Showing posts with label Baltimore Sun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baltimore Sun. Show all posts

Friday, December 27, 2013

For a whole generation of Oriole fans like me, Paul Blair was the living embodiment of The Oriole Way. So very, very sad at the news that my all-time favorite Oriole, the baseball player I most patterned myself on as a CF, died Thursday night. THE player I studied so intensely so many days and nights at O's exhibition games at Miami Stadium in the 1970's, looking for any hint of how to do things the right way -The Oriole Way. He was always smiling, always friendly to fans, always hustling and always a great teammate. R.I.P. # 6 #Class; Roy Firestone

For a whole generation of Oriole fans like me, from South Florida up I-95 to Maryland/southern PA, and knowledgeable baseball fans from coast-to-coast who appreciated players who paid attention to detail and did the small things in a game that make the difference between winning and losing, Paul Blair was the living embodiment of The Oriole Way.




So very, very sad at the news Thursday night that the former Oriole legend and masterful centerfielder died Thursday night while bowling in suburban Pikesville.

Paul Blair was my all-time favorite Oriole, the baseball player I most patterned myself on as a Centerfielder in Little League and Pony League in North Miami Beach's Optimist League, just as it often seemed to me years later that Ken Griffey Jr. would pattern himself on years later -playing shallow in CF- after watching Paul while his Dad and Paul were teammates on the Yankees of the late '70's, which earned paul two more World Series rings for a total of four.

One year, when one of my Pony League teams got new uniforms but all the numbers started in the fifties -like we were all minor league pitchers who'd only be at spring training for a few weeks before going back to our minor league teams- I quickly grabbed #51 out of the box and ripped-off the shrink wrap because 5 + 1 = 6, Paul Blair's jersey number.

My last two years of playing NMB Optimist Football in the mid-1970's, for the 115-pound team, though I was primarily a defensive end and special teams player, I also wore #6 because... 
Plus, like him, I was the fastest player on my team.



Photo of Paul Blair at Orioles spring training HQ at Miami Stadium, Miami, FL.

Paul Blair was the one player I studied intensely on so many days and nights at O's exhibition games at Miami Stadium in the 1970's -with family and friends- when they were in their glory days, and I was looking for any hint of how to do things the right way -The Oriole Way, because that's how I wanted to do it, too. 


Once they closed camp and left for baltimore, I listened to the team and his personal exploits via Chuck Thompson and Bill O'Donnell's expert play-by-play and color commentary, back when the O's affiliate in Miami at the time, WGBS-AM, carried ALL their games. 

I'd listen to those games no matter where I was -which my parents didn't always appreciate- and l'd fall asleep at night with my small brightly-colored Radio Shack transistor radio under my pillow listening to West Coast road trips, back when the A's really were the Amazing A's.
(If they'd won that ALCS series with the A's in 1973 and '74, they'd have played in the World Series 5 out of 6 years and I definitely think they'd have beaten the Mets in '73 and the Reds in '74.)

Asd I have written here on the blog before, I was such a big Orioles fan that I not only had every Orioles yearbook from 1970 until I left for college in 1979, agonizing when they lost to Pirates in the World series, but in February and March, at least once a week, I'd catch buses at the 163rd Street Shopping Center out to Biscayne College where the Orioles' minor league teams trained, always hoping to see the new/next Don Baylor or Bobby Grich in-person.
In those pre-Internet days, I'd always hope to run into a Baltimore area media type who could point out who was who, esp. someone like John Steadman.

Every family car we had in the 1970's I made certain had the circular bumper sticker of the cartoon Oriole at bat, so everyone would know, esp. on vacations, like up to Asheville in the summer of 1972, when they were part of the O's minor league system, that I/we were real Oriole fans.

Paul Blair was always smiling, always friendly to fans, always hustling and always a great teammate. 
R.I.P. #6 #Class
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Photo of Paul Blair and son at Memorial Stadium, Baltimore, MD.









Above, former Baltimore Colt RB/Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinee Lenny Moore, broadcaster Roy Firestone and former Orioles center fielder Paul Blair on Brooks Robinson Day, for the unveiling of the larger-than-life bronze sculpture of the Oriole Hall of Fame third baseman outside Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Sept. 29, 2012, Baltimore, MD.
Few would know how true this was more than Roy, whom I first met 41 years ago.
As I've written here before, at the time, Roy was a University of Miami student and was also working for Channel 4 Sports back when it was still Ralph Renick's WTVJ-TV, and their Sports Dept. was the class and envy of the state.
I was an 11-year old camper at the Bob Griese-Karl Noonan boys sports camp up in Boca Raton, where Roy was a counselor who soon became a friend because of his sense of humor, common sense and amazing knowledge of the same things I was most-interested in: sports, journalism and films.

