Well, the QB situation could be worse — right?

September 4, 2008

Kyle Boller wasn't in the locker room at the Castle early yesterday afternoon, not surprising because he likely had not known for long that his season, and probably his Ravens career, was over. Troy Smith wasn't in the locker room, largely because he isn't close to returning to practice. Todd Bouman wasn't in the locker room at that point, probably because he had barely been an official member of the team for more than a few hours, if that.

Recent columns

• ACC bigger, but certainly not better

  September 1, 2008

  One week into the college football season might be a little early to remind everybody of what a disaster the big expansion was for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

• Beginning of mystery

  August 31, 2008

  It should have been only a quarterback "competition," and a settled one, for that matter. Maryland picks Jordan Steffy, he plays three quarters against Delaware in the season opener, he sits in the fourth quarter in favor of Chris Turner and the Terps hold on, 14-7.

• Running out of time, QBs

  August 29, 2008

  Coming into this game, the consensus was there was more riding on it than your average preseason finale. More than any other preseason finale in the entire NFL. More than any other preseason finale ever. There was no downplaying how important this was.

• Robinson to King to Obama, a combination for progress

  August 28, 2008

  Today's date, Aug.28, links two epic moments in American history and in the progress of African-Americans in this country: The Rev.Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington in 1963 and Barack Obama's speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president tonight. That has been well-documented.

• Ragtag 'D' might not hold Ravens together

  August 25, 2008

  The good news is that right now, the Ravens have about six candidates for the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year Award.

• Looking for trouble? Then look at how Ravens compared with ragtag Rams

  August 24, 2008

  The St. Louis Rams didn't have Steven Jackson or Orlando Pace in uniform, did have a group of young or ordinary receivers in uniform, and had a quarterback with a 14.1 preseason passer rating.

• Quick QB resolution wasn't in the cards

  August 21, 2008

  In hindsight, we were all out of our minds to think this quarterback thing would be resolved by now, weren't we?

• One throw away from QB controversy

  August 18, 2008

  Joe Flacco was 13 yards from sending the Baltimore metropolitan area into complete panic Saturday night.

• Rice takes opportunity, runs with it

  August 17, 2008

  In his second NFL start, Ray Rice delivered a shot of adrenaline to the Ravens' offense.

• Once again, Terps, Ravens share questions under center

  August 14, 2008

  Time for the weekly football training camp quiz. (Well, not "weekly," just today, actually.) Which prominent coach in the state - the Ravens' John Harbaugh or Maryland's Ralph Friedgen - said the following this week:

• Despite ailments, O's on track

  August 11, 2008

  You see games like this, and you wonder how they're as close to .500 as they are. Then you remember - wow, they are.

• Throwing flags on absurd play

  August 10, 2008

  Sixteen final thoughts about the Brett Favre saga, and I do mean final. (Subject to complete reversal of plans later.)

• No need for overreaction in QB battle

  August 7, 2008

  One of the many positive and exhilarating aspects of any NFL team's first preseason game is the opportunity for everybody to wildly exaggerate the outcome.

• Broken promise from O's starters

  July 21, 2008

  One after another, like line drives up the middle, reminders keep coming of what the Orioles' starting rotation could have been and what it has turned out to be.

• Questions linger for quarterbacks

  July 20, 2008

  Joe Flacco's signing last week means a lot of things, but among them is this: The first-round pick and the quarterback of the future will report to Ravens training camp on time tomorrow.

• All-Star ties aren't so bad, Bud

  July 17, 2008

  All right, everybody, let's say it together. Bud Selig, we are so, so sorry.

• Anthony exhibit step in right direction

  July 14, 2008

  It was a day full of new and surprising experiences for Carmelo Anthony. He was the center of attention yesterday as the Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards unveiled the exhibit dedicated to him - but he was unaware some of the artifacts, such as a photo of him as a child taking a jump shot on a Baltimore playground, would be in the exhibit.

