Win The Super

Red Right 88. The Drive. The Fumble.That's part of the frustrating legacy the Cleveland Browns will bring to Baltimore next year.The Browns never have played in a Super Bowl, a failure that owner Art Modell says has become an obsession with them.But they came agonizingly close to doing it during the 1980s, when they lost seven times in the playoffs, four times to an AFC team that went to the Super Bowl, three times in the AFC title game to the Denver Broncos."I don't think any team has ever come so close [to the Super Bowl]

A "go home" Raw (the last episode before a pay-per-view event) is always watched with extra attention, mostly because critics have the same question -- did this particular show do anything to increase my interest in buying the pay-per-view on Sunday? Lately, many of these critics have answered no. Many people feel that Raw last night was no different -- that it was flat, lacked spark and didn't do very much to push the figurative "buy rate" needle. These, of course, are criticisms that always arise for this particular (mostly monthly)

This week, each of the 32 NFL teams will start their seasons with renewed hope and dozens of reasons -- real or imagined -- to believe that they will be the ones leaving their sweaty fingerprints on the Lombardi Trophy at season's end. But let's be honest here: Most of those teams won't come remotely close to touching it. That's why I'm going to spare you the suspense and weed out more than half the field before they play their first games....

I'm not very good at making preseason predictions. Two years ago, I picked the Giants to beat the Chargers in the Super Bowl. Last season, I wrote a column saying the Ravens would go all the way, and they might have had they not fallen apart against the Steelers. This year, I'm feeling good about the Patriots and the Packers -- and yes, I felt that way before Thursday night -- but considering my track record, neither will win it all in 2011. That's why I'm picking nine different teams to lift the Lombardi Trophy, with a reason why each of the NFL's true contenders will be showered with confetti at season's end. I like my chances of getting it right this year.

Monsters of the Midway Steve Svekis Sun Sentinel Based on performance in one season, the final four are the 1985 Bears, 1991 Redskins, 1973 Dolphins and the 1989 49ers. These teams had fewer than three losses and dominated their postseasons, including the Super Bowl. The 14-2 Redskins were the only such team whose regular-season opponents finished above .500 cumulatively. Still, they are far, far back of the 1985 Bears. With that smothering "46" defense, "Sweetness" and the funky QB known as Jim McMahon, Chicago lost only once in the regular season.

Island View Waterfront Cafe is the kind of place that's made for summer. But that doesn't mean a wintertime visit is a bad idea. On a recent Friday night - cold and rainy - the summertime crowds were nowhere to be found. But the service was personable and efficient, the food comforting, and the space, with its Chesapeake tchotchkes and antique decoys, as charming as a seaside cottage. Located at the end of a long road in Essex, on a tip of land jutting out into the Chesapeake Bay near Hart-Miller Island, Island View Waterfront Cafe was built in 1920, originally as a dance hall and picnic spot for people escaping the city in the summer.

Baltimore native Otis "Damon" Harris, a one-time member of the legendary Motown act The Temptations, died on Monday after losing a 14-year-long battle to prostate cancer, according to family spokesman Chuck Woodson. Harris was 62. Harris, a resident of Owings Mills, died at the Joseph Richey Hospice in Seton Hill. Woodson said he was in remission until three years ago. The cancer had "gotten pretty bad" by the end of last summer, Woodson said, leaving Harris in the hospital from November until last week, when he was transferred to the hospice.

Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, the ebullient Memphis, Tenn., couple who made Michael Oher their third child, enrolled him at Ole Miss, then cheered him on when he became a Baltimore Raven, have collaborated on their own version of the story that became the book and the hit movie "The Blind Side." With Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins, they've written "In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving." Their book aims to bring the Michael Oher miracle off the big screen and back down to real life — and make sure that its message won't get lost.

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco apologized Tuesday for what he called a bad choice of words when responding to a question about cold-weather cities hosting Super Bowls. Flacco was asked by a columnist from Denver if he had an opinion on the decision to hold next year's Super Bowl in New York and the possibility of the city of Denver convincing the NFL to deliver the big game to Sports Authority Field at Mile High sometime in the next decade. “Yeah, I think it's retarded," he said.

Months after trading veteran wide receiver Anquan Boldin to the San Francisco 49ers following a contract dispute, the Ravens waited until the seventh round to draft a wide receiver. Ravens assistant general manager Eric DeCosta attributed that to how their draft board stacked up with only a few elite receiver prospects like former Dunbar star Tavon Austin, but didn't rule out the possibility of acquiring an established receiver prior to the regular season. "I think the hunt goes on," DeCosta said Monday night during The Baltimore Sun Sports Forum.