... with the 87th pick overall, in the third round, the Ravens pick CB David Pittman of Northwestern State in Louisiana. Finally, a defensive back, for a team that made safety a high priority. Yes, he is listed as a corner. But, as defensive coordinator Rex Ryan pointed out, being short of corners isn't any better than being short on safeties. Pittman will be a candidate at nickelback, where a vacancy comes up with Deion Sanders and Dale Carter gone or going.

"If you don't have a nickelback, you just can't line up on defense (anymore),'' Ryan said, calling it a "big, big priority'' and using the Cincinnati game as an example of what can happen. Ouch, didn't need to be reminded of that.

Pittman is 5-11, 182 and ran a 4.49 at the combine. He's ranked in the top 20 at his position in most evaluations and, in a few, the top 10. He also ran track and did the 100 in 10.77.

There was a bad omen brewing before the pick - for 10 minutes beforehand. A long ESPN feature on Marcus Vick, followed by an interview with Vick by Michael Smith. Moments later, the Ravens selection scrolled across. Whew.

We're down to the last 10 picked of the day. ESPN has been reduced to running a retrospective of Jets fans reactions to draft picks over the years. I repeat: enough already. It's played out. Then again, they've been on the air for more than 10 hours, if you include the predraft craziness over the Mario Williams signing.

And with the Jets picking Eric Smith, S from Michigan State, the first day of the draft is over. Goodnight from the Castle. Once again: for the Ravens so far, Haloti Ngata, 12th (from Cleveland), DT, Oregon; Chris Chester, 56th (from N.Y. Giants), C, Oklahoma; and David Pittman, 87th (from N.Y. Giants), CB, Northwestern (La.) State.

See you at Verizon Center tomorrow for Game 4 of Wizards-Cavaliers.

Posted by David Steele at 9:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

With the 56th overall pick they acquired from the Giants, the Ravens took C Chris Chester, from Oklahoma - the third Oklahoma player taken in the first two rounds in the last two drafts, after Mark Clayton and Dan Cody last year. Chester is 6-3, 305, and he did not play center fulltime until his senior year last year - he began college as a tight end, played a lot of special teams, then started at center and guard last season. You have to figure that at least one "measurable'' caught the Ravens' (and others') eye: a 4.88 time in the 40. Whoa.

Next: the third round, No. 87 overall.

Posted by David Steele at 7:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Down in the second round, and into the third. The Ravens just traded the 44th overall pick, their second-rounder, to the Giants for their second-rounder, at 56th, and their third-rounder, at No. 87. So as it stands, the Ravens will get three choices out of the first three rounds, and seven in the final four rounds tomorrow.

Newsome said he would look seriously at doing it, before the draft and earlier today, after they swung the deal to move up and get Haloti Ngata.

The Giants took Sinorice Moss, the speedy Miami WR, at No. 44. And going at No. 45, to the Titans ... RB LenDale White, USC. He of the hamstring tweak/pull/tear (depending on who has described it in the past month) and the "questionable'' character issues that arose late in the process.

And yes, to clarify, the Ravens passed on him, one spot earlier, trading down instead. Hmmmm. When they shrugged at the talk that they needed running-back depth and youth after re-signing Jamal Lewis and signing Mike Anderson, they weren't bluffing.

Winston Justice had gone 39th overall, to Philadelphia. White was the last of the freefalling USC stars.

Coming back when the Ravens make their second-round pick ...

Posted by David Steele at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

With the 32nd and last pick of the first round of the NFL Draft, with a pick traded from the Steelers, the Giants select Mathias Kiawxlkshfbvskaknvopekjb, DE, Boston College. At least that's how the commish pronounced it. Niiiiice. Back in December, Mathias Kiwanuka was enraged when, at a dinner in Boise promoting B.C.'s bowl game, the host kept making fun of his name. At least Tagliabue didn't do it on purpose; he just didn't prepare. Considering that it took people about five years to learn how to pronounce his name right, you'd think he'd be more disciplined when it comes to others. You never see David Stern botch a name on NBA draft day, and his job is 1,000 percent tougher; not many guys with names like Zydrunas Ilgauskas or Anderson Varejao (or, for that matter, Antawn Jamison) pop up on NFL draft boards.

Since he doesn't work the podium beyond the first round, that golden moment in elocution brought a poetic end to the Tags Era on draft day. He should be proud.

As suggested previously, the two biggest first-round falls were USC stars LenDale White, RB, and Winston Justice, T. Another sign of the times: the first and only Miami player taken in the first round, CB Kelly Jennings, went 31st overall, to Seattle. That's below par for "the U.'' Other players finding themselves poorer than they thought they would be today: WR Chad Jackson, Florida; WR Sinorice Moss, Miami; and this year's too-close-for-comfort pick, Alabama LB DeMeco Ryans, the first pick of the second round by the Texans.

