Wanted To Play

This is where Randall Cunningham's experience comes in. And it has nothing to do with his ability on the field, where Cunningham has played in 159 games in his 16-year career. It is about Cunningham using the professionalism drawn from such a long haul to help defuse a potentially nasty situation off the field. Cunningham is entangled in the most hotly debated topic surrounding the Ravens: whether he should start Sunday's game at Jacksonville instead of struggling quarterback Elvis Grbac.

The Blast tended to some important business off the field, announcing the signing of midfielder Danny Barber, and then enthusiastically took to it yesterday morning. The team opened camp at Du Burns Arena in preparation for the 2001-02 Major Indoor Soccer League season that will kick off this month. The Blast selected Barber with its first pick in the MISL Dispersal Draft, which distributed players from four teams of the now-defunct National Professional Soccer League that won't be playing in the new league this season.

In a week when football takes a backseat to reality, NFL players yesterday voiced reservations - and apprehensions - about playing this weekend's schedule. One day after a terrorist assault on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, New York Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde was not eager to fly west for Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders. "I think all the games should be canceled this week," Testaverde said. "The last thing we want to do is get on a plane and go to California, when all four of those planes that were hijacked were going to California."

Oakland Athletics All-Star first baseman, incumbent American League Most Valuable Player and pending free agent Jason Giambi yesterday may have put a dent in the Orioles' hopes to land him with a mega-contract this winter. Giambi, who contributed a two-run homer in the A's 6-2 victory last night, said before the game he has little interest in becoming the centerpiece of a rebuilding project. Calling himself "just a guy who wants to win," Giambi said he intends to commit to a contender whether or not he remains with the A's, who have offered him a six-year, $90 million extension that lacks the blanket no-trade protection he seeks.

CARLISLE, Pa. -- Dave Szott did not need to be convinced by Washington Redskins coach Marty Schottenheimer to come out of semiretirement to shore up the team's fragile situation at left guard. Szott, 33, an 11-year veteran who signed late Sunday for the veteran's minimum of $477,000, thought the arm injury that forced him to miss all but one game with the Kansas City Chiefs last season cost him the proper ending to a pretty good career and was hoping for a chance to keep playing. That's why when Schottenheimer called last week to inquire about his interest, Szott, a seventh-round pick out of Penn State in 1990 who played for Schottenheimer for the first eight years of his career, was more than receptive.

LANDOVER -- In desperate need of quality quarterbacking, the Washington Redskins and their fans got a glimpse of what good signal-calling looks like in the team's home preseason opener last night. Too bad for them the solid play came from Atlanta Falcons' starter, Chris Chandler, and his heir apparent, Michael Vick, who alternately ran and threw the Redskins out of FedEx Field to the tune of a 27-6 drubbing. While Chandler and Vick were moving the Falcons up and down the field, their Washington counterparts, second-year man Todd Husak and rookie Sage Rosenfels, showed all of their inexperience, throwing a combined three interceptions, one that was returned for a touchdown.

With the ink barely dry on his contract, Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen set out full steam on the recruiting trail the day after he had accepted the job to run the Terrapins on Nov. 29. Several recruits were unsure of the program's future after Ron Vanderlinden, the Terps' head coach for four seasons, was fired Nov. 19. But Friedgen's reassurance and optimism was quick to win over a number of recruits, including Howard's Gerrick McPhearson, Wilde...

Roller hockey has made its way from street corners to an organized league, as its speed attracts kids and adults alike to one of the county's newest sports. "It's a fast-paced sport, and a lot of the kids enjoy playing it," says Mike Milani, a sports supervisor for Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks, which established the organization that includes instructional, minor and major leagues. "It's definitely one of the fastest-growing sports in the county." Like its cousin, ice hockey, roller hockey rewards stick-handling, as well as skill on inline skates.

Self-preservation will be the keynote of the Ravens' last preseason game of 2000. Asked for a checklist of objectives for tonight's affair against the New York Giants at Giants Stadium, coach Brian Billick was succinct. "Stay healthy, evaluate the four or five key guys, come out of it with a certain amount of efficiency," he said. "You'll probably see a whole lot more running because we want the clock to run: Let's get out of this thing alive." A dress rehearsal, indeed. The Ravens' first-team offense needs only to put together one legitimate drive against the 0-3 Giants before calling it a preseason.

There was a time, two years ago, when Yvonne Streater was apprehensive when entering a lacrosse game. She was just a sophomore at Walbrook High and had never played organized lacrosse before. To that point, Streater's only experience with the sport had taken place in middle school gym classes, where many girls, if they had their "druthers," probably would have chosen arithmetic over lacrosse. Inexperience wasn't her only obstacle. She was playing on the varsity boys team. Like most other Baltimore public high schools, Walbrook has no girls lacrosse program, leaving Streater one option if she wanted to pursue lacrosse.