Good morning Baltimore. Your faithful correspondent is back from a short hiatus and I want to thank colleague Milton Kent for his great work here over the last week-and-a-half.
Some of you may have noticed I was filing dispatches from the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and I'll continue to keep track of it from here, particularly the progress of any local players.
Meanwhile, the top three stories of concern in these parts is: 1) Steve McNair, 2) Steve McNair and 3) Steve McNair.
With the Orioles mainly waiting to see who may be shipped out of town before the trading deadline, Baltimore fans are itching for NFL training camps to start. And the good news is that quarterback Steve McNair's drunken driving-related charge was dropped in Tennessee.
It's probably not necessary to remind anyone that McNair was arrested in May in Tennessee when he allowed his vehicle to be driven by his brother-in-law, who was stopped while speeding (allegedly 45 mph in a 35-mph zone). He was charged with drunken driving after failing a field sobriety test and refusing to take a Breathalyzer test, according to police. The brother-in-law is being fined and will serve two days in jail. The charges McNair faced were the result of a little-known Tennessee law that can penalize the vehicle owner in such circumstances.
More to the point, from a sports perspective, is that McNair will not face the prospect of discipline from the NFL. Commissioner Roger Goodell's get-tough stance on off-the-field conduct has generally been applauded by fans who are fed up with the criminal behavior that's become too common among NFL players. However, it's also now a wild card in the on-the-field fortunes of pro football teams. With Goodell already setting a stern precedent with long suspensions for the Titans' Adam "Pacman" Jones, the Bengals' Chris Henry and former Bear Tank Johnson, it's clear that a conduct misstep by a key player is likely to have the same consequences as a major injury.
So for Ravens fans, a McNair conviction would have been a blow before the season even began. And it would have been an awkward spot for Goodell when you think about it. Remember, what McNair was accused of is not a law everywhere.
* And, oh yeah, the American League won the All-Star Game, 5-4, which gives the AL the home field advantage in the World Series. I'm sure that makes Orioles fans sleep better.