When I was a senior at North Miami Beach High School and he was already working out in Los Angeles at KNX-TV, Roy was also one of the many people I spoke to and respected who recommended that I attend Syracuse and the S.I. Newhouse School of Communication, the home of so much of ESPN and the sports television and marketing establishment of the past thirty years.


But after things didn't work out financial aid-wise for my longtime first choice, The University of Southern California (USC) -who offered me a great deal of financial aid , but still not enough for me to swing it financially from Miami to Los Angeles, especially given how expensive it was to fly back and forth from LA to Miami back then- I went to IU, knowing only one person in the whole state of indiana, and they weren't in Bloomington. 

Syracuse just seemed too cold and isolated for me.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Baltimore Sun's savvy TV critic David Zurawik zeroes-in on Beltway political class & MSM's tacit agreement on unethical conduct and asks rhetorical question: "Is it wrong for CNN's Paul Begala to ask me to give money to Al Franken?" Yes, let me count the ways...but let's not forget to throw Stephanie Cutter on the fire, too; @davidzurawik


Baltimore Sun
Z on TV blog
Was it wrong for CNN's Paul Begala to ask me to give Al Franken money?
To me, this is how the channel's news identity is demeaned by mixing politics, money and media
By David Zurawik The Baltimore Sun
6:58 a.m. EST, November 4, 2013
Maybe it's just me, but a fundraising letter I received from CNN's Paul Begala last week struck me as emblematic of what's wrong when media are mixed with money and politics -- as they increasingly are these days at cable TV news channels in Washington.
Here's the letter. And you tell me if this is appropriate for someone listed as "commentator" at CNN -- someone who also appears on the channel's website under the heading "Anchors/Reporters" as Begala does
Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/bal-cnn-paul-begala-money-fund-raising-20131031,0,6011421.story

As for Stephanie Cutter, well, she merely proves that the sort of unethical behavior we've been force-fed by America's Mainstream Media and been forced to expect from certain Democratic Party & GOP consultants and strategists is not a Male-Only preserve:

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/09/cnn-lowered-its-ethical-standards-make-things-easier-newt-gingrich/69959/

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/09/obama-guys-were-too-afraid-demote-stephanie-cutter/69384/

Fox News Channel
White House getting advice on Syria from former Obama campaign advisers 
By Ed Henry
Published September 03, 2013 FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/03/white-house-getting-advice-on-syria-from-former-obama-campaign-advisers/

Sure, why not get advice from people who don't actually know anything original about the country or speak French and Arabic, and who only know what other people have told them or what they've read.
Just like your neighbor or the person who hands you your coffee at Panera Bread.

My recollections of September are that President Obama's policy on Syria was a disaster from beginning to end and something that everyone, regardless of political ideology, agreed upon on from coast-to-coast.

You remember, the policy that even the Washington Post's Editorial Board strongly criticized and which I mentioned last Tuesday, here:
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.be/2013/10/obamas-bad-foreign-policy-from-start.html

The one time in five years that Obama really brought the country together -in opposition to his own policies.

Sure, of course, that result is to be expected when you've got such great consultants and advisors.
Just don't say anything bad about Valerie Jarrett and her lack of knowledge or else...

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Pitch-perfect from the very start! Mike Klingaman in the Baltimore Sun on one of Baltimore's most-beloved icons: "Art Donovan played pro football for 12 years. The rest of his life, he spent telling everyone about it."; For the people of Baltimore, he was a true Hall-of-Famer in every way that really counts in life; Excellent ‏@thomloverro piece on Donovan family tradition of service in U.S. military in The Telegraph!



So very much I could say here.
Stories I could share that made me laugh over the years no matter how many times I'd heard them before. That is when you really know you like someone -you laugh at the jokes and anecdotes they tell just as hard as the first time you heard them, decades ago.

Here's the thing you need to know and appreciate: in a country of over 312 million people with different opinions and views on every subject under the sun, there's only a handful of living former athletes in this country who were or are as important, as closely-identified and as genuinely beloved in their cities or regions as Art Donovan was to the Baltimore area.




