baltimoresun.com - Rick Maese

Final bell for Rahman?

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Heavyweight's future hinges on tonight's fight

A nyone who thinks Brett Favre is indecisive and functionally foolish about retirement should have a talk with a boxer. Any boxer. Even after the alarm clock on his career starts buzzing, he's likely to either ignore it or hit snooze a few times and sleepwalk his way through fights.

O's are changing culture, but losses pile up

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

T he Orioles blew another one, stumbled into the division cellar, and I'm not sure things are about to get better. Talk about Oriole Tragic.

Orioles need not heed Joe Morgan's advice

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

In Web chat, Hall of Famer suggests team should trade prospects for major league help

S ome days you just don't know whether the Windex is best used on your eyeglasses or down your gullet. Yesterday was one of those days, and because I work for a medium that's still printed on dead trees, I feel comfortable blaming the Internet.

Spitz sees Phelps within striking distance

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

And now the race is on. They've leapt from the starting blocks. In one lane, expectations. In another, hope. And in a third, speculation.

Olympics will shine Phelps-like spotlight on Hoff

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Beijing Games promise to offer swimmer chance at making swimming history

In the universe of hypotheticals, the most popular impossibility buzzing around the pool is this:

Lucky seat 13 for Phelps' mother

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Mom knows best; she sits in same spot during his streak at trials

Some think it's all that training and dedication, a life spent in the swimming pool and an adolescence timed with a stopwatch. Others think it's inexplicable genes, his flexibility, a long, lean body and limbs that never seem to end. And still others point to the fancy swimsuit, designed with the aid of NASA technology and capable of keeping even John Daly afloat.

NFL rookies warned about financial schemes

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Symposium seeks to highlight off-field perils, assimilate players to new lifestyle

Javon Walker was robbed and beaten for $3,000 in cash and $100,000 worth of jewelry. Phillip Buchanon was pistol-whipped, stripped naked and robbed in his own home. Intruders stole everything from the TV to the SUV. Dunta Robinson was bound with duct tape and robbed at gunpoint in his home, too. And eight days after Sean Taylor's home was burglarized, his house was again broken into and he was fatally shot by intruders.

Smutz is getting back in the swim

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Whether it's on the medal stand or on the starting blocks, the movement is nearly the same. The long athlete bends over, head deliberately bowed - ready for a medal or ready for the water.

Imus' way with words not up to the Carlin standard

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The original plan was to begin with a freestyle rap -- a la Shaquille O'Neal -- but that didn't last half a stanza. (I knew of only one word that rhymed with Schmuck.) So Plan B called for some farce, a little sarcasm that might poke, prod and maybe even offend. A high-brow cocktail for the low-minded.

Relative says MLB should retire Ruth's No. 3

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The debate rises up from the history books. The question is one of honor. And the woman at the center of it all swears she'll never stop swinging for the fences. Just like her grandfather.