Every Monday we share with you a photograph that catches our eye. We provide a couple of possible captions, and you can try your hand at one or two of your own. Check out previous editions of Caption This by clicking here. And for more fun with photos, check out the Sun's Caption Call blog.

-- The Baltimore Ravens' scouts winced when they viewed film of Cedric Peerman. Full of mercy, they selected him in the sixth round of the NFL Draft. As a signing bonus, Ozzie Newsome offered Peerman a dozen bags of ice.

-- Former Virginia tailback Cedric Peerman was originally projected as a first-round pick. But at the NFL Combine, team GMs and scouts began to question his toughness when they spoke to him and discovered he talks a lot like Michael Jackson.

-- "I don't know why anyone's looking at me funny. You hear about the Ravens' second-round pick? That dude is missing more organs than I am."

-- In accordance with the NFL's new rookie orientation plan, all incoming rookies are given a temporary vasectomy before their first professional game.

-- New Maryland slogan: Fear the Snapping Turtle!

-- Asked about making the leap to the NFL, Cedric Peerman told reporters he was fairly certain the tough AFC North wouldn't be near as painful as the frisky ACC.

Posted by Rick Maese at 2:00 PM in Caption This, Ravens, Terps | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

My gut says that you haven't seen the last of Greivis Vasquez in a Maryland uniform.

Maryland sent out a release today confirming what Vasquez told us all last month: He's going to test the NBA draft waters. He won't be getting an agent, though, so if he doesn't like what he hears -- rather, if NBA scouts don't like what they see -- Vasquez can return to the Terps for a senior year.

Just as it's wise for Vasquez to familiarize himself with the process and see where he stands, the educated guess is it'll be just as wise for Vasquez to return to the Terps.

As it stands right now, Vasquez looks like a second-round pick. Some mocks say he could be a late first-rounder, but everything I hear suggests that might be optimistic. For Vasquez to leave school -- for him to eventually sign with an agent -- he needs to hear better than "maybe a late first-rounder." In the NBA, first-rounders get a two-year guaranteed contract; second-rounders get nothing. Their rights are owned by a team, but that team doesn't have to sign the second-round pick or give him a thing, if they don't feel like it.

Vasquez is somewhat of a wild card. As teams check him out, they'll find that he has an OK outside shot but doesn't shoot for a great percentage. He can be exciting and can create plays, but his passing is suspect and his decision-making ability spotty. He can be a good ball-handler -- someone who can grow into a 1 or a 2 -- but he doesn't always take care of the ball and can be turnover prone. Plus, he allows his emotions get the better of him at key moments. In games, he's especially inconsistent. Vasquez is at his best when the offense revolves around him, and he's not good enough at this point to be that person at the next level. To be effective in 2009-10, he'd have prove that he can defend quicker and more athletic guards and limit his turnovers, neither of which he's shown in three years at Maryland.

His best bet is returning to school, gaining a bit of muscle and size and playing with a bit more discipline as a senior. While his versatility is generally good, he also has to make it clear to NBA teams how exactly he'd contribute.

Continue reading "Smart bet: Vasquez returns for senior year" »

Posted by Rick Maese at 11:16 AM in Terps | Permalink | Comments (25)
        

I’m sitting at Gate A26 at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, about to board a Southwest flight to Baltimore. I'm in the B group, which would normally bother me more than it does this morning.

It's early still, but I can’t seem to shake what I saw last night. There’s a reason March is such a special month on the sports calendar. I'm not sure I’ll ever get over the array of emotions that you see at an NCAA tournament game. And to be honest with you, I don’t really want to.

There were tears in both locker rooms last night, after No. 3 seed Louisville ended the season of the top-seeded Terps. For me, it’s what truly separates professional sports from college (aside from the money, of course).

At the pro level, even though bonuses, endorsement deals and millions of dollars might be on the line, you don’t see the same level of unabashed joy. Similarly, you don’t see near the same level of disappointment and sorrow either. On both ends, the emotional outburst is so raw, so true and sincere, that even as a spectator, it crawls under the skin. It finds its way into your bloodstream. One second you can taste the joy at midcourt, but then just seconds later feel your heart grow heavy in the losing locker room.

Continue reading "Tournament tears: Why March is so special" »

Posted by Rick Maese at 8:35 AM in Terps | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Well, the word is out. If the other 15 teams still playing in this NCAA Tournament are sweet, you can bet the Maryland women's basketball team will be licking its chops. Around College Park, trash-talking is out; baby-eating is in.

I spotted at least a half-dozen signs in the crowd last night -- an easy Terps' win -- that innocently-noted, "Terps eat kids!" You'd think such heresy would've been uttered by Utah fans. But no, "Eat kids!" is a motto adopted by Maryland players. "Go team!" is sooo last year. D.C. Sports Bog was all over this yesterday.

The cheerleaders need to come up with whole new routines for this bunch:

Dahmer defense

Offense Hannibal

Let's go Terps!

We're all cannibals!

It got me thinking, if cannibalism is an acceptable rally cry, what other brutally honest yet obscenely graphic mottos and slogans should area teams use to inspire?

Ravens: Spit on homeless!

Redskins: Price-gouge fans!

Orioles: Park illegally in handicap spots!

Nationals: Blindfold Daniel Cabrera!

Wizards: Maim small forest animals!

Capitals: Burn American flags!

Maryland men's basketball: Unleash the pent-up fury and venom that is locked and hidden in Gary Williams' heart and laugh as the world scurries for safety apparently unaware that no matter where they hide Gary will find them! Oh yes, Gary will find them!

