Volley

Rex Ryan hasn't lost his gift for gab. The New York Jets coach and former Ravens defensive coordinator is blessed with a colorful personality that lends itself to sound bites and quotes. So it's not shocking that when a reporter told Ryan during his conference call with Baltimore media Wednesday morning that the Ravens are 1-0 against the Jets under Ryan, the coach responded with a shot across the bow. “We have not beat them since I've been here, that's for sure,” he said.

A caption in King Vidor's silent classic from 1928, "The Crowd," reads: "Marriage isn't a word. It's a sentence. " The couples in "Mixed Doubles: An Entertainment on Marriage," a multi-playwright piece from 1969 enjoying an effective revival at Performance Workshop Theatre, have all been altered in some way by the life-term aspect of matrimony, the weight of that whole for-better-or-worse thing. It even affects the first twosome to appear, in "A Man's Best Friend" by James Saunders.

MONDAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS Autos Lucas Oil Off Road: Speedworld (T) SPEED10 a.m. GP2 Champ. Series: Hungary (T) SPEEDNoon MLB Oakland@Orioles (T) MASN9 a.m. Washington@Milwaukee (T) MASN12:30 Angels@Texas ESPN7 Orioles@Yankees MASN7 Orioles@Yankees (T) MASN11:30 Angels@Texas (T) ESPN3 a.m. C. base. Big Ten Final, Indiana vs. Purdue (T) BIGTEN10 a.m. H.S. foot.

FRIDAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS AFL American final: J'ville@Phila. NFL8 NASCAR Sprint Cup Pa. 400: practice SPEEDNoon Sprint Cup: Pa. 400: final practice SPEED3:30 MLB Miami@Washington: doubleheader MASN24 Orioles@Tampa Bay MASN7 Seattle@Yankees MLB7 Cubs@Dodgers (T) WGN-A10 Boxing Ty Barnett vs. Mercito Gesta ESPN210 PGA Web.com: Cox Classic: 2nd rd. GOLF10 a.m. Champions 3M Championship: 1st rd. GOLFNoon WGC Bridgestone Inv.: 2nd rd. GOLF2 Reno-Tahoe Open: 2nd rd. GOLF6:30 Olympics Tennis BRAVO7 a.m. Bask., soccer, volleyball, boxing, etc. NBCSP9 a.m. Swim., track, water polo, rowing, etc. 11, 410 a.m. Boxing (T)

Centennial's leading scorer, Brian West, didn't practice all week because he was banged up from last week's game against Thomas Stone.The week off didn't hurt him a bit.The senior striker, known as "The Flash," scored three goals to lead top-ranked Centennial to its second straight Class 3A state championship yesterday at Old Mill.The Eagles, ranked No. 5 in the nation by USA Today, won their fourth state title in five years and seventh overall by defeating No. 8 Bel Air, 4-1. It was Centennial's 31st straight victory.

WIMBLEDON, England - Andy Roddick was well into his swarm to the net yesterday when Daniele Bracciali, whose gift for tennis has remained anonymous during the years, cranked up one of his vapor-trail service returns, leaving Roddick half a nano-second to put his stamp on this gripping five-set match. Whatever instincts take over in those situations, they were there for Roddick, who vaulted off both feet to his right, extended his arm, dropped his racket and bunted a soft volley back cross-court that left his Italian tormentor no play.

It just wasn't Sean Hendricks' day to win.Hendricks broke the strings on both of his tennis rackets within a space of five minutes, played with a spectator's, reaggravated a pulled hamstring and groin muscle and lost to Lonnie Greene, 6-2, 6-2, in the men's open final of the 1994 Municipal City Championships yesterday."

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- One question, perhaps more than any other, is waiting for an answer as Monica Seles returns to professional tennis today.How will she play?She has not played a professional match since being stabbed April 30, 1993. And over the last 28 months she changed from a 19-year-old teen-ager into a 21-year-old woman. She has grown two inches to 5 feet 11 and has trimmed off the baby fat."You can practice a lot, which I have," Seles said. "But you can't prepare for the pressure of a real match.

WASHINGTON -- The Legg Mason Tennis Classic final pitted two completely different personalities with different games and different things to prove.Stefan Edberg, the gentlemanly, serve-and-volleying Swede and the defending champion, has been written off by many for being in the twilight of his career and having lost all desire to be the best.Andre Agassi, the brash, overpowering showman, an American at the peak of his game, is trying to prove that he can maintain the consistency of being the top player in the world.

If it's Tuesday, it must be pickleball — at least for a fun-loving group of women who meet at the Churchville Recreation Center in Harford County. The group started about five years ago, and members play indoors during the school year and outdoors in the summer or whenever they can. We met them on a beautiful June morning to see just why the heck this thing called pickleball gets them so fired up. Pickleball? It's a little like tennis and pingpong and a lot like badminton.

Rex Ryan hasn't lost his gift for gab. The New York Jets coach and former Ravens defensive coordinator is blessed with a colorful personality that lends itself to sound bites and quotes. So it's not shocking that when a reporter told Ryan during his conference call with Baltimore media Wednesday morning that the Ravens are 1-0 against the Jets under Ryan, the coach responded with a shot across the bow. “We have not beat them since I've been here, that's for sure,” he said.

Opponents of slot machines at Arundel Mills mall said they launched television ads Friday as part of what is expected to be a hard-fought public battle over the state's most lucrative slots parlor. David Jones, chairman of the citizens group "No Slots at the Mall," which is sponsoring the campaign to overturn zoning on slots by county ballot referendum this November, called the first foray a "significant ad buy," but declined to say how much it cost. The ad begins airing in the Baltimore media market and in Anne Arundel County on cable.

In a recent two-week period, hunters in Howard County killed 820 deer, a number that might seem surprising for a suburban county. But deer thrive in the mixed woodland and meadows of Howard's semi-rural landscape, where they both charm and annoy their human neighbors. Now, members of the Howard County Council are wrestling with the question of what, if anything, they should do to protect residents from potential deadly fire from hunters encouraged to help keep the deer population under control.

For the first 74 minutes yesterday at UMBC, Liberty's talented offense came on in waves, only to be constantly sent back to the drawing board by a Hammond defense that played both aggressively and poised. It took a well-executed corner kick - sent short and low - a cleanly struck volley and some good fortune to give the No. 6 Lions the goal they needed to capture the program's first Class 2A boys state soccer title, 1-0. Sophomore Tony Lee provided the program's biggest goal to date, hitting a corner kick that was sent in waist-high by senior Andrew Chernezia.