Fans, players honor Adenhart's memory

April 29, 2009

They had been planning the trip for a couple of months now, since they saw the Los Angeles Angels' schedule. On Tuesday, April 28, Nick was supposed to come home. Ask anyone around Williamsport and Hagerstown: They had been gearing up for the hour-plus drive to Baltimore for months now.

Recent columns

• Oher's story 'a miracle'

  April 26, 2009

  The storyteller always knew he had the makings of a good tale. He was writing about a good kid, a promising football player and an unbelievable back story. In many ways, he had found the perfect character.

• Time to shine for Ravens' star executive DeCosta

  April 24, 2009

  Miss USA was soooo earlier this week. Our collective attention turns to Mr. NFL, and the American work force slows considerably as we fill out our mock drafts and channel our inner Mel Kiper Jr.

• Time to stop carding: Let young guys into O's club

  April 22, 2009

  Brad Bergesen probably should've been with the big league team since Day One, but he finally took the mound wearing an Orioles uniform Tuesday night. His first inning as a major leaguer consisted of a couple of groundouts followed by a 12-pitch duel with Carlos Quentin.

• Ravens should go for the missing piece: Boldin

  April 19, 2009

  One week from now, we'll have a much better understanding of what the Ravens' roster will look like next season. But you don't have to wait for the first couple of rounds of the NFL draft to see how the Ravens could make the biggest upgrade, how they could take a pretty good team and immediately make it one of the league's very best.

• 'Madden is football ... football is Madden'

  April 17, 2009

  Like a carnival barker on the NFL's never-ending boardwalk, I can guess your age if you just tell me what John Madden means to you.

• Back home, there's no letting go of Adenhart

  April 11, 2009

  The next day, it still didn't make sense. They thought they would wake up to something different. They thought if they kept talking about it, if they kept reading news articles on their computers, it would help them understand.

• Orioles make early drain on bullpen

  April 10, 2009

  It took three days, but it appears the Orioles have unlocked the formula. Funny how teams can learn more in a defeat than they ever can in victory.

• Terps team playing now a different one from earlier in season

  March 20, 2009

  In a tournament in which the giants and the giant-slayers are separated by just a hallway in an arena, just a few points on the scoreboard or just a couple of seconds on the clock, the Maryland men's basketball team isn't a group struggling through an identity crisis.

• Bozeman bounces back with Bears

  March 19, 2009

  Of the eight coaches who took the podium to talk basketball, none put on a show quite like Todd Bozeman. One minute, it was a confessional, and the next a standup routine. One minute a motivational speech, and the next, an elegy for his father.

• Ex-Colt Moore's 'real story' grabs students' attention

  February 20, 2009

  He's 75 years old, so his gait is understandably slowed. His energy and his message are not. Lenny Moore held the microphone a bit too close to his mouth as he began: "I'm very pleased I've been given the invite to come here. You need to know the real story."

• Sports has worse drug issues than Phelps' dopey behavior

  February 3, 2009

  More than 150 million Americans tuned into the Super Bowl on Sunday, most not caring that among the behemoths bouncing around the field, some surely had artificial, lab-produced fuel coursing through their veins, inflating their muscles, improving their performance.

• A place on the mantel

  January 1, 2009

  The kid was at the top of the arc, sinking three-pointer after three-pointer. But it was the look on his face that sticks with me.

• 'Greatest Game' another workday for Johnny U, the modest hero

  December 28, 2008

  Fifty years ago, an undersized defensive back named Andy Nelson climbed into a car alongside a 25-year-old, fresh-faced quarterback. Was it a Pontiac? A Chevrolet? Tricky thing about time: Just as easily as it can help shape a legacy, it can fade a memory.

• Years later, team suffers unimaginable loss

  November 30, 2008

  As the years had passed, they had all scattered to some degree. They owned restaurants, they ran companies and small businesses, they sold products, marketed products, produced products, and one in particular - whom Calvert Hall's class of 1992 will never forget - served as a paramedic for the state police.

