Underdog

In the minds of many, the Ravens are considered underdogs to beat the Denver Broncos on Saturday and advance to the AFC championship game. That label doesn't sit well with the players. “That's fine,” cornerback Cary Williams said sarcastically after Tuesday's practice. “We appreciate it. We love that.” “Nobody on the outside dictates how we play on the inside,” inside linebacker Ray Lewis added. “Nobody controls what our emotions are. I don't read it good or bad because you can't.

As the Ravens begin preparations for Saturday's AFC divisional playoff game against Denver, the first thing they should do is break out the picture of quarterback Joe Flacco lying face down on the turf at M&T Bank Stadium. On that day nearly four weeks ago, the Broncos left the Ravens lying helpless after a 34-17 win. Few questioned the Ravens' performance but many questioned their hearts. So, that has to be a great motivation going into the Mile High City on Saturday. The Ravens would have been in a better position if the script had played out and they were going to Houston, but that's not the case.

Our columnist Peter Schmuck wrote today that the Orioles continue to defy the odds -- literally. Oddmakers, most of whom predicted the Orioles to be one of the worst teams in baseball, continue to see the O's as a playoff longshot. According to offshore online sportsbook Bovada, the Orioles opened the season with 150-to-1 odds to win the World Series, the second-largest odds among all MLB teams only to the 200-to-1 Houston Astros, who actually turned out to be pretty bad. But as teams have dwindled out of competition, the Orioles' odds have become more favorable.

As Maryland prepared for No. 8 West Virginia, it might have comforted Terps fans - but only a little - that there have been other occasions in recent seasons in which the team entered games as a multi-touchdown underdog and came away with its dignity intact, if not with a win. The Terps (2-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) headed to Morgantown to face a Mountaineers team (2-0, 0-0 Big 12 Conference) favored by almost four touchdowns Saturday. West Virginia is averaging a gaudy 55.5 points and 612 yards per game, third in the nation.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Before Maryland's nightmarish 2011 football season came to an end, wide receiver Kevin Dorsey already knew changes were afoot. Many of his teammates were about to flee for other college programs, and Dorsey wasn't too surprised to see the exodus. After ther Terps ' 2-10 campaign, he watched 13 players choose to transfer, including quarterbackDanny O'Brien to Wisconsin, left tackle R.J. Dill to Rutgers and right tackle Max Garcia to Florida. In the midst of the exit process for several of the players, Dorsey offered the kind of simple advice he thought was appropriate - make up your mind and live with your decision.

During his post-game conference after No. 2 Johns Hopkins's 11-7 victory over No. 7 Syracuse Saturday, coach Dave Pietramala immediately cast the Blue Jays as underdogs for Saturday's road contest against No. 1 Virginia, citing the program's winless drought in Charlottesville, Va., that extends back to 1998. That suggestion drew chuckles from Cavaliers coach Dom Starsia, who joked, “I don't even know why they're coming. What's the point?” Asked whether Pietramala's comment was coachspeak, Starsia replied, “Absolutely.

N.C. State could surprise David Teel Newport News Daily Press The lowest seed I see reaching New Orleans is Marquette. But the Golden Eagles are the West's No. 3 and the Big East regular-season runner-up, hardly what you'd consider a interloper. So the true low seed with the best chance? North Carolina State, the Midwest's No. 11. Wolfpack point guard Lorenzo Brown is better than most realize, and if they stay out of foul trouble, C.J. Leslie and Richard Howell are a load inside.

No. 2 Johns Hopkins' 11-7 victory over No. 7 Syracuse on Saturday assured the lacrosse community of a showdown between the top two teams in the country when the Blue Jays visit No. 1 Virginia this Saturday. It also gave Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala an opportunity to immediately cast his 7-0 team as overwhelming underdogs against an 8-0 Cavaliers squad that is the reigning national champion. “Nice to be 7-0,” he said during his post-game comments. “I think we put ourselves in a good position, and now we go down to a place and against a team that no one is going to give us a chance against.” That suggestion prompted Gary Lambrecht, former Sun writer and current Lacrosse Magazine contributor, to ask, “Really?

For a couple of months, it's been known that Frederick-based Flying Dog would release its first canned beer this year. Now, we know the date: the first beer, the hoppy light lager Underdog Atlantic, will be in stores in April, confirmed spokeswoman Erin Biles. The cans will hit Frederick first, with Baltimore as the second targeted market. The launch comes as the brewer, the state's largest, plans its most ambitious rollout since it purchased its Maryland base in 2006. This year, it will debut 20 new beers . Biles said they see cans as an additional platform for their beer, one that's now possible thanks to improvements in bottling technology.

I give all this Jeremy Lin hoopla another month or so. No, I don't think Jeremy will be finished by then. I think he's got another 20 years of great play in him. What I mean is that this incessant bad punning using his last name will finally be exhausted. I think I'll scream if I hear one more pun using "Lin. " The pundits and punsters are quickly running out of metaphors and superlatives. Yes, Jeremy's arrival means a great many things, to basketball as well as to the Asian-American community.