Team Meeting

Locker-room oratory is usually overdone, often backfires and is seldom memorable. Still, the NFL cannot live without it. Every game, every team meeting, requires a speech of some kind from the coach. Each coach applies his own concept of motivation. The best use an economy of words. The worst wade into hyperbole. Though the day of the rah-rah speech is largely gone from the league, the need for communication with the players will never disappear. "I think it will always be a part of leadership," said James Harris, director of pro personnel for the Ravens and one-time NFL quarterback.

The Orioles played like April fools just long enough to make everyone wonder. Is it possible they are not the division contenders everyone assumed they would be?It is a difficult question made more difficult by the schizophrenic nature of baseball. One day, the Orioles are 5-13 and wondering if the next team meeting is going to require sleeping bags. Three days later, they are in the midst of a three-game winning streak that has revived the despairing public.Nevertheless, the team that was supposed to challenge the Toronto Blue Jays for the American League East title needed a three-game losing streak from the Cleveland Indians to get out of the cellar.

There was an occasion at Penn State University when Lydell Mitchell wanted to return to the dean's list and decided the best way to achieve it would be to ask for special consideration and intercession. Coach Joe Paterno wouldn't hear of it and neither would the professor, who had been a former football player. Result: "C" in the subject and personal disappointment.But as Mitchell looks back on the experience, via the perspective of time and maturity, he thanks Paterno for this and other large favors.

Given one last chance to hold a team meeting yesterday, his first season as Orioles manager ending with a victory, Lee Mazzilli stood in front of his players with dark shades hiding his eyes and emotions that were much too obvious. He wanted to thank them for the effort, for not quitting on him. He wanted to say a lot of things, if only the words had come more easily. If only they had come at all. "It didn't last long," he said, "because I couldn't get through it." On the field, the Orioles chucked baseballs and caps at a crowd of 42,104 after a 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox at Camden Yards.

Remember the Titans? Seriously, remember those guys? Tough defense. Smash-mouth offense. Perennial playoff team. If the current group that has lost 12 of its past 17 regular-season games, including a 34-7 embarrassment Sunday to the Pittsburgh Steelers, provides only a dim reminder of those hard-as-nails Tennessee clubs, imagine how quarterback Steve McNair feels. "It is very different, but it's an adjustment we all have to make, as far as dealing with veterans and dealing with young guys," McNair said yesterday.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Manager Sam Perlozzo saw enough disturbing signs in the Orioles' 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels in 10 innings Tuesday that he planned to hold a team meeting before yesterday's series finale. But Perlozzo slept on it and decided to meet just with his catcher and starting infielders, a group that includes several team leaders. Perlozzo spoke with Ramon Hernandez, Kevin Millar, Brian Roberts, Miguel Tejada and Melvin Mora for about 15 minutes, urging them to stay positive and play within themselves.

In the midst of a horrible offensive slump that has sent the Orioles into a tailspin, the question hangs in the air like another soft fly ball with men in scoring position. Who will lead them out of this funk? The answer, unfortunately, might be no one. There is no natural leader in the Orioles' clubhouse - no one to organize a players-only meeting or call a teammate out for failing to run hard or remain focused. Brian Roberts? He's not the in-your-face type, and he's struggling to lead by example at the moment.

The countdown to cutdowns has begun, and the Ravens made special note of it yesterday. In his team meeting, Ravens coach Brian Billick called the last four spots on the final roster open to anyone devoted to playing special teams. In 11 days, he'll determine who was listening. The Ravens will trim their current 79-player roster by eight on Tuesday and then cut down to their final 53-man roster on Sept. 2. While tomorrow's preseason game against the Carolina Panthers will represent a final curtain for some, it will become the perfect audition for others.

The crowning achievement in Rod Woodson's career left him more motivated than satisfied. Winning that elusive Super Bowl rewarded a 14-year chase for that championship moment yet fueled his desire to return in the process. Woodson will place his Super Bowl ring in a drawer after Saturday's ring ceremony and keep the Hall of Fame speech on hold. This season, it's all about repeating as champion and pursuing some personal redemption. "I'm hungrier this year than I was last year," said Woodson, who worked out with the team yesterday for the first time since the Super Bowl.

Dislocated toes to end E.J. Henderson's season NFL Minnesota Vikings linebacker E.J. Henderson will miss the rest of the season after being placed on injured reserve because of dislocated toes on his left foot. Team officials confirmed the move yesterday before the Vikings' game against the New Orleans Saints. They said Henderson (Maryland) traveled to Baltimore and had successful surgery at the Institute for Foot & Ankle Reconstruction at Mercy Medical Center. Henderson was injured during the Vikings' loss at Tennessee on Sept.