• Phelps secures rare place in city's heart, sports lore

  October 5, 2008

  Over the course of 17 races in 1 1/2 weeks, they celebrated Michael Phelps from the privacy of their homes, their excited voices careening off living room walls, waking up neighbors and stopping nearby traffic. But for the most part, the cheers and screams faded somewhere between Baltimore and Beijing.

• Back on top, U.S. men not about to fall off

  August 25, 2008

  When it was all over and the Americans were draped in red, white, blue and gold, Carmelo Anthony spoke of his team and his country and the state of USA Basketball. But he just as easily could have been referring to himself.

• Drug-free zone? Just say 'No'

  August 24, 2008

  Four years ago in Athens, 26 Olympians tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, which most agree was only a fraction of those who had artificial help gushing through their bloodstream.

• Dreaming for all of us

  August 24, 2008

  His arms are long enough to wrap around a Buick. His hands are as big as baseball mitts, and those feet would fit snugly in clown shoes. While his shoulders are broad, his lean frame would slide into a crack in the wall. In the afternoon, the sun casts a geometric shadow that's all sharp angles and long lines. It's easy to see that Michael Phelps is an amazing swimmer. He looks the part in every way possible.

• Years in the making

  August 23, 2008

  The players can almost feel it now, dangling in front of their chests. Their prizes won't weigh too much, but it won't be that slight tug of the neck that they'll notice most. The gold medals will feel as light as a feather, in fact, because the 5-ton burden that U.S. basketball players have been carrying on their shoulders for a half-dozen years is almost gone.

• Taking the field

  August 22, 2008

  It has taken a couple of tries now - the language barrier is proving to be quite the Great Wall - but the Chinese volunteers have a tight grip on the rain-slicked tarp and they're finally sprinting toward the outfield, revealing Murray Cook's diamond in the rough.

• Pulling a fast one

  August 21, 2008

  The race was simply unbelievable.

• Anthony, Team USA focusing on defense

  August 20, 2008

  It's not that the numbers lie. They just might not illustrate the story particularly well. Often, you can dissect the basketball box score and re-create the game. But that's just not the case at the Olympics.

• Beijing Games limp to the finish

  August 19, 2008

  In a flash, China stopped moving.

• Phelps should just keep going

  August 18, 2008

  One morning last week, Michael Phelps and his coach had just finished breakfast. They typically avoided talk of swimming on such mornings, usually preferring to chat about basketball or some other topic that might help keep Phelps loose.

• Phelps cements place as greatest

  August 17, 2008

  A frenzy of golden energy, Michael Phelps exited the pool, shaking water off his lithe and lean body. Onto the pool deck splashed the droplets - those Baltimore roots, the memories from Greece and the immaculate show he'd just put on in China.

• Teen, Olympians cheer each other on

  August 16, 2008

  The day the Olympics began, before the Opening Ceremony fireworks exploded, before the giant torch lit up the night sky and before Michael Phelps began blowing up world records right and left, 6,800 miles away, Emily Long sat down at her laptop and filed her dispatch.

• Good to the last drop

  August 16, 2008

  A champion like none other, and a win like none before.

• Phelps' home schooling

  August 14, 2008

  Today, Michael Phelps goes for his sixth gold medal of these Olympics. He's the undeniable star of the Games - a goofy-grinning Poseidon with boy-band popularity - but the television cameras will give plenty of time to the other instrumental characters.

• A full morning

  August 13, 2008

  6:45 a.m.: In separate rooms in separate quarters of the Olympic Village, Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff wake up for the biggest, the busiest and the most demanding day either will face at the Olympics. Swimming in two finals in a single session is an arduous task. Only a handful of swimmers have ever attempted it.

• Hoff shows she has guts

  August 11, 2008

  You can easily measure the distance between gold and silver. In heartbreaking fashion, for Katie Hoff today, it amounted to just .07 of a second.