Baltimore Sun
Art Donovan, vocal ex-Colts defensive tackle, dies at 89
By Mike Klingaman The Baltimore Sun
9:52 p.m. EDT, August 4, 2013
Art Donovan played pro football for 12 years. The rest of his life, he spent telling everyone about it.
Donovan, 89, who died Sunday of a respiratory ailment at Stella Maris Hospice, played and talked a great game. He was a Hall of Fame defensive tackle for the Baltimore Colts and an engaging raconteur at banquets and on TV talk shows. His cherublike face, adenoidal voice and side-splitting tales of yore captivated generations of viewers who never saw Donovan collar a quarterback or take down a runner.
"Artie made a career out of telling people everything that he'd done right — and wrong — in football," said Ordell Braase, his teammate on the field and in the broadcast studio. "The diversity of his appeal was amazing. Everyone wanted to hug 'Fatso,' from young girls to little old ladies."
Read the rest of the article and see the great photo gallery at:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-donovan-advanceobit-20130804,0,2235243.story

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Mike Webb YouTube Channel video: Art Donovan on NBC-TV's "Tonight Show" with host Johnny Carson, circa 1987. Uploaded August 15, 2010. http://youtu.be/7HDRLnoAY9E




WMAR-TV 2, Baltimore
Hall of Fame Colt Art Donovan a friend to all
By Jeff Hager
August 5, 2013

BALTIMORE -
He first met Art Donovan as a rookie safety out of the state of Alabama, and the towering tackle took Andy Nelson under his wing in what became a lifetime friendship that only came up short when it came to tasting his former teammate's barbecue.

"He likes Spam and he like hotdogs and pizza, but he wasn't a big pit beef man, pork man," recalled Nelson.

Over the years, Nelson says he did know enough about the gentle giant to keep a Schlitz beer on hand to help that pit beef go down.


Read the rest of the article at: http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/region/baltimore_city/hall-of-fame-colt-a-friend-to-all

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bal-artdonovan,0,280730.storygallery

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/08/looking-back-at-art-donovans-best-late-night-appearances/

Saturday, May 25, 2013

There's a reason it's called the First Amendment: Americans want a free and energetic press corps, not a Mainstream Media chorus full of kiss-up sycophants to the President and the powerful, but many in MSM don't care -until Holder & DOJ over-stepped, and even then, some "journalists" can't put Constitution first over their love for Obama: The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza calls out media Obama kiss-ups in public re James Rosen case, while Balt. Sun media critic David Zuirawik deconstructs Obama & Co.'s obsession with Fox News -and attempts to marginalize it- by simply letting facts and Roger Ailes' own words appear in print: "Roger Ailes grabs moral high ground over Obama on phone, email seizures. Memo to Fox staffers shows character, righteousness, leadership"






There's a reason it's called the First Amendment: Americans want a free and energetic press corps, not a Mainstream Media chorus full of kiss-up sycophants to the President and the powerful, but many in MSM don't care -until Holder & DOJ over-stepped, and even then, some "journalists" can't put Constitution first over their love for Obama: The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza calls out media Obama kiss-ups in public re James Rosen case, while Balt. Sun media critic David Zuirawik deconstructs Obama & Co.'s obsession with Fox News -and attempts to marginalize it- by simply letting facts and Roger Ailes' own words appear in print: "Roger Ailes grabs moral high ground over Obama on phone, email seizures. Memo to Fox staffers shows character, righteousness, leadership"

Baltimore Sun
Roger Ailes grabs moral high ground over Obama on phone, email seizures
Memo to Fox staffers shows character, righteousness, leadership
By David Zuirawik, The Baltimore Sun
6:12 p.m. EDT, May 23, 2013
The Obama White House has been trying to de-legitimize Fox News almost from the day it took office. Remember the media blitz of 2009 launched by then White House Communications Director Anita Dunn?
I stood with Fox on that one on principle and came away impressed with the almost tribal unity that Roger Ailes inspired in his troops in the face of White House pressure.
Read the rest of Zuirawik's column at:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/bal-roger-ailes-rosen-obama-moral-20130523,0,6047321.story

