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May. 18, Post Time: 10:45AM Entries and comments provided by the Maryland Jockey Club First - Purse $55,000, AOC $25,000-$20,000, 3 yo's & up, One And One Sixteenth Miles Post, Horse, Jockey, Trainer, Odds 1 Aussi Austin, Rosario, R.Rodriguez, 3-1 2 Bob's Gone Wild, Vargas, J.Lopez, 20-1 3 Jarrod's Commando, Karamanos, C.Garcia, 10-1 4 Warrensburg, Boyce, D.Barr, 20-1 5 Benny Or Local, Cruise, D.Kobiskie,...

BOSTON -- As athletes get ready for the 117th running of the Boston Marathon today, many will have mantras. One of my favorites, from septuagenarian marathoner Malcolm Brookes is "I can, I will, I am," but another popular one is "you were born for this. " A group of British scientists wanted to check that out, testing whether a genetic switch associated with obesity had any effect on a person's likelihood of becoming a high-level distance athlete. What they found -- published in the journal PLOS One this month -- was that any link between the FTO A/T polymorphism and a would-be-elite endurance athlete's hopes of a boffo career were statistically insignificant.

DEAR CAL -- What is the best way to teach young players to switch-hit? Jeff Nelson, Annapolis DEAR JEFF -- The best way to learn to hit in general is through practice. The drills we use in our instructional programs help develop the building blocks that are necessary to establish the mechanics needed to hit live pitching. Those drills must be performed consistently from both sides of the plate before having a player attempt to switch-hit against live pitching. It can be counterproductive to have a player switch to his or her opposite side during batting practice or against live pitching if he or she hasn't worked on developing the swing first through drill work.

Del. Don Dwyer said Saturday that his announcement earlier this week that he is considering changing his affiliation from Republican to Democratic is no joke and that he plans to seek re-election regardless of his party. The Anne Arundel County lawmaker sent out a news release this week that he may launch a movement called "Operation DINO" -- for Democrats in name only -- to encourage Republicans in heavily Democratic counties to re-register to defeat "hard left liberals" in Democratic primaries.

As a life-long Episcopalian and pledging member of my church, I've got some questions about the switch of Christ the King Anglican Church to Christ the King Catholic Church ("Anglican parish in Towson switches to Catholicism," June 25). One point, conspicuously absent in Jamie Smith Hopkins ' otherwise excellent report, was the question of birth control. Rev. Edward Meeks is married, but at age 64 the question of reproduction is moot. However, with so many young parishioners at Christ the King, what will the transfer to Catholicism mean in terms of these matters?

The incoming Cecil County executive's decision to switch her party registration from Republican to independent Thursday has become a major flashpoint at the state GOP convention in Howard County this weekend, exposing a gaping split in party ranks. Tari Moore, who was elected Nov. 6 as Cecil's first executive under charter government, confirmed Friday that she had changed her registration -- less than four weeks after winning election under the Republican banner and with financial support from the state GOP. Moore said she would give a full explanation of her reasons when she is worn in Monday.

Del. Don Dwyer said Saturday that his announcement earlier this week that he is considering changing his affiliation from Republican to Democratic is no joke and that he plans to seek re-election regardless of his party. The Anne Arundel County lawmaker sent out a news release this week that he may launch a movement called "Operation DINO" -- for Democrats in name only -- to encourage Republicans in heavily Democratic counties to re-register to defeat "hard left liberals" in Democratic primaries.

In “The Change-Up,” out Friday, Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds switch bodies. If you could body-switch with one celebrity, who would it be? UFC champ Jon Jones (brother of Ravens player Arthur Jones). He's smart, charming and good-looking. He hits action-figure-style moves in a fight. And he manages to catch muggers in his spare time. Who wouldn't want to be a real-life superhero? - Luke Broadwater, managing editor, b Keith Richards. I've always wondered what immortality felt like.

Orioles switch-hitting  catcher Matt Wieters was the hero of Sunday's 2-1 win over the Nationals with his two-run homer in the eighth inning. And while it continued Wieters' domination of left-handed pitching this season, it was just his second homer from the right side of the plate. Wieters' split stats are incredibly intriguing. He's hitting .413 against left-handed pitching -- 215 points higher than his average against right-handed pitchers, even though eight of his 10 homers came from the left side.