• A record start for Phelps

  August 10, 2008

  The race for history started this way: the lean swimmer stretching on the block and channeling adrenaline, his icy stare directed solely at the pool. His sights were not set on eight gold medals. For today, for this race, one would be enough.

• Does crown fit?

  August 8, 2008

  On the dais, side by side, sat the king and queen of the XXIX Olympiad. His excellency, Michael. Her majesty, Dara.

• Ever close to home

  August 7, 2008

  Just off Interstate 83, the light turns red, and a couple of kids pounce, running a squeegee over nearby windshields and holding an open palm to windows.

• Art of deception

  August 7, 2008

  Every morning these past several months, I was reminded that, for the first time in Olympic history, China is poised to win more medals than any other nation. Each time I walked down my stairs, in fact, I was reminded. It was in plain view, right on my wall. Not an exact medal count, but an unavoidable symbol.

• Phelps homeward bound

  August 1, 2008

  It was raining outside when her youngest left the nest.

• A few loose ends to tie up for that arena

  July 25, 2008

  It's handy and it's dandy. Easy to fold and easy to hold. When you see your favorite politician, pass it on. When you see your local sports team owner, be sure to share. Because here it is for the very first time: The definitive, dead-on, no-excuses checklist.

• Spitz sees Phelps within striking distance

  July 6, 2008

  And now the race is on. They've leapt from the starting blocks. In one lane, expectations. In another, hope. And in a third, speculation.

• Olympics will shine Phelps-like spotlight on Hoff

  July 5, 2008

  In the universe of hypotheticals, the most popular impossibility buzzing around the pool is this:

• Smutz is getting back in the swim

  June 29, 2008

  Whether it's on the medal stand or on the starting blocks, the movement is nearly the same. The long athlete bends over, head deliberately bowed - ready for a medal or ready for the water.

• Fans' uniform wish to come true

  June 1, 2008

  Ten straight years of losing, more than three decades of pining and now finally a big win. In fancy dancing script perhaps? Or maybe in bold block letters? Oh, we can fret the details later. What's important now is this: "Baltimore" is back.

• Expletive Earl

  May 23, 2008

  Urban myth? Or Orioles legend?

• O's fans pay homage to Wild Bill Hagy

  April 23, 2008

  Do you still believe in magic? I guess that's the most apt question right now.

• Yea for York

  April 5, 2008

  He still remembers the first professional uniform he ever wore. He was 18 years old, fresh off the bus from Arkansas. The jersey said White Roses across the chest. In his first pro game, the public address announcer in York, Pa., announced the team's new second baseman as Bob Robinson.

• Burnin' love

  March 21, 2008

  "The sun never sets on a legend. There will always be a TCB on the Lisa Marie. The United States of America has had 43 presidents, but only one King. May he always sing ... "

• Belmont Blues

  March 20, 2008

  When I saw the first sign on Interstate 40 that told me Nashville was fast approaching, I spun the iPod wheel to a country playlist. I wasn't raised on this music, but it's something you can learn about later in life. Kind of like heartache, one of the genre's indispensable muses, I suppose.

• View from Summitt

  March 19, 2008

  The point guard yells "outlet!" and sprints up court. Her head coach, Pat Summitt, shouts, "Go! Go!" as Shannon Bobbitt blows by. At the other end, there are a few sharp passes, criss-crossing the court like laser beams in a security system. "Nice! Nice!" Summitt yells. "That's it!" Candace Parker finally flips the ball to the wing. "Shoot," she says softly, and Angie Bjorklund's shot is all net. "Yeah!" Parker says, high-fiving the smiling freshman.

• Davidson fans thinking big

  March 18, 2008

  All three swivel chairs are occupied and all three barbers are busy at work. "Doing what we do -- cutting hair and talking basketball," as Ron Raeford puts it. He's the owner and proprietor of Raeford's Barber Shop on Main Street.