Ravens pick 12th overall in the second round, their last scheduled pick of the day. Catch back up to ya then.

Posted by David Steele at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Frequent updates from here might not be necessary anymore today, now that the first round is down to the last two picks (the Colts just took RB Joseph Addai from LSU). But there is one curious pick worth mentioning - even more so now that Addai has come off the board. How in the world did DeAngelo Williams, the running back from Memphis that everyone was drooling over back in January, fall to No. 27, to Carolina?

A lot of people around here (in town, not here at the Castle) wanted desperately for the Ravens to take him at 13th. Nobody here agreed, and apparently nobody else was as thrilled with him in that draft range, either. We (meaning the Sun's Bill Ordine) had him going 22nd to the 49ers, with the pick they got from the Broncos. SI.com said 15th, at the time to Denver (they switched with the Rams, and the Rams took Tye Hill, the CB from Clemson, there).

But at least Williams is now gone, and probably in time no one will remember he went at the bottom of the first round. But it's time to wonder again ... what's going on with the big-name USC guys? First Reggie Bush drops out of the top spot. Then Matt Leinart gets passed over by his college coordinator, Norm Chow in Tennessee, and goes 10th. And still on the board at this moment, with two picks to go in the round ... RB LenDale White and T Winston Justice. These were the cornerstones of one of the legendary offenses in the history of college football, and the NFL's giving them the cold shoulder in some degree one by one.

Meanwhile, three defensive linemen from that juggernaut at N.C. State have gone in the first round, including the latest, tackle John McCargo to the Bills at 26 (via trade with the Bears). A team featuring a line with three first-round picks in one draft should have done better than 7-5 and shouldn't have had to beat suspension-addled Maryland in the last game of the year to get bowl-eligible.

Posted by David Steele at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

You might not be near either ESPN or the NFL Network, so you might not have noticed that the other big defensive tackle under consideration by the Ravens, FSU's Broderick Bunkley, went right after the Browns' choice, to the Eagles at No. 14. He popped up on the video screen as Ozzie Newsome and Co. were wrapping up their Q&A about Haloti Ngata. Give the guys credit - they talk about their draft board and how players either fall where they're expected to or they don't, and sure enough, they land pretty much where the brain trust expects.

The one big twist, Newsome and de Costa acknowledged, was Buffalo taking Donte Whitner eighth overall. A milder twist was Michael Huff, to the Raiders at No. 7, mainly because no one really, truly knows what Al Davis will do from minute to minute. That pretty much left the Browns and Ravens to decide which of their tops guys to get, and what it might take to get them - and now you have the results.

With all of that said, however, it was obvious who everyone considered the real voice of the Ravens. Moments after Ngata's selection was announced, ESPN ran a tape of one of Ray Lewis's recent interviews. Later, at the press conference, Newsome was asked whether Lewis was "consulted'' about picking Ngata. (Newsome's answer, short version: no. Answer which would have been hilarious for him to give: "Excuse me, but who has VP next to his name and who doesn't?")

And, one of the first cracks coming from the contingent here when the trade-up was announced (but before the details or even the pick itself was revealed): "It was the No. 13 and Ray.'' Laughter, then a pause, then someone else, not completely joking, "Wouldn't that be something?''

Posted by David Steele at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Ozzie Newsome did, in fact, use the word "upside,'' thus fulfilling league draft-day policy (that goes for every league's draft, by the way). Otherwise, he, Brian Billick and scouting director Eric de Costa had much praise for what the new first-round pick, Haloti Ngata, can do. For one thing, he's not the slow, lazy tub of goo described by so many immediately after the pick on ESPN.

For one, Newsome said, "When we got Tony Siragusa, they said he takes plays off; when we got Sam Adams, they said he takes plays off.''

Added de Costa, "They probably didn't notice that he plays six or seven plays a game on special teams.'' True, he blocked seven kicks in his career, which is impressive for anybody, much less someone who plays in the middle of the line and weighs close to 340 pounds.

More from de Costa, asked about his weight and conditioning, which the TV critics harped on: "I don't care if he weighs 480 if he holds teams to two yards a carry.''

Newsome, de Costa and Brian Billick all mentioned Ngata's maturity - "tremendous maturity,'' Billick said - and made note of the fact that he is much more ready to play right away than the player who he will be replacing and whom he will be most often compared to, Maake Kemoatu.

Which is all lovely, but all things considered, why move up one spot (even at the cost of "only'' a sixth-round pick, which is never a sure "only'' thanks to a certain three-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback picked in that round) to get a guy Savage might not have taken for the Browns anyway?

"We had him rated very high,'' Newsome said, "and at the end of the day, knowing I had him, moving up to get him, took the risk out of it.''

