Uniform

The most exciting thing to happen around Fort Lauderdale Stadium yesterday was the fugitive hunt outside the complex. Police helicopters circled above the ballpark and officers questioned stadium personnel to make sure that an escaped work release prisoner had not slipped into the facility. Fortunately, the only person to sneak into camp yesterday was injured pitcher Kris Benson, who won't be working on his release for another four weeks or so. The escaped prisoner was apprehended about five blocks from the ballpark.

WESTMINSTER - The winner in the hard-fought race for county sheriff was sworn into office this week, and the atmosphere of change was evident.John H. Brown, until Monday an investigator in the county Public Defender's Office and a 25-year veteran of the Baltimore City Police, took his oath of office in a crowded courtroom in the old courthouse building.Brown, who wore a dark-blue pin-striped suit and red tie, contrasts sharply with his predecessor, Grover N. "Sam" Sensabaugh, who spent 28 years in state police uniform and continued to wear a uniform when he became sheriff in 1982.

Coming off a 4-12 inaugural season, the Ravens are searching for a turnaround.At least, cosmetically speaking, they will sport a somewhat new look.Yesterday, courtesy of quarterback Vinny Testaverde and linebacker Ray Lewis, with an assist from model Rebecca Romijn, the Ravens unveiled revised uniforms for the 1997 season.The most significant alteration involves the team's home uniforms, specifically the pants. Black pants are out. White pants are in. The idea is to set off the purple jersey more sharply.

A rule is a rule, and it must be enforced. That's the word from state and national high school officials regarding the disqualification of a Hereford runner for a uniform violation at Monday's Baltimore County cross country championships. The infraction, which related to the color of the stitching of the runner's undershorts, cost Hereford the boys team title. It also raised questions about the relevance of high school athletic regulations that appear to have no obvious effect on the competition itself.

An elderly husband and wife were bound and robbed last night by a gunman who came to their Pikesville home posing as a deliveryman.Baltimore County police gave this account:A man in his 20s, wearing what appeared to be a brown United Parcel Service uniform jacket, knocked on the front door of the home of Edward Attman in the 3700 block of Breton Way shortly after 7 p.m.When Mildred Attman, 68, opened the door the man said he had a package for her husband and...

Just what the Orioles didn't need was for their pitching problems to run full cycle.The latest victim of the day was relief ace Gregg Olson and, despite his track record, this was as predictable as yesterday's weather.This is the guy who is expected to be perfect. Give Olson a lead in the last two innings and put the game in the win column.In his three-year career, Olson has been successful 85 percent of the time (74 of 88). His signature pitch is a devastating curveball that bends the knees of the best hitters -- and gives the shakes to the most adept catchers.

Before I get down to the nitty gritty, let me say that I fully agree with The Aegis' sports editor Randy McRoberts, who voiced his distaste in Wednesday's paper on how the MPSSAA decided to move Class 2A teams into the 1A field hockey tournament in order to better fill out the brackets. That move does not sit well with me, and if I were a coach or player on the Havre de Grace, Perryville or Bohemia Manor teams, which are the only true 1A schools playing in the North bracket, I'd write a strongly worded letter to the powers that be. I am not trashing the efforts of the MPSSAA, which, like every scholastic athletic association in the country has a tough, thankless job, and I appreciate the work it puts forth (seriously, in four-plus years of trying to pick fights with various people, teams, organizations, coaches, etc. with this column, the only time I ever wrote anything bad about the MPSSAA was after some goon with a walkie talkie tried to beat me up for attempting to do an on-field interview with Fallston's Caitlin Dempsey, after she scored a double-overtime goal in the Cougars' 1-0 victory over Bethesda-Chevy Chase in the 2007 Class 3A state title game)

SARATOV, Russia -- His friends call Igor Lykov the last honest cop in Russia. They always chided him for it, telling him his crusade to uphold the law was lunacy in a country like this one.Lykov laughed off the admonitions. He couldn't live any other way, and he didn't.The doorbell rang at 10 on a Saturday night. Lykov was going over some papers, evidence related to corruption. His 15-year-old daughter, Lida, was in the kitchen with a girlfriend. When he opened the door, two shots rang out from the shabby, dark, fourth-floor hallway.

Brian Mund was doing lunch at the mall when he spied four management types, looking nearly identical as they went about their business. That's when the phrase "suits" really hit home for Mund, 52. Even when he had run the investment management operation at First National Bank (now Allfirst), he balked at stifling uniformity. But now that he worked from home as an independent commodities trader, the notion of wearing a suit just didn't fit at all."Leaving the corporate world was a major change in lifestyle," Mund says from his Towson home.

MAYBE THE WAY he blessed himself before batting caught my attention. Or maybe I admired how he threw his body fearlessly at every skittering ground ball. He batted .261, reaching base only about once out of every four bats. Yet to this day, Antonio Nemesio "Tony" Taylor remains my favorite baseball player of all time. So that's why on my eighth birthday, I asked my dad for the flannel Philadelphia Phillies uniform with red logo emblazoned across the breast plate. The conflict happened when the store clerk asked which number should be stitched on the uniform back.