are 345 pages of analysis and documentation. Yet, woefully, not a mere mention of sportswriters.L It's as if none existed, either by intent or blind omission.But, as we look around The Baltimore Sun sports department, immersed in the daily grind-it-out process are Phil Jackman, Mike Preston, Mark Hyman, Sandra McKee, John Stewart, Jerry Bembry and others, too, all in pursuit of the written word on matters sport.

SUPER BOWL STEELERS VS. PACKERS 6:25 p.m., Feb.6 TV: Chs. 45, 5 Line: Packers by 2 1/2 Baseball Sun reporter Zrebiec is Md. Sportswriter of the Year Jeff Zrebiec , who has covered the Orioles for The Baltimore Sun since the 2005 season, has been named 2010 Maryland Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. Zrebiec, a Loyola College graduate who joined The Sun in 2000 and also has covered high schools and colleges for the newspaper, will be honored at the organization's 52nd annual awards event in May. This is his first Sportswriter of the Year honor.

William K. "Bill" Free, a retired Baltimore Sun sportswriter and sports car enthusiast, died Friday of a perforated bowel at his Reisterstown home. He was 66. Mr. Free was born in Frederick and raised in Creagerstown. After graduating in 1961 from Thurmont High School, where he played baseball, basketball and soccer, he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1965 from the University of South Carolina. Mr. Free served in the Army as a sportswriter and then went to work as a newspaper reporter for the Gettysburg Times, Waynesboro Record and Harrisburg Patriot-News before beginning his 39-year career with The Baltimore Sun's sports department in 1969.