Team Chemistry

There were signs early that foretold one of the most disappointing seasons in Gary Williams' 16 years as Maryland basketball coach. The Terrapins' offense and outside shooting disappeared in front of a hostile crowd at Wisconsin. Against George Washington later that week, the Terps didn't defend. And in its Atlantic Coast Conference road opener against North Carolina, Maryland didn't do much of anything and was blasted by 34 points. Those three games revealed a flawed Maryland team, which fought inconsistency, seeming indifference at times, and chemistry problems, according to at least one Terp, all the way up to Tuesday night's season finale - a 75-67 loss to South Carolina in the National Invitation Tournament semifinals at New York's Madison Square Garden.

Once a self-proclaimed Super Bowl contender, the Ravens have become a divided team, cornerback Chris McAlister said yesterday. In a lengthy discourse on the state of the Ravens, in front of a captive audience of reporters, the Pro Bowl player revealed a disturbing split on a team that is finishing one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history. "I can't really put my finger on it, but it's not the same feeling," McAlister said. "Maybe it's because we're losing, coming off last year and not being able to follow up and meet expectations.

If the Chicago Cubs survive the four-team scrum for the National League wild-card berth this week, a plastic deer with a child-sized Kyle Farnsworth jersey could find itself resting beside Steve Bartman and Harry Caray in franchise lore. The Cubs added the plastic deer to their traveling party, adorning him with the Farnsworth jersey, and wound up finishing 8-4 on their latest road trip. Who knows? Maybe they've found the answer to the Curse of the Billy Goat. This late in the season, teams will look to anything for a psychological edge.

FOXBORO, Mass. - At one end of the corridor were the stars - Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James - all wearing perplexed looks and packing to go home. At the other end were guys named Bobby Hamilton, Eugene Wilson and Matt Light, virtual no-names, who were preparing to go on to the championship game. The road to Super Bowl XXXVIII ends in Houston, but the map to building championship teams has been laid out in Foxboro. In the era of the salary cap, the New England Patriots continue to prove that team chemistry is more important than superstar players, and balance is the key to winning titles.

Fourth-ranked Mount St. Joseph demonstrated the value of team chemistry yesterday, using the return of senior catalyst Keon Lattimore to upset No. 1 Archbishop Spalding, 66-55, in Irvington. The Gaels were already off to a fast start without Lattimore, and now they're even better, improving to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the combined Baltimore Catholic League/Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference. The visiting Cavaliers slipped to 6-1, 2-1. Lattimore, headed to the University of Maryland on a football scholarship, recently reversed his decision to sit out his final high school basketball season to train for football.

Remember the cones. That's all coach Jeannette Ireland had to say to inspire the Mount Hebron field hockey team to rally and prevent Glenelg from sharing the county championship Oct. 21. The plastic cones are used in sprint conditioning drills that are painful enough for every player to remember. The sprints are part of the price 10th-ranked Mount Hebron (10-1-2 overall, 8-0-1 league) paid to become county champs. "We do so much running in practice that we don't get tired during games," said Vikings leading scorer Ali Lemons, who said that Ireland's mention of cones elicited a universal groan and a determination to work harder to overcome Glenelg's early 1-0 lead.

Chemistry is no backroom science project when it comes to the NFL these days. It ranks right up there with post patterns and safety blitzes. It's as important as having a sound game plan or a good draft. Bottom line is, team chemistry can mean the difference between winning and losing. Just ask the Ravens of 2000 or the New England Patriots of 2001 about chemistry. They know. Without it, they were also-rans. With it, they were the past two Super Bowl champions. The Patriots started the 2001 season with a 1-3 record, yet recovered to win the AFC East and upset the heavily favored St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl.

SEOUL, South Korea - Soon, the debacle of 1998 will no longer matter. Sixteen days from now, the United States' men's soccer team's woeful performance in the 1998 World Cup will have ceased being an issue. Instead, fans might well be talking about the debacle of 2002. Four years have passed, new players have emerged, a new coach has revitalized the team, and more than a few results have gone the Americans' way, but all that does not mean that the United States team will do any better competitively this time around.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The New York Yankees have helped rekindle the careers of drug offenders Steve Howe, Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, but they didn't prove to be so forgiving when Ruben Rivera snatched Derek Jeter's game glove and sold it to a collector for $2,500. Manager Joe Torre, proclaiming that "the clubhouse is sacred," insisted on the release of the fringe outfielder despite attempts by closer Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams and Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson to persuade the club to give Rivera a second chance.