• Basketball road trip begins on Tobacco Road

  March 17, 2008

  Interstate 40 stretches from California to North Carolina. You could say it's like an asphalt belt wrapping around the country's midsection, but I look at a small stretch of it and see something different.

• Loyola athlete charting course for Paralympics

  February 8, 2008

  There's just something about the water in Baltimore. Maybe you knew that already, but it's worth repeating. The water here, it enables you to do almost anything. Michael Phelps sprang from these waters. Katie Hoff, too. But the swimming story I hope we'll all be able to appreciate this summer is Philip Scholz's quest to represent the United States in the Paralympics.

• Raised around the sport, Harbaugh is football lifer

  January 20, 2008

  On the first day of the John Harbaugh era, there was barely time for a handshake and a "Pleased to meet ya."

• Calculated risk

  January 19, 2008

  Not when the veteran quarterback or hotshot running back was acquired.

• A 9-year tenure with the sweetest start finishes on the sourest note

  January 1, 2008

  They wanted to be right. There was just no room for error. So nine years ago, searching for only the second coach in Baltimore Ravens history, team personnel conducted 27 background interviews before finally speaking with the bright, articulate offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings. They spoke with players Brian Billick had coached. Men he'd worked alongside. Even the best man at his wedding.

• Hard to believe Roberts

  December 18, 2007

  Just how do we know? How do we ever know?

• Clemens belongs next to Bonds in hall of shame

  December 16, 2007

  Their names should be forever linked. Bonds and Clemens. Baseball's Bonnie and Clyde. Barnstorming American cities, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens robbed fans, plundered our pastime and cheated their fellow ballplayers, both past and present.

• On scant evidence, Roberts tangled in controversy

  December 14, 2007

  At 5 feet 9 and 175 pounds, he is among the smallest players linked to performance-enhancing drugs by the Mitchell Report. Small in stature, but not in significance.

• Gibbons' admission of hGH use smacks of hypocrisy

  December 7, 2007

  Presumably, any day now George Mitchell will release a scathing report on steroids in baseball that will either eternally restore our faith in the national pastime or shock us all into moving to Ottawa and becoming NHL fans. But there's a slight problem with this premise: As far as shock goes, baseball has successfully waited out our attention span.

• Tall order for the heavyweight class

  September 26, 2007

  Out of a small boombox, James Brown is preaching about shaking your moneymaker, getting up and staying on the scene, while the Giant's size 18 feet bounce in steady rhythm on the mat. Way, way up above, the boxer's meaty hands, each the size of a catcher's mitt, punch holes in the humid air.

• Ex-players making gains on benefits

  September 21, 2007

  Earlier this week, Brent Boyd walked into Room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building, noticed the sharp wood paneling and the three low-hanging chandeliers. The first thing he thought was, "This is the most opulent room I've been in." The second was, "What the hell am I doing in here?"

• Maese: Phelps ready to dive right in

  August 3, 2007

  Under his skull-tight swim cap, you can't really tell much about Michael Phelps' training. But under his Detroit Tigers ball cap, you can see his hair sprouting out like a well-watered houseplant. It's a subtle thing, but it tells us where Phelps is in his preparation for the Beijing Olympics.

• Maese: In Cooperstown, today can never be Bonds' day

  July 29, 2007

  Here, in the one place charged with immortalizing baseball's feats and achievements, the biggest record of them all doesn't seem to exist this weekend.

• Maese: Hall of sons, fathers, too

  July 27, 2007

  There's a part of Cal Ripken Jr.'s Hall of Fame induction speech he's both anticipating and dreading. He's been rehearsing it privately, hoping to smooth out the voice cracks and the sniffles. He's normally a composed and articulate speaker, but when Ripken talks about his father Sunday, even he can't predict where his emotions might take him.

• Maese: Once more, Ripken offers Orioles fans reason to rejoice

  July 25, 2007

  If you're able to ignore the baseball standings, it was about the best night you could imagine at the ballpark. Giant numbers were hanging on the warehouse again. Rabid fans filled the seats at Oriole Park again. The Orioles won a game again. And for a beleaguered and frustrated fan base, for three hours, there was something worth cheering again.

