Teams

A year ago, Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees was the new kid on the block. Now, he's teaching a bunch of new players. The Ravens still have a defense in transition. Gone are two eventual Hall of Famers, linebacker Ray Lewis and safety Ed Reed, as well as three other former starters, linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, cornerback Cary Williams and safety Bernard Pollard. The new group of players includes defensive linemen Chris Canty, Marcus Spears, outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil, safety Michael Huff and the 2013 rookie class.

The voices of Joe Flacco and Dean Pees were audible from a football field away - Flacco barking out line calls and Pees providing instruction and encouragement to his young defense. Standing about 10 yards behind his quarterback, Ravens offense coordinator Jim Caldwell did more observing than talking. Wearing all black on a steamy Baltimore afternoon, Caldwell sporadically looked down at his play sheet but quickly returned his gaze to the action in front of him. When he spoke, he did so in measured tones, opting more for individual conversations than loud lectures.

Melancholy fits the game of baseball like a batting glove. For every moment of heroic achievement, there is one of misery and despair; for each Bobby Thomson "shot heard 'round the world" to win the 1951 National League Pennant for the New York Giants, there's a Bill Buckner error to cost the Boston Red Sox the 1986 World Series. That doesn't make baseball a bad sport, it makes it a great one. Overcoming adversity is the nature of baseball, and if adversity didn't sometimes win, it wouldn't be much of a game.

Engulfed in a controversy that he undoubtedly wanted no part of, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco made an effort today to distance himself from recent comments made by his agent, Joe Linta . Linta told USA Today last week that he's never in his life "seen a dumber move" than the Ravens' decision to walk away from long-term contract extension negotiations with Flacco last August. The Ravens eventually signed Flacco to a much more lucrative, six-year, $120.6 million extension just months after the quarterback led the team to a victory in Super Bowl XLVII.

Wizards Baltimore's Connelly leaving for Suns job A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed that Wizards director of player personnel Pat Connelly , a Baltimore native, is moving to Phoenix to take an unspecified front office position with the Suns. Connelly has been with the Wizards for the past seven years, including the past two seasons in his role as director of player personnel. He was preceded at that position by his older brother, Tim, who left to become assistant general manager for New Orleans in August 2010.

One of the first trips Mark Turgeon made after succeeding Gary Williams at Maryland was to Baltimore. Not only did Turgeon have to make sure Nick Faust, then a senior at City, was still coming to College Park, but Maryland's new coach also wanted the city's political and basketball powerbrokers to get to know the relative unknown who had spent little time on the East Coast. A little more than two years later, Baltimore remains a priority for Turgeon in terms of his program's fans and future players.

Even Ryan Flaherty was surprised when he received a call Wednesday morning telling him he was being recalled by the Orioles after just eight games at Triple-A Norfolk. When the Orioles sent Flaherty to the minors, the purpose was to get him more at-bats so he could regain his comfort offensively. But the move to bring him back right after he completed the mandatory 10-day minor league option window was made so he could solidify the second base position defensively. The move also quickly ended the Orioles' experiment at second base with Yamaico Navarro, who was optioned to Norfolk to make room for Flaherty.

Et cetera AACS' Murray chosen to U-16 national hoops team Taylor Murray (Annapolis Area Christian School) was named to the 12-player USA Basketball women's under-16 national team after four days of trials that began with 124 players on the court at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. DeJanae Boykin , a Springdale native who attends Charles H. Flowers High in Prince George's County, also made the squad. The team will reassemble for training camp June 10-16 at the USOTC before departing for the FIBA Americas U16 Championship, which will be played June 19-23 in Cancun, Mexico.

Last Friday morning, President Barack Obama visited Annapolis to address roughly 1,000 Naval Academy midshipmen. Then he took his seat with other VIPs and the thousands in attendance and watched as the midshipmen, decked out in their pristine dress whites, graduated and took their oaths as commissioned officers. Every year, the event is magnificent. With a ceremony of such grandeur, it should come as no surprise that, in their previous four years, the midshipmen were held to the highest standards of performance and conduct.

When almost everyone else thought their season was over in early March, Duke's lacrosse players were not too concerned. A losing record in March? Ho hum, no big deal. A blowout loss to conference rival Maryland? No sweat, there were still two months left in the season. What appeared to be disaster has become routine in Durham, N.C., after Duke completed its improbable run to the NCAA Division I championship Monday by defeating top-seeded Syracuse, 16-10. Jordan Wolf had four goals and fellow attackmen Josh Offit and Josh Dionne each had three to lead Duke (16-5)