And if nothing else, this is a safe drafting organization, and has been right way more often than it's been wrong.

Meanwhile, Savage took FSU linebacker Kamerion Wimbley - who, everybody had assumed until that late love for Ngata emerged from Cleveland, was the guy the Browns wanted from the beginning.

Now, the Ravens have one more pick today, in the second round, 44th overall. And after all the talk of hoping for more picks in the first three rounds, they might stay right where they are and live with one fewer picks on the second day.

Posted by David Steele at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

... up into the Browns' No. 12 spot, where they select Oregon DT Haloti Ngata. So the question is, what did the Ravens give up to flip positions with Phil Savage and the Browns? And did Savage hoodwink the Ravens by making it so obvious that he wanted Ngata?

We'll know when details emerge here at the Castle.

Posted by David Steele at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Denver just moved up to the No. 11 spot, trading with St. Louis, and took Jay Cutler. Looks like the Broncos decided a couple of things: 1) they weren't going to take a chance on Cutler coming back to them at 15th overall, where they had a pick that originally belonged to Atlanta, and 2) Jake Plummer isn't exactly the QB of the future, and maybe not of their present. Someone in Denver must have looked at that AFC championship game tape this morning.

What this means - which I alluded to in the last post - is that both the Browns (the next pick) and the Ravens (the pick after that) could be pretty happy with what they get. On the board are the two defensive linemen they both seem to like, FSU's Broderick Bunkley and Oregon's Haloti Ngata. Both, naturally, like Ngata most. If, as expected, Phil Savage and the Browns take Ngata next, the Ravens will have Bunkley there. Of course, if that doesn't thrill them, they might, as Jamison Hensley wrote this morning, they could trade back for extra picks.

We'll know any minute.

Posted by David Steele at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

The first big "Wow'' moment of the day (if you exclude the Williams deal from last night) just took place. Buffalo takes Ohio State safety Donte Whitner at eighth overall. Talk about a fast riser. He was in the neighborhood of the top half of the draft just a few days ago, and below a first-rounder before that. Our man Bill Ordine didn't have him in his mock-draft first round. Then again, probably 99 percent (if not 100) of the mock drafts published in newspapers across the country today, were re-written late last night after the Texans' deal.

At No. 9, Detroit has taken Florida State linebacker Ernie Sims. It's getting interesting about who might be available four picks from now when the Ravens' turn comes up.

Make it three picks from now. Arizona, at No. 10 ... Matt Leinart! Goody. On the one hand, it's Dennis Green, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and a new stadium. On the other hand, Arizona, the Bidwills - need we say more?

Posted by David Steele at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

While we wait for the Raiders to figure out a way to screw this seventh pick up, let me note that I was at the Wizards-Cavaliers game last night at Verizon Center, and am still in shock (that the Wizards fell apart in the second half and in the final minutes) and awe (of LeBron James, who busted them for 41, including a move with just over five seconds left that proved not only his greatness, but his greatness in the eyes of the refs, who didn't call traveling, at the very least).

Speaking of the Raiders, among the "celebrities'' at the game was Warren Sapp, for some reason. You would think he'd be back in Oakland trying to save his job and prove he's not washed up. Also there, Usher (not a surprise, since he's a Cavs part-owner and who hosted a huge post-game party in D.C. after the game) and Hammer (what the ...?). I wanted to ask him what he thought about Barry Bonds, but one of my colleagues pretty much covered that last week.

Amazingly, though, in that playoff-charged atmosphere, starting at halftime the buzz running through the media was the Mario Williams deal with the Texans. Some of the reaction was of amazement that the Texans made that move and speculation why - and interpretation of exactly what was going on with Reggie Bush and the people extorting him and his family. And some of the reaction was ... so what? Can we not beat this non-event into the ground anymore?

Which, actually, was an excellent point, and the Mario Williams deal proved it. After all the analysis and prognostication and mock-drafting and rumor-mongering the past four months, a guy came out of nowhere and ended up signing before the draft. As recently as two hours before the Wizards tipoff, as I was pulling into a 6th Street parking garage, the talk on sports radio was about how the Texans were pulling a smokescreen with all this Williams garbage, and how nothing was going to get in the way of Bush going first. BZZZZZP! Wrong answer.

Oh, Raiders, seventh pick - Michael Huff, DB, Texas.

Posted by David Steele at 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

The Packers just picked Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk with the fifth selection. It's been nearly a minute, and there has not been one shot of Brady Quinn's sister, Hawk's girlfriend. I guess some sort of state law was passed after the Fiesta Bowl earlier this year. Or maybe they broke up. Who knows? Or (as the ABC producers should have realized during that game, after about the 7,000th camera shot), who cares?