• Maese: With speech, Ripken fields tough chance

  July 20, 2007

  It's not that Cal Ripken Jr. is at all ungrateful, but you've got to understand, over the past few months, virtually everyone he encounters goes through the same two-step greeting.

• Ripken a reminder of O's past success, current problems

  April 10, 2007

  More than five years have passed, and the face of the organization still hasn't changed. Not for a single day. It was there again yesterday for the home opener, in fact. We saw him lob a soft toss to Miguel Tejada - the ceremonial first pitch. And just as they always had before, the fans went crazy.

• Sport still not making a splash

  April 6, 2007

  As Tiger Woods embarked on winning a fifth green jacket at this year's Masters, he took a moment to reflect on another athlete, someone nearly 10,000 miles away whose athletic uniform wouldn't come close to satisfying the dress code at Augusta National.

• Coaching life, not play, is at heart of 'Big Game'

  February 4, 2007

  There are images I won't soon forget:

• Barbaro runs to legendary status

  January 30, 2007

  Commentary

• Swimming feels ripples of Phelps' dominance

  December 10, 2006

  As he does just about every Sunday, Michael Phelps will wake up this morning and slip on his Ravens jersey. A replica of Ed Reed's No. 20 bookends Phelps' trim frame. Then he'll hit the streets of Ann Arbor, Mich., searching for a television that's broadcasting today's game from Kansas City.

• B. Robinson: Don't give McGwire Hall pass

  December 3, 2006

  Brooks Robinson is expecting a record crowd to converge on Cooperstown, N.Y., in July to watch Cal Ripken Jr. join the game's immortals in the Hall of Fame.

• The unknown Unitas

  October 20, 2006

  Tomorrow marks 50 years since anyone was given even a glimpse of what was in store.

• Ripken would be perfect prescription to revive O's

  September 8, 2006

  Pennant fever returns to Camden Yards tonight, once again unpacking its bags and filling the cramped quarters of the visiting clubhouse. The New York Yankees' September series against the Orioles has turned into an annual celebration of the Haves and the Haven't-A-Clues. In the visitors' dugout tonight, they'll be talking about next month, and over on the first base side, talk is already geared toward next year.

• No skating around it: I can't match Meissner

  September 3, 2006

  Kimmie Meissner just might be the strongest human being on the face of the planet.

• Ultimate Fighting's popularity may put boxing down for count

  August 26, 2006

  I sat ringside for my first boxing match when I was 14 years old. There might have been 100 people in the room, but somehow those droplets of blood chose to fly from the fighter's nose and land on my white shirt. I was infected. Whatever it was about the supposed sweet science, it got me.

• Ian Hendricks builds on a baseball legacy

  June 23, 2006

  When we last saw Ian Hendricks, he'd just thrown out the ceremonial first pitch at Camden Yards, the one that opened the Orioles' season. Rick Dempsey gave him a hug and the crowd stood in appreciation of Ian's father, Elrod Hendricks, the Orioles' longtime coach who died in December.

• Terps aren't too young to savor the moment

  April 5, 2006

  Heroes in a half-shell.

• Meissner rings up useful experience

  February 24, 2006

  As Sasha Cohen stood on a podium and felt 20 ounces of silver pulling at her neck, David Raith was talking about the future. Raith is the executive director of U.S. Figure Skating. You bet he's excited about Cohen's finish, but his hope comes from scanning further down the leader board.

• As Meissner glows, Cohen's a no-show

  February 23, 2006

  Her medal hopes ahead of her, the Skating Surprise pulled her luggage behind her.

• NFL neglect of Mackey belongs in hall of shame

  December 27, 2005

  Just the other day, John had to be picked up early from the day care center. He had found some candy, and then he went roaming through cabinets looking for some more. At some point, others saw what John had and then they wanted some candy, too. Only John didn't want to share.