Such a great closing, and not just because I agree with it 100%::
But I am going to rejoin the battle, because what the White House is doing is truly in a league with Nixon. The difference is that we now have a dumbed-down, wimped-out and suck-up press compared to the one Nixon faced. And what passes for media criticism is, in the main, even more spineless and pathetic.
Too many of the press folks, especially in Washington, are all too happy to kiss up to the White House rather than doing their jobs as Rosen has. Or, maybe they just don't have his dedication and courage.
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Ryan Lizza  @RyanLizza  https://twitter.com/RyanLizza

Read his three most recents columns on this subject here:

The New Yorker
May 20, 2013
BLOG: NEWS DESK
THE D.O.J. VERSUS JAMES ROSEN
Here is the full forty-four-page Justice Department application for the search warrant of the Gmail account of Fox News's James Rosen.
By Ryan Lizza

May 21, 2013
BLOG: NEWS DESK
THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AND FOX NEWS’S PHONE RECORDS
The Obama Justice Department has seized the phone records of numbers that are associated with White House staffers and, apparently, with Fox News reporters.
By Ryan Lizza

May 24, 2013
BLOG: NEWS DESK
HOW PROSECUTORS FOUGHT TO KEEP ROSEN’S WARRANT SECRET
The Obama Administration fought to keep a search warrant for James Rosen’s private e-mail account secret.
By Ryan Lizza
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/05/how-justice-fought-to-keep-rosens-warrant-secret.html

Sunday, September 16, 2012

What voter fraud? Oh, THAT voter fraud! Robert Wexler of Palm Beach and suburban Maryland was the trailblazer! Maryland Democrat withdraws from MD-1 race after allegations she voted in 2 states -the other being -wait for it- Florida, are confirmed; What voter fraud? Joe Gibbons!


When I first heard about this story on Tuesday morning after reading the latest on the Orioles amazing winning ways in the Baltimore Sun's sports section -only ten times better than the Miami Herald's and or Sun-Sentinel's combined- I must admit that the political romantic in me hoped that the woman caught up in a political ethical scandal before she could even be elected to Congress, Wendy Rosen, was from either Broward County or Miami-Dade, so there'd be yet another South Florida angle to a political scandal, but sadly, she's from mundane St. Pete, the land of the equivocating (Charlie) Crists.


When she isn't from Maryland... 
But she's described by Politico as being a "Miami native," so we have that at least.

The day after Rosen dropped-out of the race, a newspaper story appeared that recounted how her opponent, Republican incumbent Andy Harris, an anesthesiologist, was involved in a life-saving rescue involving a small child on the road he was traveling on while campaigning.
Can you imagine? 

You don't have to be a political genius to know that the odds of a write-in candidate -John LaFerla- trying to fill the void of a major party candidate who drops-out and successfully map a battle plan that knocks-off a popular incumbent, with only nine weeks to go, has enough problems on their hands before a newspaper in the CD runs a headline that reads, essentially, "Incumbent saves boy's life."

But political reality is stranger than fiction.
Even in places not named Florida.

The Baltimore Sun
Democrat withdraws from 1st District congressional race after allegations she voted in two states
Rosen says she registered in Fla. to support friend there
By Matthew Hay Brown, The Baltimore Sun
9:50 a.m. EDT, September 11, 2012
Wendy Rosen, the Democratic challenger to Republican Rep. Andy Harris in the 1st Congressional District, withdrew from the race Monday amid allegations that she voted in elections in both Maryland and Florida in 2006 and 2008.
It was unclear, however, whether she could remove her name from the ballot with the election less than two months away. Under state law, a candidate has until 70 days before an election to remove his or her name from the ballot. The deadline for the Nov. 6 election passed on Aug. 28.
Read the rest of the article at:

Harris saves boy's life along U.S. Route 50 
September 12, 2012 5:30 am 
Updated: 6:27 pm, Tue Sep 11, 2012.