• M. Ogden building his own legacy

  July 13, 2008

  Last month, when he officially retired from the NFL, Jonathan Ogden pledged his loyalty to his adopted hometown, proclaiming, "I'm a Baltimore Raven for life."

• Stain remover

  July 10, 2008

  This year has been a sports fan's feast. The Wimbledon men's final Sunday, the unforgettable Rafael Nadal- Roger Federer duel, is only the latest gem, after the Super Bowl, the NCAA men's basketball title game, Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Game 4 of the NBA Finals and the playoff for the U.S. Open golf championship.

• Sunday streak least of O's concerns

  July 7, 2008

  No, Brian Roberts said, looking perplexed at the question. This loss yesterday at Camden Yards, which came with a near tidal wave of negatives that all but washed out the positives, was not going to be the start of the Orioles' same old summertime routine.

• City sits on sideline in NBA competition

  July 6, 2008

  The two news items from early and late Wednesday weren't exactly related, but they were more than coincidental. In the morning: a front-page story in The Sun about how The Relic on Howard Street (aka 1st Mariner Arena) still makes a decent profit. At night: a settlement that allows the NBA's SuperSonics to move from Seattle to Oklahoma City.

• The Babe went to bat for black players

  June 29, 2008

  Oh, was Linda Ruth Tosetti ever asking for it. Raise yet another pedestal for her grandfather, Babe Ruth? Make Jackie Robinson share Major League Baseball's singular honor with someone who seems saturated in praise from every segment of American culture? Pit these two iconic figures, and all the accompanying baggage, against each other?

• Shaq's bad rap

  June 26, 2008

  Full disclosure: When the first snippets surfaced of Shaquille O'Neal dogging Kobe Bryant onstage at a New York club, I laughed. The more I heard, the funnier and more absurd it got.

• Cassell not ready to ring out career

  June 23, 2008

  Two days after soaking in the love of the fans in his basketball home, Sam Cassell bathed in the admiration of the fans in his real hometown. And after spending most of Saturday evening as the center of attention at a celebrity charity game at the Towson Center, Cassell proclaimed that neither Boston, Baltimore nor the NBA had seen the last of him in uniform.

• Elevating the debate over 'one and done'

  June 22, 2008

  The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics can always be counted on for spirited debate, intense scrutiny and strong recommendations in its semi-annual meetings. The most fascinating product of last week's get-together in Washington, however, concerned a topic on which no resolution was reached - or could be.

• The un-Mets

  June 19, 2008

  How gracious of the New York Mets to give the Orioles faithful a present for the one-year anniversary of their team's regime change: crystal-clear proof of how lucky they are.

• Cabrera still searching

  June 16, 2008

  Two batters into the game, Camden Yards was soaked in as much deja vu as sunshine. Uh-oh, went the buzz among the announced crowd of 31,000-plus. Cabrera doesn't have it today.

• Repairing image no slam dunk for NBA

  June 15, 2008

  The good news is that in a span of three hours Thursday night - from the time David Stern tried again to spin his league's growing officiating controversy to the climax of the greatest comeback in Finals history - the national conversation about the NBA took a refreshing turn toward the positive.

• Ogden top of the line

  June 13, 2008

  When Brett Favre officially retired that day in March in Green Bay, he drew a big crowd, much as Jonathan Ogden did yesterday in Owings Mills. Just like Favre's announcement, and like Michael Strahan's earlier this week, Ogden's farewell was carried live on national TV (in homes that get the NFL Network, at least).

• O's charm is not limited to city

  June 8, 2008

  Putting "Baltimore" back on the Orioles' road jerseys next season is a good thing; no one can argue that. Anything the franchise can do to cater to the core of the fan base - after all the years of alienating it in so many ways - is welcome. You don't have to be an Orioles lifer to get that.

• Railbird

  May 15, 2008

  By nature, he's a bird trainer. But he's no chicken.

