Stay Tuned

Will it be another good day for Ducks?Can the Irish rediscover their luck?Can the Crimson Tide give the national championship debate another perfect team?For the second straight week, the college football schedule is bereft of blockbuster matchups, but there is still plenty of ground to be won and lost in the bowl picture and the fight over who's No. 1.Top-ranked Nebraska (10-0) faces winless Iowa State. The challenge is bigger for No. 2 Penn State (8-0), which plays at Illinois (6-3), a team that has lost only to Michigan in its past five games.

A top National Republican Congressional Committee official said Monday that the group is likely to throw some support to Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett "fairly soon," but declined to elaborate on just how much it can afford to spend defending the vulnerable incumbent from Western Maryland. "I wouldn't be surprised if you see an ad fairly soon," NRCC executive director Guy Harrison said during a press conference held here as part of the Republican National Convention. Pressed on where and when such an ad might run, Harrison was circumspect.

Art Abramson opened the Baltimore Jewish Council last night to office telephones ringing in alarm. Jews, and some non-Jews, were calling to ask if the council knew anything more than they did about the Iraqi missile attack on Israel.Abramson, the council director, settled into the conference room to watch the same television news programs as his callers, but augmented by a flow of statements from the Israeli embassy in Washington over the office fax. He and the rest of the staff spent much of the night on the phone consoling worried callers, quelling rumors and offering the Israeli Embassy's interpretation of events.

It appears as though Reisterstown has dodged a bullet in the proposed construction of a 2 million gallon water tower at the bend of Bond Avenue and Timbergrove Road. At a meeting on Oct. 27 spearheaded by residents and Stop the Water Tower, there were over 150 in attendance. Outgoing Reisterstown-Owings Mills-Glyndon Coordinating Council President Mary Molinaro commended community members at the Thursday night meeting for working together, rather than taking the stance of "not in my backyard.

Gov. Martin O'Malley said Friday he won't bring lawmakers back to Annapolis next week to expand the state's gambling program as initially planned, but he will continue pushing the issue. "We will not be calling a special session for July 9," O'Malley said Friday evening after appearing with President Barack Obama at the White House. "I continue to look for a consensus. " O'Malley said he still might call a special session this summer at which lawmakers would vote on proposals to authorize a sixth casino in Maryland and allow table games such as poker at all six. The announcement keeps Annapolis lawmakers and gambling interests in a state of legislative limbo, unsure if and when a deal might be brokered.

A collective "Oh!" greeted restaurateur Chris Spann's announcement to the Hampden Village Merchants Association on Wednesday that he plans to take over the former Dogwood restaurant space on The Avenue. Spann, owner of the well-reviewed restaurant The Wine Market Bistro in Locust Point, said he plans to open an upscale restaurant in the old Dogwood. Spann said he is still developing the concept of the new restaurant. "It's not going to be The Wine Market Bistro II, but it's going to appeal to the same people," Spann said.

Don't touch that dial. The Orioles are staying put on the radio for the next three years.A deal has been reached to keep Orioles games on WBAL (1090 AM), where they've been for six seasons, through 1996, the club and station announced yesterday.WBAL has been the Orioles' flagship station in 28 of the team's 40 major-league seasons.The amount of the three-year contract was not announced."There is an increase in the rights fee, but both parties have agreed not to disclose figures," said Jeff Beauchamp, WBAL vice president and station manager.

SINCE the introduction of television, the captains of that medium have had a problem with it portrayal of nonwhites. Popular television at its inception dealt with us the same way its cousin, the movies, did, by repeating the racist stereotypes, from Stepin Fetchit to "Amos 'n Andy" and the Africans in Tarzan movies. The image sent around the world of Native Americans was of wild savages scalping innocent whites, a reputation that survives today in many places. A new biography of Nat King Cole details how one of the most popular singers of his day was treated horribly by TV moguls.

LOST AMONG THE eight Pro Bowl selections and three alternates, and the league's defensive and offensive players of the year, are two other deserving Ravens. One is a nearly perfect physical specimen; the other doesn't fit the prototype for his position. One loves to talk and has his own radio show; drawing words out of the other is like getting Rush Limbaugh to admit he doesn't know anything about football. Meet Gary Baxter and Kelly Gregg, possibly the next two stars on the Ravens defense.

So, how do you like the TV season so far? New television series are not exactly gluing viewers to their armchairs, judging from the first fall survey of the Viewers for Quality Television organization.A whole lot of sampling has been going on, with eight new programs ranking in the "Most Watched" category's top 20.But respondents to the September survey of the 2,000-member national organization ranked only two premiere series in the "Highest Quality" top 20."The new shows have basically been rejected on their quality content.