Maryland football: Date ugly girls!

Photos: AP; Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun

Posted by Rick Maese at 11:31 AM in Terps | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The voice on the other end of the phone is passionate, and he’s becoming more passionate by the second. His words grow louder and they fly out faster.

“I grew up in the streets,” he says. “I’ve seen pimps in action. I look at the NCAA and I say, ’Wow, these guys would make excellent street pimps.' What they say -- and I mean this in all seriousness - is what a street pimp would say to an athlete.”

This isn’t some radio shock jock speaking. Dr. Boyce Watkins is an assistant professor of finance at Syracuse University. He’s in town tonight, delivering a lecture at Loyola College titled, “The Business of College Sports: Is the NCAA Playing Fairly?”

I ask him to explain tonight’s message a bit.

“The model under which the NCAA currently operates was designed without excessive commercialization in mind,” Watkins explains. “Since that time, you see where this amateur sports organization has become effectively a professional sports league that refuses to pay its employees.”

Ahhh, one of those you’re thinking. Kick sports off campus! Tear down the arenas! Set flames to the football field!

But Watkins insists he isn’t against college sports. In fact, he loves them. So I feel a bit better. See, March always brings about conflicted emotions. I love filling out the brackets and love following the tournaments -- even though there’s an undercurrent of hypocrisy, unfairness and disparity that fuels the whole show.

I admit: For me, there’s a sense of guilt.

Continue reading "NCAA's farce of a workforce" »

Posted by Rick Maese at 2:30 PM in Terps | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Continue reading "Q&A with Maryland basketball beat writer Jeff Barker" »

Posted by Rick Maese at 11:30 AM in Terps, Today's Special | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

I was sitting courtside at the Comcast Center Monday, watching the Maryland women practice (the top-seeded Terps play No. 9 Utah tonight in College Park). As they began, I was one of only a couple of reporters watching – a stark contrast from what I’d seen in Kansas City, Mo., last week covering the men’s team.

I’ll answer the headline’s question in a bit, but first let me note that women's practices are great for eavesdropping. Here’s a sampling of what I heard:

-- “It’s like Bob Knight said, ‘Bury me upside down so my critics can kiss my ass.’ "

-- “I just shaved my armpits… plus I used cocoa butter so it’s real smooth.”

-- “Yo, D, I’m gonna get you some Depends, those old people diapers.”

-- Maryland player 1: “Look how congested it is.”

   Maryland player 2: “That’s a good word. That’s an SAT word.”

   Maryland coach: “Do you know how to spell it?”

   Maryland player 2: “Oh, Coach B trying to get you!”

   Maryland player 1: “This is practice time. We’re away from academics right now.”

Every March what separates the men's and women's tournaments is unmistakable. It's the parity. Or at least it was.

Continue reading "Why isn't the women's tourney as exciting as men's?" »

Posted by Rick Maese at 9:42 AM in Terps | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

Special to The Baltimore Sun: Contact Ricig at michaelricigliano@gmail.com

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 10:00 AM in Mike Ricigliano's View, Ravens, Terps | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Each week here at the Toy Department, two Baltimore Sun staffers will engage in a segment we like to call The Conversation, where they'll swap emails with one another and debate something that is in the news. This week, Childs Walker and Kevin Van Valkenburg debate the state of Maryland basketball, and what the Terps will do going forward.

Hey Kevin:

As I watched Memphis take Maryland to the woodshed this afternoon, I couldn't help but think the beatdown was a perfect representation of where the Terps stand.

They turned into a fun team this year, they really did. They played hard. They rallied around Gary Williams when his critics took out the long knives. Greivis Vasquez produced memorable performances and even more memorable quotes. Dave Neal found a way to keep scoring with his self-described YMCA game.

But when they ran into an elite team playing at the top of its game, they not only lost; they couldn't compete.

The game was Maryland's worst nightmare really. We knew the Terps were overmatched body for body, but we couldn't have expected Memphis to shoot 70 percent and make 8 of 11 threes in the first half. The Tigers were so efficient that they didn't even need to pound the offensive glass to outclass Maryland. The Terps, meanwhile, struggled to score for long stretches ... just as they have all season.

It's hard to see any of this changing until Williams stocks his team with a few blue-chip recruits. Given the same set of players, he might well be a better coach than Memphis' John Calipari. But when was the last time Williams had a group as talented as this Memphis team? Probably 2002.

The short-term prognosis for Maryland is fine. Gary will be back as will most of this year's team. Maryland will add two desperately needed inside players in Jordan Williams and James Padgett. If one of them (probably Williams) helps immediately, if Sean Mosley matures, if Landon Milbourne improves a bit more, if Eric Hayes shoots with a little more confidence, if Vasquez eschews the NBA, they could finish in the top half of the ACC next year.

We know Gary will maximize what he has and whip his crew to a few upsets. But it's equally obvious that without a better grade of talent, Maryland won't make deep runs into the NCAA tournament. They'll run into teams like Memphis in the second or third round and they'll be hopelessly outclassed.

So my questions to you are: Do you see any of this changing? Do you think there's anything philosophically wrong with the state of Maryland's program (or is Gary really kind of a noble figure)? Should Greivis come back?

Fear the Turtle, I suppose.

Childs

Continue reading "The Conversation: The state of Maryland basketball" »

Posted by Kevin Van Valkenburg at 9:00 AM in Terps, The Conversation | Permalink | Comments (22)