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How happy are Orioles fans with their ballpark experience? Not very, it seems. According to an SI.com fan survey, Orioles fans rate their Camden Yards experience as 14th among major league stadiums.
SI.com points out that the rankings "are based solely on results taken from an online survey of baseball fans in March, when we asked readers to rate their hometown ballpark in 10 categories."
No. 1? Progressive Field in Cleveland. OK, you can start laughing at any time now.
It's never too early to think about next year's NFL Draft. Maryland wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey is already looking like a Top 15 pick. At least ESPN's Todd McShay thinks so.
Here's a video of a spectacular Heyward-Bey touchdown run.
Some big developments last night in the NBA Playoffs and the Stanley Cup Playoffs:
First, the Phoenix Suns, which made the big splash before the trade deadline by acquiring Shaquille O'Neal, were eliminated in five games by the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs. It was the second straight year and fourth time in the Suns' last five playoff appearances that they've been knocked out by the Spurs.
SI.com reported this morning that Suns coach Mike D'Antoni would take the fall for the first-round series loss. He has a 267-172 record in six seasons. Suns GM Steve Kerr later denied the report that D'Antoni had been fired.
In the NHL, the Dallas Stars, faring much better than the Dallas Mavericks, who lost their series to the New Orleans Hornets, took a 3-0 series lead over the San Jose Sharks with a 2-1 overtime win. The Detroit Red Wings also moved within one game of a sweep of the Colorado Avalanche with a 4-3 victory.
One thing you don't want to do is anger a superstar capable of taking over a game. Especially when he's destroyed you in the playoffs the previous two seasons. So what have the Wizards done since losing Game 4 and going down 3-1 to the Cavaliers?
They've surely pissed off LeBron James beyond belief. So here's what LeBron is going to do tomorrow night. He's going to put up 40 to 50 points, grab 12 to15 rebounds, dish out 10 or so assists and inflict pain on the Wizards at every opportunity.
Brendan Haywood? Get ready to be photographed for the next LeBron poster tomorrow night. You'll be the one he's dunking over.
Towson Catholic product Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets can begin their offseason. The Lakers ended their NBA playoff series against the Nuggets with a 107-101 victory early this morning.
Anthony had accused his teammates and coaching staff of quitting in Game 3, but the Nuggets showed up in Game 4 until Kobe Bryant took over. Bryant scored 14 of his 31 points in the last 5:30 of the game to hold the Nuggets at bay.
The Nuggets did earn one distinction beside their eight technical fouls in the series: They became the first 50-win team to be swept in the first round of the playoffs.
Anthony scored 21 points before fouling out. It's going to be a busy summer for Anthony. He faces DUI charges. A court appearance is scheduled for May 14. He also has a hearing this month for a February speeding ticket.
The 23-year-old Anthony is also expected to represent Team USA in the Olympics that begin Aug. 8 in Beijing.
Mindy McCready is taking the high road and is confirming the New York Daily News' story about her affair with Roger Clemens.
“I cannot refute anything in the story,” McCready told the newspaper in a story posted on its Web site Monday night. “I have known Roger Clemens for a long time,” she said, although she wouldn't elaborate on their relationship. She's saving that for her reality show and documentary movie. A book deal can't be far behind.
Clemens’ lawyer, Rusty Hardin, told the Daily News on Monday that the pitcher and singer had known each other for a long time but did not have sex.
And until McCready confirmed the story, we believed that The Rocket and McCready were just buddies. Yeah, right. He just liked her singing.
Flacco was tutored as a sports training facility in New Jersey by another former Delaware QB who also played in the NFL, Scott Brunner.
We found the NFL combine workout interview of Ray Rice as well as a highlights package.
I'm sure you're shocked, absolutely shocked, that a report in the New York Daily News says Roger Clemens carried on a 10-year affair with country singer Mindy McCready beginning when she was 15.
That might help explain all the difficulties McCready has had in her life, which sound like, well, a country song. Bad breakups (including a brief engagement to Superman, Dean Cain), a drug overdose, child out of wedlock, an alleged assault on her mother, etc.
After being initially shocked to hear of the allegations, we're sure that you'll be just as stunned to learn that McCready has a new CD coming out, a reality show and a documentary movie. HMMMMM, wonder where the Daily News got their information from?
AP photo
Here's how some other newspapers graded the Ravens' draft:
USA Today
GRADE: C
Wanted a QB. They suspected Matt Ryan would not fall to them in the eighth spot and could not trade up. So they dropped down and grabbed a recent riser in Joe Flacco. Big arm, but how his skills translate from a smaller college program (Delaware) to the NFL is anyone's guess. Filling this position has been an intractable problem for years. Did not get an OT to replace Jonathan Ogden. Grade is higher if you like trade for CB Fabian Washington, a former No. 1 of Oakland's acquired for a fourth-round pick.
The Washington Post
GRADE: C-
Trading down after not getting Matt Ryan was the right move. But trading back up to get fellow QB Joe Flacco at No. 18 wasn’t necessary. The next QB, Brian Brohm, wouldn’t come off the board for another 38 picks.
The Miami Herald
GRADE: B
Delaware's Joe Flacco fills their desperate need at quarterback. Unfortunately, quarterback and wide receiver have been Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome's undoing on draft day. With Jonathan Ogden retiring, they should have dived into the pool of offensive tackles before Round 4, but linebacker Tavares Gooden might help an aging defense.
