Team Officials

The Ravens' second week of free agency ended with much ado about nothing. The team was drawing closer to signing cornerback Chris McAlister and offensive tackle Orlando Brown, but neither was locked up by day's end. By not reaching an agreement by yesterday's league-mandated deadline, McAlister will carry the franchise tag for at least the next four months. The Ravens refuse to negotiate before July 15 because, under league rules, they would lose the right to assign the franchise tag to any other player for the length of McAlister's new deal.

WASHINGTON - The chief of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency will tell the Security Council on Monday that two months of inspections inside Iraq have turned up no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime is developing nuclear weapons, the chief's spokesman said yesterday. The report of Mohamed ElBaradei, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency, would thus fail to reinforce repeated assertions by Bush administration officials that Hussein is actively seeking a nuclear bomb.

On the day when the Ravens officially became one of the youngest teams in NFL history, they addressed a couple of aging matters. After trimming down to the league's 53-player roster limit, team officials confirmed that fullback Sam Gash will re-sign with the Ravens today, and a league source indicated there is a possibility that linebacker Peter Boulware's contract extension could be completed by next week. Gash will be brought in as a backup/tutor to Alan Ricard, and Boulware is expected to be locked up long term before finishing the final year of his current contract.

With little progress in the negotiations of the contracts for linebackers Ray Lewis and Peter Boulware, Ravens officials are pointing to the first day of training camp - July 26- as an unofficial deadline for the deals to get restructured. The Ravens have been talking with agents Eugene Parker and Roosevelt Barnes, who represent Lewis and Boulware, this off-season in hopes of signing both players to long-term deals. That move would also provide millions of dollars of salary cap relief that would allow the team to sign at least one major free agent.

Within the next two months, the 12-foot-high neon-purple letters that spell PSINet Stadium will be removed as the Baltimore Ravens begin their search for a company to buy the high-profile naming rights to the 69,000-seat stadium, team officials said yesterday. The Ravens regained the naming and marketing rights from bankrupt PSINet Inc. in an agreement filed last week in federal court in New York. The agreement still must be approved by the court. Team President David Modell will begin discussions with companies that have contacted the team, and also seek out other companies, said Kevin Byrne, the Ravens' vice president of public relations.

Birds will be donating birds to needy families today, just in time for Thanksgiving. Baltimore Ravens players and Howard County Councilman C. Vernon Gray will dole out 150 turkeys at the Howard County Government Office Building in Columbia. Six players - Terry Allen, Obafemi Ayanbadejo, Jason Brookins, Sam Gash, Alan Ricard and Moe Williams - and Earnest Byner, the Ravens' director of player development, purchased the turkeys. Mars Supermarkets donated the side dishes, including cranberries, stuffing and sweet potatoes.

Ravens star running back Jamal Lewis has violated the NFL's substance and alcohol abuse policy and has been suspended four games, a league source told The Sun yesterday. Lewis, the leading rusher for last year's Super Bowl championship team, is currently on injured reserve after blowing out his left knee this summer. Despite the fact that Lewis can't play this season, the suspension went into effect yesterday because he is still technically on the roster. The Ravens are not allowed to have any contact with him or pay him until his reinstatement, which could occur on Dec. 17, the day after the Ravens' home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Over the next four weeks, out-of-the-way Westminster will play host to Elvis, a documentary television program and approximately 70,000 purple-clad pilgrims. Reports suggest that a certain silver football trophy belonging to the Baltimore Ravens might take up Carroll County residence as well. The defending Super Bowl champions' training camp will begin in this city of 16,731 Sunday. The Ravens were just another National Football League team during their previous five camps at Western Maryland College, but this year will be different.

Considering that thousands turned out to cheer the Baltimore Ravens after their playoff victories when no one expressly invited them, city and team officials aren't quite sure what to expect for this morning's Super Bowl send-off for the team at the Inner Harbor. Police say they are preparing to handle as many as 50,000 Ravens fans - although they don't expect a crowd nearly that large - at today's widely advertised rally. It is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. at the amphitheater between the Light and Pratt street pavilions.

DALLAS - With an opening on their 40-man roster, the Orioles haven't dismissed the possibility of making a selection in the major-league portion of today's Rule 5 draft, which kicks off another day at the winter meetings. The Orioles have the eighth pick based on the reverse order of finish during the 2000 season. The Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins own the first two selections. "If you can get that player you feel can help improve the club, you've got to take him," said farm director Don Buford.