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Wendy Rosen campaign website: http://www.wendyrosen.com/
Andy Harris congressional website: http://harris.house.gov/

Friday, August 10, 2012

"This is what I've dreamed about my whole life" -Miami connection of Baltimore Orioles' future arrives early as Oriole's 20-year old star prospect and Miami-area native Manny Machado gets called-up from Double-A Bowie to start at third base in Thursday's Royals-O's ballgame, and 2010 First Round pick impresses with two hits in O's loss at Oriole Park at Camden Yards; #MannyMachado

"This is what I've dreamed about my whole life" -Miami connection of Baltimore Orioles' future arrives early as Oriole's 20-year old star prospect and Miami-area native Manny Machado gets called-up from Double-A Bowie to start at third base in Thursday's Royals-O's ballgame, and 2010 First Round pick impresses with two hits in O's loss at Oriole Park at Camden Yards 
The Baltimore Sun
Manny Machado makes his major league debut — even sooner than he expected
By Eduardo A. Encina
11:57 p.m. EDT, August 9, 2012
He had replayed the moment in his mind many times before growing up, but Manny Machado didn't know exactly what playing in his first major league game would feel like. One thing was certain: Knowing it was a once-in-a-lifetime event, he wanted to make sure he was able to make Thursday night memorable.
Less than 24 hours earlier, he came off the Double-A Bowie team bus after Wednesday night's game in Altoona and be told by manager Gary Kendall that he was about to become a big leaguer the next day.
Read the rest of the story at:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-manny-machado-debut-0810-20120809,0,6084272.story

See the Baltimore Sun video of Manny Machado at: http://www.baltimoresun.com/videogallery/71742592/Sports/VIDEO-Machado-This-is-what-I-ve-dreamed-about-my-whole-life

Great photo of Manny Machado at  http://network.yardbarker.com/mlb/article_external/manny_machado_arrives/11417719

See also:
Baseball America
Prospects Blog
Orioles Calling Up Manny Machado
Posted Aug. 8, 2012 11:56 pm by Ben Badler
http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2012/08/orioles-calling-up-manny-machado/



Above, some of my tickets from the last few Baltimore Oriole games I saw in-person at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 2002, before I moved back to South Florida in 2003.

The Orioles are in it to win it!
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http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/

Monday, February 6, 2012

Yeardley Love in our thoughts: UVA & Charlottesville, extended UVA family & U.S. Lacrosse community are bracing themselves for the graphic details/photos that'll emerge in George Huguely V's murder trial starting Monday


WMAR-TV/Baltimore video: Reporter Sherrie Johnson reports on the case and its lasting effect on the UVA campus. February 3, 2012.  

Yeardley Love in our thoughts: UVA & Charlottesville, the extended UVA family & the U.S. lacrosse community are bracing themselves for the graphic details and 15 photos that both sides agree will come quickly in George Huguely V's first-degree murder trial that starts Monday, with jury selection and voir dire, in what is expected to be a two-week trial. 

Huguely's defense team have already made clear that they are uneasy with some of Judge Edward Hogshire's announced plans for group voir dire to get down to the final members of the jury, whose actual size with alternates is expected to be twelve plus three.

As most of you who come to this blog regularly know -but so those of you who don't will know- there are more than just a few things that color my own thoughts on both the sport and this story in particular, so here's what you need to know.

I lived and worked in the Washington, D.C. area for 15 years and knew lots of people who were very proud UVA alums, including some past housemates.
The Charlottesvile area is one of my favorite places in all of the country, a place that's (almost) as nice as the beautiful, friendly and diverse sensibility and high Quality of Life that I came to know and appreciate in Bloomington while I was at Indiana University, IU

While I lived up in Arlington County, less than two-and-a-half hours northeast of Charlottesville, especially those last few years there, I used to frequently go down there with friends on weekend drives to see what was doing, often swinging by one of the many historical places there, as well as some of the more popular restaurants and haunts near campus.
(I never made it down for the well-known Virginia Film Festival, though I always wanted to.)

Especially on Fall weekends when the Hurricanes or Dolphins weren't going to be playing in a game that would be televised in the D.C. area, or playing an important game that, well, I just had to catch at a sports bar with a reliable satellite dish and the NFL Ticket, those drives down Route 29 and Skyline Drive were really enjoyable and fun, not to mention, relaxing.
For me, the Blue Ridge Mountains were always a real tonic for Washington's frantic and often exasperating hustle.

I'm a big lacrosse fan and watch or record nearly ever D1 Mens or Womens match that's televised on either ESPNU, TheBigTenNetwork or CBS College Sports, which means I've seen almost every televised match that Kelly Amonte-Hiller's Northwestern's Women's team have played on The BigTenNetwork the past three years when they won the NCAA title twice.
I also have a friend who used to play lacrosse for Duke and who told me what things were like in those years before the media witch-hunt of a few years ago, that badly tarnished the reputations of people who hadn't done anything, but who were convicted by the news media, anyway.

Not surprisingly, given all that, I've necessarily watched a ton of UVA matches on TV both before and since I returned to South Florida from Washington eight years ago, both the Mens and Womens' teams.
That includes not only the ACC tourney matches, but all the NCAA tourney games that were aired, as well as some streamed live at NCAA.org

I say that because over time, I've obviously become familiar with the names of both the standout players as well as the 'spark plugs' on those teams that kept them energized and operating at a high level, and I've rooted for them for years.
I was happy for coach Dom Starsia that his UVA squad finally won the NCAA title again last year, given everything that has happened.

I've also written several posts about college lacrosse here on this blog, including some about Yeardley Love's tragic murder just days after UVA played Northwestern up in Evanston -where I also used to live- a match that I watched on The BigTenNetwork, but which they chose not to repeat as originally scheduled in the days  after she was murdered.

If lacrosse had existed as a varsity high school sport in Dade County when I was a student at North Miami Beach Senior High in the mid-to-late '70's, I'd have definitely played, but it wasn't, and IU didn't field a varsity team, either.

Once I was living in the Washington area, I saw some of the NCAA title matches in College Park, where the University of Maryland is located, a school I'd applied to like two other NMB students who later went to IU the same year I did.


I also have a very smart, athletic and talented niece from suburban Maryland, who went to a high school that's one of the top Lacrosse schools in the country, having recently won the Boys and Girls state championships.
And now she's a sophomore at UVA, and she just loves it there.
As much as I and my sister -her mother- loved IU and Bloomington in the 1980's, which is really saying something.


So those are some of my biases and also some of the reasons that I have been following this story very closely. I knew the sport and had heard of the principals before the tragedy.

WTVR-TV 6/Richmond video: Tracy Sears explains the back-story   

Previous Channel 6 stories and information on the tragedy that stunned two communities

As many of you may well recall from what I've written here previously about this tragic and heart-breaking story, or what you might've gleaned from the national news coverage of this 21-month old story, the shock was particularly devastating in the Baltimore area, which is why I lead this post with a local TV segment from there.

Devastating not only because the greater Baltimore area is home to the largest concentration of high school and college lacrosse players and fans anywhere in the country, the home of the U.S. Lacrosse, home of the annual NCAA D1 college tourney at M&T Stadium -home of the Ravens- that draws huge and enthusiastic crowds, and even larger ones when it hosts the NCAA D1 Final Four, but more importantly, because it's where most of the people who loved and adored Yeardley Love lived.

Love grew-up in suburban Cockeysville, north of town, and attended Notre Dame Prep -aka NDP- in nearby Towson, a city that has recently hosted the NCAA DI Womens Final Four a number of times at Johnny Unitas Stadium.

NDP has been raising funds for their new artificial turf field that will be named Yeardley Love Memorial Field in her honor, and the good news is that many individuals in the greater Baltimore business community and the larger lacrosse community have stepped-up big time to make that a reality.

It's their lasting tribute to someone who not only passionately loved the sport, but who loved being a member of the UVA lacrosse team, a team she'd ALWAYS wanted to play for.

Here's two more stories from Baltimore on a fundraising effort of a different sort honoring the NDP alumna:

The Baltimore Sun
Murder trial of UVA lacrosse player set to begin
George Huguely V accused of beating former girlfriend Yeardley Love to death
Tricia Bishop, The Baltimore Sun, 
4:57 p.m. EST, February 5, 2012
Nearly two years after Cockeysville native Yeardley Love was found dead, bruised and lying in a pool of blood in an off-campus apartment near the University of Virginia, her former boyfriend and fellow lacrosse player is scheduled to stand trial for her murder.
Read the rest of the post at:

The Washington Post
George Huguely’s trial in Yeardley Love’s death starts Monday with jury selection
By Mary Pat Flaherty and Jenna Johnson
Published: February 5

Culpeper Star Exponent
Huguely jury selection process further discussed
By Samantha Koon - Media General News Service
Published: January 30, 2012


WSET-TV, ABC-13 Lynchburg/Danville/Roanoke VA video: Jury Selection Begins Monday for Huguely Case
Reporter: Sally Delta, Posted: Feb 05, 2012 6:10 PM EST

WBAL-TV/Baltimore video: UVA Prepares Campus Community For Huguely Trial
Reporter Lowell Melser details what to expect this week at the biggest trial in Charlottesville  history.  http://youtu.be/TMG2ScUy-1s

The Daily Progress
With George Huguely, Charlottesville awaits its biggest trial in years
By: SAMANTHA KOON | The Daily Progress 
Published: February 04, 2012
...As a result, students must now report any changes in their criminal history each fall. Moreover, students must inform the university of any new arrests or convictions within 72 hours, or else face possible honor charges. Student-athletes must report arrests or convictions within 48 hours, Groves said...

The Washington Post
As ex-lacrosse player’s trial begins, spotlight on U.Va., changes made since student’s slaying
By Associated Press, Published: February 4
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In the nearly two years since a University of Virginia lacrosse player was charged with killing his ex-girlfriend, it’s become easier for possible abuse victims to get a restraining order and students must tell the school if they’ve ever been arrested
Read the rest of the article at:

The Washington Post
George Huguely’s murder trial begins; 2010 killing rocked U-Va. community
Photo gallery:

The Cavaliar Daily
The trial begins
Huguely trial commences today with jury selection; community reflects
BY MIKE LANG, FOCUS EDITOR on February 6, 2012


One Love Foundation: http://www.joinonelove.org/

U.S. Lacrosse:    www.uslacrosse.org

Friday, August 26, 2011

Mike Flanagan's death leads Ken Rosenthal to reminisce about what "The Oriole Way" once meant; WBAL-TV continues to get heat for Gerry Sandusky story


Fox Sports video: Fox Sports national baseball correspondent Ken Rosenthal, formerly a hugely popular columnist for the Baltimore Sun -and constant presence in the Washington, D.C. radio scene as well thru his frequent appearances- discussed on Wednesday night what Oriole pitching great Mike Flanagan meant to devout Oriole fans and how he exemplified "The Oriole Way" of doing things, an ethos missing in Baltimore for so many years that when I bring it up, people look at me like I'm a dinosaur.

For those of you who only know Ken Rosenthal from his work on Fox-TV game broadcasts, Ken is a very classy guy and a very talented writer who knows how to get to the heart of a story and share the context in an interesting and informative way.
Which puts him on a very short list.

If you don't think I shared an email or two -or dozen- with Ken while he was at The Sun...
Years before it was being written about just about everywhere, I told Ken about litigator and Orioles majority owner Peter Angelos' interest in pursuing the link between the use of cell phones and brain damage/cancer, based on reports coming out of Europe.

Rick Dempsey: He played 'The Oriole Way':

THE HERO!

The Hero!
Rick Dempsey, Baltimore's World Series MVP, October 24th, 1983

I could've predicted this criticism below in Baltimore Sun's TV critic David Zurawik's column Thursday, early Thursday morning when I sent my previous email with the WBAL video with Gerry Sandusky.
And guess what, he doesn't even link to it.

WBAL put the video on their YouTube Channel, which I subscribe to, but they made it un-embedded so that they keep it as exclusive. They have NOT placed any of their news stories about Mike Flanagan from Thursday on the Channel.

Can't help but wonder if that's due to laziness or because of station management caving-in to dopey fans like the ones below calling and complaining.
Fans who even in the year 2011 think that because they see someone on TV or have seen them in person, that they REALLY know them.

You'd think that the cases of O.J. and Tiger Woods would've enlightened people about this ridiculously naive approach, but then even when I was going to 25 games a year at Camden Yards from my home in Arlington County, VA, for a decade straight after it opened, often getting home around 1:30 a.m. during the week, parochial Baltimore locals were STILL preciously saying that the D.C./Northern Virginia fans were "ruining things."

No, actually devout fans like me saved the franchise from irrelevancy and made the Orioles a big-market team (in a small market) by selling-out that stadium day-after-day, night-after-night.

But even that financial alchemy couldn't prevent Angelos & Sons from micro-managing and ruining a good thing, firing Davey Johnson shortly after he was named AL Manager of the Year, and they haven't been the same since.
(Davey Johnson being the last MLB batter to ever face Koufax, in 1966 World Series, when 'the Baby Birds' swept the Dodgers.)

The direction of the Baltimore Orioles -their glorious past, absymal present and rather uncertain future- both on-the-field and up in the B&O Warehouse, where Angelos & Co. brook no dissenting opinions, will be the subject of even more posts here in the future.


Baltimore Orioles Game Tickets

My "THANKS CAL" BUTTON FROM 2001

"Thanks Cal" button from 2001
Cal Ripken Jr.

The ONLY new WBAL video on Flanagan storyline is this 29 second interview with former O's pitcher Tippy Martinez. http://www.wbaltv.com/video/28978855/detail.html

Pathetically, on their own website, as of Midnight, 2 of the 3 news stories about it are NOT theirs! The third?
The aforementioned 29-second video.

Thursday night on MASN, which I watch on DirecTV from here in South Florida, even though much of the programming is blacked-out here, after midnight, rather than show the scheduled repeat of the Twins at O's game, they replayed the Orioles' last home game at Memorial Stadium from October 6th, 1991, against the Tigers.

(A game that was commemorated by the Orioles thru seemingly manufacturing a million green or black plastic soft drink cups embossed in gold that were used that last series at Memorial Stadium. I had about five of them when I left a game against the Tigers that last week. But they were still being used at Orioles Park at Camden Yards so much into the next year that after a while it became an inside joke to Oriole fans.)

In that last game, Mike Flanagan came in with one out in the top of the 9th with O's trailing 7-1 -he struck out the two batters he faced.
And left to a standing ovation.

I taped the show and will endeavor to post some screenshots I took of Mike Flanagan here later.
I'll also go thru my Orioles stuff I have on hand and see what I might have that might interest you.

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Baltimore Sun
Z on TV
WBAL-TV stands behind Sandusky report on Flanagan and reasons for suicide
But police investigation offers different explanation for Flanagan's act
By David Zurawik
The Baltimore Sun
10:47 p.m. EDT, August 25, 2011

WBAL-TV is standing behind its Wednesday-night report by sportscaster Gerry Sandusky linking the suicide of former Baltimore Orioles pitcher and executive Mike Flanagan to him being "despondent" over being perceived as having failed the team and fans during his time in the O's front office.


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I will try to find out what Beltway-area baseball maven Phil Wood, late of MASN, whose WTEM radio show I listened to every Saturday morning for years -like all my friends did, too- is saying about the Flanagan story-line all of this and share that with you over the weekend


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Mike Flanagan: An Oriole Great When the 'Oriole Way' Still Meant Something; those days never seemed farther back in time than right now

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-co-flanagan-house-death-20110824,0,4675762.story

August 23, 2011 11:51 pm

Wow!
WBAL-TV is reporting this: "sources confirmed that Flanagan took his own life “despondent over what he considered a false perception from a community he loved of his role in the team’s prolonged failure


WBAL-TV video: WBAL-TV Sports Director Gerry Sandusky -a former Miami sportscaster and son of the former Dolphin assistant coach, John Sandusky- reports the tragic news:
http://www.wbaltv.com/video/28969408/detail.html

I found out this terrible news just after 11 p.m. Wednesday night and am still in a bit of a shock while I try my best to find a Baltimore-area radio station on the Internet that is actually talking about this instead of running syndicated fare, like WBAL is, running Yahoo Sports instead.
Really.
Jesus, what ARE they thinking?

This is just like what happened after the UM fired Randy Shannon, and every single Miami sports radio station kept their syndicated programming on rather than put the plug on that and put their own people on the air to let listeners talk about it.
Yes, that's the news media ethos down here in a nutshell.

I've tried finding something on MASN, DirecTV 640, but there was nothing.

Jim Palmer spoke about his friend and teammate:

See also:

I hardly know what to say other than... Mike Flanagan: An Oriole Great When the 'Oriole Way' Still Meant Something; those days never seemed farther back in time than right now.

See this photo below...

Hendricks remembered
(Sun photo by Gene Sweeney Jr. / December 29, 2005)
Orioles Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations Mike Flanagan and his wife Alex leave the memorial service for Elrod Hendricks.

The event above was YET ANOTHER disgraceful Oriole moment of SO MANY over the past dozen years, with only one then-current player showing up for Elrod Hendricks' funeral, Melvin Mora.

My friends all over the country and I were absolutely LIVID over this and yet the Oriole ballplayers then were totally f-ing oblivious to what that show of disrespect to someone who had bled for this team for over four decades meant to everyone who ever cared about the Orioles.
If I'd had a blog then, I'd have positively crucified the players, one-by-one.

And yet Peter Angelos & Sons STILL walk the earth among us... where's the fairness or silver lining in that?

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