On the clock are the 49ers, and if Maryland's Vernon Davis doesn't go here, everybody would be shocked. He's been all but locked in there by everybody who's paying attention, for weeks. Now, that would be three non-FSU ACC guys in the top six.

Davis is on-screen on ESPN right now, bawling like Adam Morrison. And the pick is ...

Vernon Davis, TE, Maryland.

Posted by David Steele at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

... D'Brickashaw Ferguson, T, Virginia. Honestly, when was the last time two ACC players not from Florida State were picked in the top four of an NFL draft?

ESPN's sequence of camera shots after Ferguson was picked: Jets fans in the balcony, then Matt Leinert's face. Ouch. I'm still not ruling out a deal. The Saints, like everyone else, really liked Ferguson; they just didn't necessarily like him enough to pick him second.

This is a good time, by the way, to request that everyone let the whole "Jets fans at the draft'' obsession go. It's the same thing every year. We know they're going to act crazy, tout one particular player to pick and act like lunatics if they don't get him. Got it. Move on. Or maybe move the draft to different cities, the way the NBA did for a few years.

Anyway, on the clock is Green Bay. Thankfully, the Packers are no longer in the market for a quarterback who can MAKE UP HIS DAMN MIND.

Posted by David Steele at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

... the Tennessee Titans select Vince Young, QB, Texas. Guess he ain't that dumb after all; at least the Titans don't think so. Someone in their front office said, "Wonderlic, schmonderlic.''

Also guess there will be a new quarterback in B'more very, very soon. The Titans have an extra one on hand, guy named McNair, I believe.

The question now is: how far is Matt Leinart going to slide? And how much does he wonder whether that ballroom dancing class and that extra time hanging out with Nick Lachey was worth it? He stayed that extra year, he didn't win a second Heisman, he didn't win a national championship, and he might have cost himself millions. That, of course, is presuming he would have held up under the scrutiny of being the presumptive top pick in last year's draft.

The other question, again, is: are the Saints going to keep Bush?

Posted by David Steele at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Greetings from The Castle in Owings Mills, where I'll be chronicling the NFL draft in this space (and writing about it for tomorrow's Sun) Sorry for the delay. Technical problems (translation: for all its state-of-the-art touches, the Ravens facility doesn't have wireless access for us media types, so dial-up blogging it is).

Don't be mad, though; the drama has just begun. You didn't missed much at the beginning, except that it took 10 minutes, for some reason, for the Texans to hand the Mario Williams card to Paul Tagliabue, doing his last draft. Maybe they were having second thoughts, to go along with all the second-guessing going on across the nation.

The Saints were next, and the Jets fans at Radio City Music Hall were going nuts, screaming and waving "We Want Bush'' signs. They didn't get him. Second pick: Reggie Bush, RB, USC. He had looked a little worried in cameras shots moments before as he talked on his cell phone, hung up, looked glum and got a reassuring pat on the shoulder from an associate at his table in the green room. But the grin was on when his name was called.

A shot from the Saints facility showed fans (or employees - it wasn't clear) going nuts at the selection, resembling the pandemonium when cities are awarded Olympic bids.

Of course, it could all be premature. Any time in the next hour or so, we could hear Tags intone those infamous words, "We have a trade ...'' The talk all last night, after Houston blew things up by signing Williams, was that the Jets were figuring if and how they could get into that No. 2 spot. So don't go away. I won't. I'll be here all day. All ... day ...

Posted by David Steele at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

A tip to young sportswriters who want to write for big papers and do blogs one day: if you travel, and you submit expense reports, don't forget to turn in your receipts. Unless you enjoy multiple messages from the credit-card company on your voice mail. Or enjoy sitting in the office all day.

At least it gives some people (not me; that happened to a "friend'') time to ponder what might be going on in area college basketball in the next few years. Now that Todd Bozeman is in at Morgan State, after his eight years in exile and having learned a few things, here is what we have brewing around here:

* Maryland, which despite all the heat Gary Williams is feeling from fans with short memories, won a national title four years ago;

* Towson, led by a coach, Pat Kennedy, who has led four teams to the NCAA tournament eight times combined, and by Gary Neal, who averaged 26 points a game for his half-season;

* Loyola, led by one of Williams' longtime assistants, Jimmy Patsos, who turned a Terp transfer, Andre Collins, into one of the country's leading scorers;

* Morgan, with Bozeman, his 66-35 record and three NCAA trips at Cal (including the '93 win over Duke), and record of recruiting and coaching Jason Kidd and Shareef Abdur-Rahim, and ...

* Coppin State, with Fang Mitchell and the three NCAA trips, including the 1997 win over South Carolina, on his resume.

That doesn't include the schools from down the road who routinely lure players from this area, like Georgetown, George Washington and, uh, George Mason.