Here's how these three papers rated the Ravens' division rivals:
Bengals: C- (Post); C+ (USA Today); B+ (Herald)
Browns: C- (Post); B- (USA Today); C- (Herald)
Steelers: A- (Post); B+ (USA Today); B (Herald)
Also, check out Sun reporter Ken Murray's grades for AFC and NFC teams.
The Ravens took Rutgers running back Ray Rice in the second round with the No. 55 pick. The Ravens need depth all over, RB included. John Harbaugh said Rice may get a chance to also return kicks. On trading down from the No. 38 spot in the second round with Seattle, GM Ozzie Newsome said that there were two players that the Ravens would have selected with that pick had they been available. But they were taken in the bottom of the first and the top of the second respectively. He didn't say who those players were. A guess would be the corners that went late first, early second, particularly Mike Jenkins, No. 25 to Dallas.
Rice is a low center of gravity runner at 5-foot-8, 200 pounds. He finished as Rutgers' all-time leading rusher with 4,926 yards and 49 touchowns.
The Ravens have nine picks tomorrow beginning with three in the third round.
Ravens GM Ozzie Newson: "We've got a football team that needs an influx of talent."
The Ravens traded their pick in the second round (No. 38) to Seattle for the Seahawks' pick in the second round (No. 55) and a pick in the third round (No. 86).
At this moment, the Ravens have 10 more picks, nine on the second day. Here's the rundown:
* One pick in th second round
* Three picks in the third
* Three picks in the fourth
* One in the sixth
* Two in the seventh.
Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome called Joe Flacco "the quarterback who we feel is the guy to lead us into the future."
So where does that leave Kyle Boller and Troy Smith?
Newsome said it is his job to draft players and the coaching staff's job to bring players along and decide who will play.
Head coach John Harbaugh, sitting next to Newsome, repeated what he has said in the past that the quarterback job is a wide open competition. "Whoever gives us the best chance to win is going to play," Harbaugh said.
You'll hear a lot about Joe Flacco's size, 6 feet 6, and arm strength but what turned on the Ravens as much as anything were his intelligence and coachability.
The Ravens sent several quarterback draft candidates their own playbook. Flacco was particularly impressive in translating the Delaware offensive scheme into the Ravens terminology. An accounting major, Flacco has an especially analytical mind, and the Ravens are hopeful that his smarts will help with the considerable learning curve from Division I-AA (or whatever they're calling the smaller schools now) and the NFL.
In terms of coachability, many quarterbacks are resistant to changing their mechanics until it can be absolutely proven to them that the way they're doing things are incorrect, Ravens director college scouting Eric DeCosta said in Flacco's case, when Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron suggested changes, Flacco adapted quickly and improved considerably.
DeCosta gave credit to Ravens area scout Joe Douglas for putting Flacco "on the Baltimore Ravens' radar" early. DeCosta said it's a difficult thing to put a high grade on a smaller-college quarterback, but Douglas was firm in his evaluation, and the Ravens scouted Flacco live against Navy -- a huge day for Flacco, 434 yards, 4 TDs, no interceptions -- and Towson. If Flacco works out, Douglas will be one of the organization's unsung heroes.
Obviously, the first trade from No. 8 down to No. 26 plus three other choices was critical.
Once Matt Ryan was gone, Ravens director of college scouting Eric DeCosta had seven pages of notes with several permutations of scenarios. When the Falcons picked Ryan, DeCosta turned the page.
The game plan was to trade down somewhere between No. 18 and No. 28. For more than a week, GM Ozzie Newsome had been talking to teams about trading down. In one case, the discussions began at the NFL owners' meetings in March. Once Jacksonville cooperated, it was a matter of the Ravens gauging the draft terrain as their pick got closer. A number of teams had them sweating -- Carolina, Kansas City and Chicago were among them, But it was the Jets that they were worrying about jumping ahead of them.
With a surplus of picks from the Jacksonville trade, including two extra third-rounders and a fourth, the Ravens were able to offer Houston (No. 18) the second of the third-rounders from the Jaguars deal (no. 89) and a sixth-rounder (No. 173).
Both the Ravens' coaching staff and the scouts were watching the draft together and according to DeCosta, there was elation with the Flacco pick. Interestinlgly, DeCosta said that had the Ravens been trumped on Flacco, there would would have been a big letdown so clearly, there was a substantial difference between Flacco and Michigan's Chad Henne.
Not too bad from Ravens point of view ... swap in first round, a third- and sixth-rounder. The early trade was obviously the key.
The Ravens had the ammunition to trade back up with Houston and got their man at No. 18 and grabbed Joe Flacco.
The Cardinals took CB Dominique Rogers-Cromartie and you know the Lions are going to catch heat back home with OT Gosder Cherilus
In a bit of gamesmanship possibly meant to thwart Philadelphia, K.C. trades up with Detroit and takes OG-OT Branden Albert.
Chicago took an offensive tackle, Chris Wiiliams, another reminder that left offensive tackles are highly prized. ESPN is reporting that Philadephia may be a trade partner with Arizona -- also to get an OT.
If the Ravens get nervous about the Chiefs taking a QB at No. 17, they have the bullets to give Arizona at No. 16, their first and a third to jump up.
Denver takes an offensive lineman Ryan Clady and Carolina, who reasonably was believed to be the market for a quarterback, took running back Jonathan Stewart. That the Panthers stayed off a QB helps Baltimore if they have Flacco in their sights.
Leodis McKelvin is taken by the Bills ... eight of first 11 picks are defense including the last seven. Expect some O-linemen soon.
Cincinnati needs defenders at any position and grabbed Keith Rivers. The Patriots, with a senior citizen group at linebacker, grabbed Jerod Mayo.