At times during Saturday night's game, No. 5 Johns Hopkins elected to defend No. 10 Maryland by poling two of the three starting midfielders in senior Drew Snider and junior John Haus. The intent was to force redshirt sophomore midfielder Mike Chanenchuk and junior attackman Billy Gribbin to dodge and initiate the offense. The Terps countered by replacing Gribbin with junior Kevin Cooper, and the move worked as he recorded a season-high two goals and added an assist in a 9-6 victory over the Blue Jays at Homewood Field in Baltimore.

Del. Don Dwyer, one of the General Assembly's most conservative Republicans, said Thursday that he may change his registration to Democratic as part of a move to infiltrate that party's primaries and vote out liberal incumbents. Dwyer, of Anne Arundel County, announced on his website that he is considering launching a movement called "Operation DINO" -- for Democrats in name only -- to encourage Republicans in heavily Democratic counties to re-register to "vote out the hard left liberals who are hell-bent on taking away our liberties.

For many years, the Coast Guard Foundation held charity golf tournaments to raise money to help support enlisted personnel, reservists and their families who suffered a personal or financial loss. Two years ago, the foundation changed course by looking at an event that seemed more in line with its mission and founded the Coast Guard Foundation Cup, an overnight race that served as a feeder distance race for the biennial Bermuda Race from Newport, R.I., to the British territory. The inaugural race attracted 18 boats to Annapolis.

Editor's note: Each week, InsideMdSports.com provides this blog with a Maryland recruiting feature that previously appeared as premium content on its site. When Taivon Jacobs committed to Ohio State on July 19, he had no reservations or worries about his decision. He had envisioned playing inside Ohio Stadium as a kid, so picking the Buckeyes was like a dream come true. But two weeks before National Signing Day, Jacobs began to have second thoughts. With Columbus, Ohio, more than 400 miles away from his hometown of District Heights, Jacobs thought of his family - especially his 1-year-old daughter, Bailey - and pondered whether spending the next four years of his life away from home was such a good idea.

Three in every 10 Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers are buying their electricity through third-party suppliers, continuing a steady trend of increases in recent years, the company said Wednesday. About 30 percent of electricity customers don't purchase their energy from BGE, up from 25 percent at the end of 2011 and 18 percent at the end of 2010, the company said. BGE's natural-gas customers are less likely to switch to third-party providers, though more have done so in the last few years - 22 percent, up from 13 percent at the end of 2010.

Maryland's 64-59 victory over Boston College was one of those occasionally difficult-to-watch games involving a team that seems to be struggling to grow up before our eyes. It's not always pretty. It's akin to parents watching teens make inevitable errors in judgment as they mature. What did Al McGuire say? The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores? But the Terps - who started freshmen Charles Mitchell and Jake Layman -- won. For the fifth game in a row, the Terps scored fewer than 65 points.

A change in the membership of a key Maryland Senate committee could hand Gov. Martin O'Malley a long-sought victory on a measure to foster development of a wind power industry off Ocean City. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has replaced Sen. C. Anthony Muse on the Finance Committee with Sen. Victor R. Ramirez, Miller's office confirmed Thursday. The switch, which replaces one Prince George's County Democrat with another, was first reported on the Washington Post's web site.

Q: What is an affiliate?A: It's a privately owned television station aligned with a network by contract. The station agrees to air the network's programs, commercials and promotions in its city on an exclusive basis. In return, the station receives a fee from the network, as well as the right to sell some ads locally during network shows, which command top dollar.Q: How many affiliates are there in Baltimore?A: There are now four. They are (with their current affiliate, and new one starting tomorrow, noted parenthetically)

Three of Baltimore's television stations will switch their network affiliations in January, not in late August as previously expected.The switch, which may stem viewer confusion when the new television shows premiere in September, isn't sitting well with WBAL-TV and WMAR-TV, however. They both wanted to switch Aug. 29. But WJZ-TV insisted that ABC honor its contract by providing six months' notice before switching stations.Story, 1D

Every now and then we'll offer a lunch-time gathering of news and links related to sports business: Jack Lambert of the Baltimore Business Journal wrote last week that the Ravens quietly unveiled a $250,000 makeover of the general concession stand near Section 101 during the team's Nov. 11 game with the Raiders. The new stand, which allows consumers to see food being prepared, is a prototype that could be used as the team seeks to update the first level of the 14-year-old stadium, according to the story.

The Maryland Republican Party rejected a resolution Saturday calling on the newly elected Cecil County executive to step down after she changed her party affiliation from the GOP to independent. Meanwhile, a much-discussed move to call for state GOP Chairman Alex Mooney's resignation never materialized. Holding its first statewide convention since its dismal showing in the Nov. 6 election, the party also turned down a resolution urging its representatives to the national GOP to vote against a second term for Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus.