Train Wreck

There's no way to sugar-coat it: the Maryland Terps are a mess right now. They were absolutely horrible in that 78-68 loss to Georgia Tech in Atlanta last night. And if they don't straighten out some major issues immediately, the rest of the season could go completely off the rails. Guard play, shot selection, working the ball inside - Maryland was awful in each category. Junior point guard Pe'Shon Howard is struggling so much with his passing and his shot that he's a liability when he's in there.

There's no way to sugar-coat it: the Maryland Terps are a mess right now. They were absolutely horrible in that 78-68 loss to Georgia Tech in Atlanta last night. And if they don't straighten out some major issues immediately, the rest of the season could go completely off the rails. Guard play, shot selection, working the ball inside - Maryland was awful in each category. Junior point guard Pe'Shon Howard is struggling so much with his passing and his shot that he's a liability when he's in there.

"The Maryland General Assembly meets in Annapolis each year for 90 days to act on more than 2300 bills including the State's annual budget. " That's the first line in the Maryland General Assembly's official web page. But this year, it's a lie. Because this year, lawmakers failed to act on the state's annual budget, ending their 90-day session at midnight before they could vote on a hastily arranged compromise reached by their leaders, and prompting the so-called "doomsday" budget to kick in, a budget balanced by millions of dollars in cuts.

If you were an Orioles fan at Camden Yards on Sunday, it was a game that whipsawed your emotions. Oh, you were pumped before it started, weren't you? Your team was all alone in first place in the American League East. You were part of a great crowd (an announced 33,919) in a wonderful setting, with thousands of Little Leaguers parading around the field and the Orioles wearing camouflage uniforms for Military Appreciation Day. (Baseball players in camo -- George Carlin would have a field day with that one.)

Get ready for the mother of all train wrecks. Washington is fascinated by speculation that the Clinton administration and the Republican-controlled Congress are on a collision course that could shut down the government and even lead to economy-damaging defaults on the national debt.Paul Tsongas likens the situation to the big league baseball strike, with "true blood lust" prevailing over the true interests of the contending factions -- and, of course, the country as a whole. He warns that a real fiasco could confirm popular distrust of the present political system and bolster third-party sentiment throughout the land.

Washington. -- Finally, President Clinton has appointed a task force to develop his famous plan ''to end welfare as we know it, to break the permanent culture of dependence.'' That's the good news.But Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan, D-N.Y., the man in politics who knows the welfare issue best, is not happy. He says that if the Clinton plan embodies the principles that have been ascribed to it, it will be ''a political train wreck waiting to happen.'' That, says Mr. Moynihan, is because ''there is a dirty little secret to it.''The secret is simple: The Clinton plan -- at least based on what has been said about it by the president and others -- will not end welfare as we know it. Not even close.

LIKE GOV. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., he's tax-averse. Mr. Ehrlich won't raise the sales or income tax. His county hasn't raised the property or income tax in 10 years. Like the Republican governor, he supports legalization of slot machines. He might accept slots parlors in his county as long as the fairgrounds in Timonium isn't one of the locations. He's a Democrat, but like the governor, he's had his difficulties with Democratic legislators: members of the County Council. Unlike Mr. Ehrlich, he seems to have found a way to work with his one-time detractors.

HANDLING emergencies requires courage and decisiveness. In recent days, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley has shown he's up to the task. But Gov. Parris N. Glendening and Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend are still among the missing. When the downtown train wreck occurred at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Mr. O'Malley was politicking at an Eastern Shore clambake. He rushed back as fast as he could to take charge. Good thing he did: The subterranean fire fouled downtown routines and wrought untold millions in economic losses.

Some Maryland State Bar Association officials are red-faced about the organization's response -- or lack of one -- to last month's fiery train accident in Silver Spring.Seven years ago, the state bar was one of the first in the country to deal with such tragedies, creating a "disaster information plan" to shield accident victims and their families from unscrupulous lawyers.But in the hours after the crash, as some attorneys canvassed the crash scene, gathering up clients and their multimillion-dollar lawsuits, the state bar was strangely absent.