Of course, there are these things to consider: Maryland is on its little NIT mini-run, and now might be losing yet another assistant coach, Rob Moxley, this time after only one season. Towson, Morgan and Coppin had losing records last season, and Loyola (15-13) barely broke .500. And they're all going to have Mason thrown in their faces from now until one of them gets to the Final Four.

Nevertheless, that's a lot of wattage shining at local programs right now. If ever there was a chance to turn potential into results, this is it.

Posted by David Steele at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Now that I'm the only columnist here who hasn't written at length about Ray Lewis's latest entanglements with the Ravens (although our "former'' metro columnist, who resigned the day before her first column, never got around to it, either), I'd like to address it this way: by pointing you to my podcast about it, and to sum it up briefly.

Main point: maybe he deserves more money, maybe he doesn't, and maybe he's being ungrateful and maybe he's just being a businessman assessing his market value. But what he unquestionably is doing is threatening his legacy in this city. Those who love him really, really love him, and those who hate him for various reasons can't deny that he's the reason Baltimore has the only professional championship it has in the past 23 years, and its only football championship in the past 34 years. Either way, he has invested himself fully into this organization on and off the field - to use an overworked but appropriate phrase, he's the face of the Ravens and the face of pro football here. Without him, they really would have been just another team the last 10 years, a hasty fill-in to ease the pain of the Colts leaving (while creating all-new pain in the city they left), a run-of-the-mill bunch in gaudy uniforms and nothing else to really distinguish them. The Ravens' identity, for better or worse, is Ray Lewis's.

If he goes out like this, though, it'll be for worse. He's burning bridges at an alarming rate, and even if you believe (as he seems to) that the team hasn't competed well the last two years and that Brian Billick has outlived his usefulness as coach, you can't agree with how Lewis has conducted himself in all of this. He's running the risk of turning a slavishly loyal fan base completely against him, and for all he's been to this city, it would be terrible for his Ravens career to end this way, with people wishing he'd leave.

Meanwhile, I hope we've heard the last of the comparisons between him and Miguel Tejada. There might not be two players in two sports in two situations less similar than him and Ray Lewis. Both complained about the direction of the team and made noise about wanting to leave, and that's about it. When Tejada (who's played here two years, not 10) leads a championship parade down Pratt Street, and when every third Baltimore area resident is wearing his jersey, then we'll talk. OK, now you can listen to me drag all those thoughts out to great length in the podcast.

But before you do that, rejoice in the fact that the lawsuit from a year ago involving Michael Vick and a sexually transmitted disease has been resolved. The situation with the Falcons' quarterback, of course, unleashed the Ron Mexico phenomenon upon the world (it even crossed over into the video game business; see last item) and led to a milestone NFL policy change. Now one has to wonder if Vince Young's stock is dropping because scouts really think he is "the next Michael Vick.'' Or worse, "the next Ron Mexico.''

And one last draft-related item: the controversy over the house Reggie Bush's family lived in has spawned a poll on USAToday.com - if NCAA rules were violated, should his Heisman be taken away? The logical answer, of course: as long as a certain other USC tailback retains his, it would be hard to take Bush's away.

Finally, a promise: a look at the NBA playoffs tomorrow, once all the series have completed two games (and, so far, two suspensions).

Posted by David Steele at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

My column on Sunday about the lack of a Bullets presence at Sports Legends at Camden Yards drew a good number of responses. The biggest one came from the person I unfortunately wasn't able to reach in time to include in the column, but who I was hoping I'd hear from soon: Michael Gibbons, executive director of Sports Legends and the Babe Ruth Museum. We also spoke by phone this morning, and he agreed to have his email to me run here:

"Your Sunday column had  my cellphone clamoring pretty early. I enjoyed your article on Sports Legends but wish you had contacted me first to gather my perspective on the Bullets.

First off, I'm a native Baltimorean who grew up  loving the Bullets, so I understand their importance to our sports heritage. I remember attending games at the coliseum.

Sports museums can only represent what their  collection bears, and the Babe Ruth Museum is still working to establish better  lines to secure Bullets memorabilia, photographs and broadcast materials.  But we are actively working on it.

The folks who run sports museums also know that  they must have years worth of programming in the works. It's always good to have  a major show in the planning stages, so that the public will have something new  to attend year-in-and-year-out.

In 2007 the Babe Ruth Museum is planning a full  renovation of the Babe Ruth Birthplace, our other attraction. In 2008...look for  something major on the Bullets. Also, something on local high school sports,  perhaps a hall of champions covering all high school athletics in the Baltimore  area. City-Poly, Dunbar basketball, the lacrosse scene, track and field, etc. 

I told Phil [Wood] on his Thursday radio show that our  future programming and exhibition schedule will not just be about basketball and  high school sports, but about our area's boxing and ice hockey  histories.

Lots to do, with space and $$$ playing a role in it  all.

By the way, we are working with the [Reginald Lewis] African  American Museum on that NBA show [on May 20], and will be doing programming at Sports  Legends featuring several prominent Baltimore-area former and current NBA'ers in  conjunction with that effort.''

In our phone conversation, Gibbons acknowledged that two substantial challenges face him in any Bullets display: memorabilia and money. There was no shortage of Orioles and Colts artifacts to put up at Sports Legends, but Bullets stuff is harder to come by, and so are donors. The same goes for the other sports and institutions he wants represented in the museum. "When it came to the Bullets, I just didn't have anything to put together in a timely fashion,'' he said. "We've got the space for it.''

The good news is that he has connected with a Baltimore Bullets legend to spearhead a drive to collect artifacts and solicit sponsors. It sounds as if the recognition of the Bullets in the museum really is "in the works.'' Thanks again to Michael Gibbons for filling us in (and, of course, for being understanding about not being included in the original column).

Now, there have to be some people out there who have something they can give, physically or monetarily, to this drive. Maybe you know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who has stuff, or who wants to contribute in any way to creating this. Here's how you can contact Sports Legends at Camden Yards.

Posted by David Steele at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

Every once in a while, court cases really do take over the sports pages - not just in perception, as in observers saying, "Man, they should just run the police blotter instead of the box scores,'' but in reality. This is one of those times.

The obvious, slap-you-in-the-face one is the Duke lacrosse story, which is destined to wear everybody out between now and the possible trial, which some have said might not be for a year. That traffic in ideas, accusations and name-calling is going to be very limited here, I can promise you that.

Now, though, here come two other significant ones - and since we're talking about the Duke case and whether conclusions were jumped to, innocent-until-proven-guilty was ignored and misinformation was flung about, the two are even more significant in this context.

First ... the Love Boat incident. Everyone remembers - if he or she is being honest - whether anyone connected to the story was presumed guilty or innocent based on the volumes written and said about it. But as it turns out, of the four then-Vikings eventually charged, one, Daunte Culpepper, had the charges dropped, and another, Moe Williams, was cleared on two and convicted on one misdemeanor. The coverage of those two court outcomes has been almost invisible compared to the original stories that came out long before any charges were filed. It didn't seem to enrage many people at the time, though.

And now, Jayson Williams is back. He is about to be re-tried on charges from the 2002 shooting death of a limo driver in Williams' New Jersey home. He was acquitted in 2004. Again, he got very little benefit of the doubt at the time it happened, and considering that one charge is being brought up again, he's not getting it this time, either.

Full disclosure: when I was writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, I came as close as one possibly could to saying after his acquittal that he was guilty - and did say that before his trial began, it was hard for anyone to believe he was guilty because we thought he "knew'' him so well and he didn't seem like that type.

Again, while that's a dangerous line to cross, the topic of how much image plays into preliminary guilt or innocence is always worth discussing, whether charges are filed, convictions are handed down or not. High-profile suspects (Vikings players, NBA stars, big-time college athletes) get treated different, period, by those defending them and those opposing them, and by those in the middle. None of it makes what is written about them intrinsically wrong or right, no matter how loudly some people scream their positions.

But you do have to wonder what makes some guilty at first mention of their alleged involvement, and what makes others the subject of such vigorous defenses by the public.

Meanwhile, the NBA playoffs are starting tomorrow, and it's clear that they're going to get swallowed up again. If the answer to the Question of the Day in today's paper is any indication, the haters are out in full force already. Funny, everyone in my circle can hardly wait until tomorrow when the games start, yet we never hear from them, only from people who are still distraught over Michael, Magic and Larry retiring and who still wish there were more two-hand chest passes and 15-foot set shots.

Oh well, I'll be watching, and it'll be hard to work in time to worry about who won't be.

Posted by David Steele at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

I'm flipping around between the Wizards, Pacers and Bulls games (who wins and loses determines who will play where in the playoffs; basically, the Wizards are trying to avoid playing the Heat), and at halftime I hop online. And I see a story that, to be honest, isn't surprising and actually makes total sense on second glance, just not on first glance. Since the sexual assault scandal broke last month, Duke lacrosse gear is flying off the shelves at the campus store. "Three or four times our normal rate'' over the past month, says a campus store official. The gear is also still available on the school website.

Why not a surprise? The story gives some pretty logical reasons, including reasons why sales should not be restricted or halted at all, and an explanation why one national chain (with stores here in this area) pulled its Duke lacrosse gear from its local stores.

Plus, not to go back over well-trodden ground, but two years ago, you couldn't walk two feet without seeing someone with some kind of Kobe Bryant gear on, even while he was in the middle of his sexual assault trial. The NBA's official numbers said that Bryant's jersey sales fell precipitously, and they did by their calculations, which included sales at the Manhattan NBA Store and on league websites. But somehow, plenty of people got a hold of them (knockoffs, anyone?) and wore them proudly. In L.A. for the All-Star Game in '04, it seemed like every other person in town was wearing something Kobe. That included hometown fans, of course, but fans who traveled to the game. The reasoning then was pretty much identical to the reasoning given for those snatching up Duke lacrosse gear.

Want more? It's still not uncommon to see people wearing O.J. throwback jerseys, either USC or Buffalo Bills. There's probably a 49ers throwback around if you look hard enough.

So, again, not a big surprise whatsoever about the Duke gear. It would be interesting to know, though, where it's selling outside of the Durham area. Gotta figure there's some selling here, and in Long Island, upstate New York, north Jersey and Connecticut, the other lacrosse hotbeds. Who else around the country, especially in places where they had never thought twice about lacrosse until last month, feels strongly enough about this case either way to buy the gear for whatever reason? Just curious.

And on the other side of it ... is anyone buying up North Carolina Central gear?

Enough on that. The Wizards lead the Pistons in Detroit by 10 going into the fourth quarter. Looks like it's LeBron and the Cavaliers in the first round.

Posted by David Steele at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Back from a brief post-March Madness blog break, just in time to notice that, despite the griping and moaning about them, reality sports shows are worth the time and hype networks put into them.

I pointed out in a column last week that I would be watching Bonds on Bonds as often as possible, simply because there's no better subject for that type of show in sports today. The writing brethren have pretty much gone out of their way to ignore or rip the idea, and it's hard not to think that the anger comes mostly from the fact that Bonds went out of his way his entire career to antagonize us; now that he's spoon-feeding us access, we weren't going to give him the satisfaction of watching it. I've always been of the opinion that the last thing fans, readers and the like care about is the trouble the media has doing its job. Not everyone shares that opinion, though, which seems to be why the Bonds series on ESPN has rubbed so many nerves raw.

Anyway, that all crossed my mind tonight when, after seeing the family for Easter, coming home to watch the Wizards clinch a playoff berth and getting my Sopranos fix (vomit-free for the first time in three weeks, thank goodness), I flipped over to the Giants-Dodgers game on ESPN. With all the options I had, there was only one reason to turn it on, and I finally had to admit it to myself: I wanted to see what happened when Bonds batted. It was Dodger Stadium, it was the west-coast version of Yankees-Red Sox, and it was Jon Miller on the mike - but, seriously, it was Bonds and the traveling circus. Sure enough, he was hit with a pitch - retaliation, I soon discovered, for Jeff Kent being beaned the half-inning before - and then was taken out of the game. He gestured toward someone in (or near) the dugout as he left, and the field mike picked up this incredible stream of profanity directed at Bonds, apparently from a fan.

That all kept Bonds' season-long homerless streak alive, reminded everyone that his body is breaking down before our eyes, revealed again how much hatred opposing fans have for him, and ratcheted up the tension for whenever he goes to the plate again. And you really, seriously, want nothing to do with this whole story? C'mon.

I was thinking about reality show topics in sports earlier today as I wrote the column that runs Monday morning. The bulk of it is about the Duke lacrosse scandal, but it's tied largely to Kobe Bryant's situation two years ago in Colorado. I'm sure I'll find out soon if the readers bought my point about the similarities between the two cases.

Meanwhile, there will be much more opportunity to write about Kobe in the coming weeks, and much of what we see of him will be viewed through the lens of those events in Eagle. He has made a point to steer clear of the issue in the increasing number of interviews he's given, like in the L.A. Times last week and in the current Sports Illustrated (as usual, subscriber access only). The Times' outstanding NBA writer, Mark Heisler, expanded on that in Sunday's Times.

Kobe's still a uniquely divisive figure, to put it mildly, and all the emotions about him that people might have been holding in since he broke up the Lakers two summers ago and he faded from the limelight somewhat, are sure to bubble back to the surface as his visibility rises at the start of the playoffs.

Which brings me to my ultimate point: the greatest reality TV sports show of all time, I will always be convinced, would have been about the 2003-04 Lakers, the season in which Kobe played with the Eagle trial cloud over his and everyone else's head, among several other plots and subplots.

Of course, it could be that the idea of a show like that is better than the actual show, which might end up being the case with Bonds on Bonds. But you'd be crazy not to be curious about what happens next. This week, for instance, you really have to wonder how he's going to talk his way around the perjury story. He may disappoint you. He'll probably anger you. He might surprise you. Why take the chance that you'd miss something good, even something that's going to get you good and ticked off? I pretty much assume that anything I read about Kobe is going to infuriate me (and the SI article gets the job done), but I read it anyway.

The bottom line? Devoting a reality show to people you like or admire is a waste of time, film and electricity. People like Barry Bonds and Kobe Bryant are the reason the genre was invented.

Posted by David Steele at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

It's one of those things you really don't think you'll ever hear: Florida, national college basketball champions. Not as unlikely as "George Mason, Final Four team,'' but who really thought Florida would win it all? Or, at least, thought that before Final Four weekend.

I'm guessing that my blog partner over at Medium Well will address this in more detail - or should - but CBS really does a brutal job with the post-game interviews. As we in the press work room gathered around the TVs to watch the interviews - unfortunately, because those are often the only quotes we can get into the paper by deadline - we saw and heard Jim Nance and Billy Packer drone on with ultra-long questions to coach Billy Donovan, and listen to his slow, deliberate answers. The players, meanwhile, were gathered around them, goofing off, making crazy exclamations and showing the kind of joy you'd expect the newly-crowned college champs to make, the sort of thing you think America would enjoy seeing and hearing. But if either Nance or Packer asked one coherent question of any of them - particularly Joakim Noah, the Most Outstanding Player - none of us heard it.

The reason: the unrestrained love for the coach in college ball, at the expense of the players. Packer does it, Vitale does, Digger does it, all of them do it. They lionize the coaches, and treat the players like disposable parts. It's why you keep hearing things like, "An incredible 20-5 run by Coach K and Duke!'' as if he had seven points and three rebounds during the spurt.

By following that tired script, they shortchanged the viewers on the real heroes of the night - not Billy Donovan and how he built the program over a span of several years, but Noah and Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey and Al Horford, who won the game.

As for the game itself, you saw it. If you were a coach and weep at the sight of solid fundamentals and textbook defensive principles, you loved it. In all honesty, Noah's domination, the way he altered UCLA's shots and thus the way they ran every offensive possession, was spellbinding. But this won't exactly go down in history as a gem, and it couldn't possibly have made for great television. It was even hard to get worked up about the UCLA return-to-glory angle, because they practically fell into the Final Four from out of nowhere, and the U obviously stood for "Uglyball'' this season. Florida, meanwhile, won the way most teams have with the exception of North Carolina last year: restock as best as you can and hope the youngsters jell at the right time. Florida can talk all it wants about getting no respect early in the season or in the middle, but their whole season came down to the sophomores, like Noah, Horford and Green, finding their legs at the end of the season, at tournament time.

That's why, regardless of what everyone says about George Mason being a fluke, no one can say that the mid-majors aren't going to push the big schools to the wire in the tournament from now on.

Ultimately, the three games here this weekend were pretty much devoid of great drama, and the story lines that did evolve weren't completely compelling. Noah's progress will be intriguing to follow, but it's not like there's an overwhelming belief that the next Jabbar or Hakeem or anything close to that is in the making. Florida might repeat next year if the conditions are right - and they might go back to losing in the second round under the same conditions.

Who knows?

It really is time to put the men's season to bed. The women's final truly might be better to watch. Speaking of which, anyone figure out what the hell Ivory Latta was thinking on that final play of the Maryland game, with that Ron Artest impression? Shouldn't anyone else be bothered by her body-slamming a player out of frustration in the final seconds of a Final Four loss? Aaaah, maybe it was just me.

Posted by David Steele at 1:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Things are fairly calm at the RCA Dome with a half-hour still to go before tipoff between UCLA and Florida. No tornado watches or thunderstorm warnings, so outside the Dome, there's none of the excitement that there was last night, when a vicious storm blew through the state and shook up a lot of people and places downtown.

At my hotel, a bunch of us (including dozens of UCLA boosters and, as mentioned previously, the 1966 Texas Western team) stood in the lobby looking out the front door, unable to see across the street because the rain was blowing sideways - until a policeman rolled up and requested that we all GO TO THE BASEMENT. I didn't even know the hotel had a basement. We stayed there for about 20 minutes before the all-clear was given, and we went back upstairs.

But downtown was a mess. The sign in front of the Hyatt Regency (where the coaches' convention attendees were staying) was blown half off. So were the letters on the marquee for the mall movie theater. Debris and standing water was all over the street. But apparently, nobody was seriously hurt, and no tornado actually touched down.

However, my colleague, Bryan Burwell of the St. Louis Post Dispatch (and DuVal High in P.G. County) was on his way to the same function I was, from the opposite direction, when the storm hit. He lived not only to tell about it, but write about it.

So much for that. As of a half-hour ago, no big UCLA alumni were present in the stands, although they were likely going to be there by tipoff. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton and Reggie Miller were present for the semifinal win.

Not here, as expected, is John Wooden. And a report on him just popped up on ESPN.com about five minutes ago: he's in an L.A. hospital. Word is just getting around in the press work room, so there's little doubt that it's made it to the UCLA rooting section, if not the team itself.

Posted by David Steele at 9:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)