• Caught a break

  January 19, 2008

  Not that Jason Garrett isn't making enough money now, but the Ravens should send him a bonus. A thank-you for not taking the head coaching job. A token of appreciation for sparing the franchise a big potential headache and, possibly, for opening the door to a better candidate.

• Bisciotti should take chance, put Ryan in charge

  January 1, 2008

  Rex Ryan should be hired as the Ravens' next coach before he gets away.

• Throw out the lead runners

  December 16, 2007

  After everything the Mitchell Report laid out about the depth and breadth of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, after all the suggestions and recommendations, after all the names were named and blame was assigned ... the same two foxes were left to guard the henhouse.

• Unanswered questions with hasty conclusions

  November 28, 2007

  Roger Goodell, commissioner of the NFL, said it as well as it could be said. The sudden, violent, premature death of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor, he said yesterday, "leaves many people behind struggling to understand it."

• Steele: Vick case leaving no stains on NFL

  August 19, 2007

  In the past month or so, a lot of people have said or written that this Michael Vick mess, coming at the end of more than a year of raging player misconduct, is enough to make them swear off the NFL for good.

• Steele: Vick will need a replay of Lewis' major image rehab

  July 23, 2007

  If anyone had said to you seven years ago that today Ray Lewis would be hosting a radio show in the coming season, you'd probably ask how he can broadcast from state prison. That is, once you'd have stopped laughing.

• Arena first step in filling basketball void in city

  March 25, 2007

  Enough area basketball fans and observers said it while walking around HSBC Arena last weekend to make it more than a fleeting thought by a niche audience:

• Another Colt in No. 88 jersey is more injustice for Mackey

  January 29, 2007

  Old-time Baltimore football fans weren't the only ones who thought there was something strange about the sight of No. 88 on the Colts.

• Sainted Hall should allow all tainted players

  November 30, 2006

  You don't want to be in the shoes of the Baseball Hall of Fame voters right now. A lot of them don't want to be in their shoes.

• With O'Neil's passing, bit of past slips away

  October 8, 2006

  Everybody, it seems, has a Buck O'Neil story today. My story is this: I never got the chance to meet him.

• Robinson's dismissal is crying shame

  October 1, 2006

  For the second time this season, Frank Robinson was moved to public tears. The first time, in May, after he had to bench an overmatched catcher in mid-inning, showed the depth of his humanity beneath that famously tough exterior.

• Memory of shock, emptiness still fresh 20 years later

  June 19, 2006

  I was sleepy. But I couldn't have been that sleepy.

• Lonise Bias: reaching people since 1986

  June 18, 2006

  Lonise Bias has made it her mission over the past 20 years that her son Len's death not be in vain. Tuesday was the latest proof that it was not.

• Cheers for Palmeiro's last at-bat could be start of new beginning

  August 15, 2005

  WITH TWO OUTS and two on in the bottom of the ninth inning yesterday afternoon, the Rafael Palmeiro saga officially turned back into a baseball-only story.

• Forgiveness is in air at yard as team's fallen hero signs in

  August 12, 2005

  IT WAS big, almost as big as the girl waving it over her head. It was bright orange with black lettering, and it read, "Welcome Back Raffy."

• Fans can make a stand -- by sitting at home

  August 11, 2005

  SO, Rafael Palmeiro is still lawyering up. Fine. He spent the last nine days of his 10-day steroid suspension in silence and solitude.

• Anthony saves face; message saves lives

  May 12, 2005

  OFFICIALLY, THE gathering in a vacant lot behind Johns Hopkins Hospital yesterday afternoon was the kickoff of a state-run anti-violence project.

• As a voice is stilled, memories are stirred

  March 7, 2005

  IT WAS THE spring of 1977. I was 12 years old, living in Landover, pondering my upcoming ascent to high school and sitting at a crossroads. I needed a baseball team to call my own, and it was obvious by then, six years after the Senators moved, that my hometown was not going to provide me with one.

• Heading back to East Coast a long, strange trip for columnist

  September 9, 2004

  YOU'RE NEVER coming back from there.