Rookie fullback Steve Lee's hunger can be satisfied in two ways. Give him a plateful of steak and potatoes, and put a linebacker or a defensive back in his path.Lee likes to tear through each of them. His appetite has helped him attain a bulky, 6-foot-1, 257-pound frame, which features calves that would fit the league's bigger linemen. His willingness to throw his body around unselfishly, clearing the way for ball carriers with crunching blocks, is the reason the Ravens made him a sixth-round draft pick.

There's a tendency among some to shorthand the ongoing federal budget debate as between Republicans who want to reduce government spending and Democrats who don't. This isn't really the case, as recent actions in the House have demonstrated. On Wednesday, the House Armed Services Committee took a close look at President Barack Obama's proposed $525.4 billion defense spending plan and decided that simply wasn't enough. The GOP-controlled committee voted to authorize nearly $4 billion more than what the Pentagon had requested for 2013.

"The Maryland General Assembly meets in Annapolis each year for 90 days to act on more than 2300 bills including the State's annual budget. " That's the first line in the Maryland General Assembly's official web page. But this year, it's a lie. Because this year, lawmakers failed to act on the state's annual budget, ending their 90-day session at midnight before they could vote on a hastily arranged compromise reached by their leaders, and prompting the so-called "doomsday" budget to kick in, a budget balanced by millions of dollars in cuts.

Raise the gas tax 18 cents a gallon over three years? That's really socking it to senior citizens on fixed incomes who need to drive to a doctor's appointment, or kids driving to a summer job to save up for college, or working-class folks driving to their jobs day in day out, or those in the sales and service industries who spend a good chunk of their working hours in their cars. How about Gov.Martin O'Malleyshowing some real leadership and instead tackle the bloated state bureaucracy, or those over-the-top state pensions, or the well publicized waste in our state agencies or the recent 100 person foreign trade junket.

During one's school days, summer vacation offers the opportunity for reinvention. Who hasn't fantasized about returning in the fall triumphantly sporting a new look, a new skill, a new attitude? If you don't have three months off for that makeover, try one of these three books on for size. Each features an individual seeking his or her place in the world. "The Breaks" by Richard Price Picador, $16 "The Breaks" may surprise fans of Richard Price's work on "The Wire" and of his gritty recent novels.

It's time for the Ravens to introduce the Miami Dolphins to a term that they probably haven't heard this year. Road kill. The Dolphins seem to have found a comfort zone on the road, as evidenced by their 4-0 record away from home and their inexplicable inability to register a victory at Dolphins Stadium. It's a highly unusual dichotomy which needs to be corrected on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium. The oddsmakers obviously aren't impressed. They've installed the Ravens as a 5 1/2-point favorite to come off their bye week and show the Dolphins what it's like to play in a truly hostile environment — and I'm not just talking about the decibel level on the field.

Just days after announcing that almost three dozen city workers would be laid off amid a record budget deficit, Annapolis Mayor Josh Cohen unveiled Monday night an $82.3 million operating budget that restructures key city departments by eliminating managerial positions, cuts some city services and reduces overall spending. Presenting his budget to the City Council, Cohen called his plan "responsible" as the city contended with a deficit of at least $2.6 million in the current fiscal year and a projected shortfall of at least $8 million for fiscal year 2011.

COLLEGE PARK - Coach Ralph Friedgen said yesterday that it would do more harm than good to immediately make widespread changes to a talented, if underachieving, Terrapins team coming off one of the program's worst losses since Friedgen took over in 2001. Not that he didn't consider adjustments to the depth chart. The coach indicated at his media briefing that he talked to a few players who underperformed against Middle Tennessee State and contemplated changes. "I've actually had a few kids in and felt like maybe now isn't the right time to do it," Friedgen said.