Quoth the Ravens: Never more … is football a club just for men

I used to hate football. I used to loathe Sundays when the television was commandeered for hours on end of what appeared to be mere chest-thumping male chauvinism.

Then, one day, I decided to stop ignoring it and to start asking questions. And as it turns out, men really love to talk about football.

What does it mean to be “2nd and 2”?
Do you need both feet in for a catch to count?
What is a safety?
Why did the ref stop the play with a flag?
What makes the special teams “special”?

Through this process I learned many things, but most importantly I learned how much I truly love the strategy, hard hits, story lines, play calling (sometimes), and fan and community camaraderie that all come with football.

I thought I was an anomaly, but 46 percent of Ravens fans are female. More than ever, women are putting down their apron, donning a jersey and trekking out to M&T Bank Stadium for the beer-drinking, brat-eating and touchdown-cheering revelry that is football.

This has not gone unnoticed by the Baltimore Ravens, who hold an annual Football 101 Festival for women and recently introduced a women-only fan club called Purple. But if you ask me, we women already enjoy plenty of perk without a special fan club.

For instance, our wait to get in the stadium or use the restroom is considerably shorter than that of our male counterparts. When my boyfriend and I attended training camp, he received one autograph and I received six. Women even save money on jerseys by purchasing them in youth sizes.

Really though, the biggest perk is standing in the stadium, wearing a Ray Lewis jersey, screaming out the players names (“Reeeeeeeed”) and being a part of a club that is bigger than just football. And I, for one, am glad that it’s coed.

Any fellow female fans care to share their love of the game?

-EMILY ARNOLD, Special Publications Editor

The world of sports: Billionaires vs. billionaires

When Major League Baseball’s players went on strike, the question was whether you wanted to support the millionaires or the billionaires.

Now, in the case of the NFL Network vs. Humongous Cable Companies (including Comcast, Cablevision and Time Warner), you can decide between billionaires and billionaires.

It’s really hard — at least for me — to want either side to win.

When the NFL started the NFL Network in November 2003, the big issue was on what level of service it would be carried by cable systems. Basically, the NFL wanted its network to be included on service levels that cable customers didn’t have to pay extra for. The cable operators, on the other hand, wanted to place the NFL Network on “sports tiers” that customers had to buy.

The dispute caused the NFL Network to be originally carried only on DirecTV and a handful of small cable systems.

Eventually, the NFL and the Humongous Cable Companies struck an agreement, and for a couple of years the NFL Network was available on lesser tiers. This summer, however, Humongous Cable Companies moved the network to premium services, which cost customers an extra $2 to $8 per month.

(I left out many details, but, believe me, you really don’t care about them.)

So now you’re up to date.

And, unless you’re paying extra for it, you’ll need to listen to tonight’s game between the 10-1 Dallas Cowboys and the 10-1 Green Bay Packers on WBAL radio or go to your favorite sports bar.

What’s your opinion on who’s to blame?

—ED WALDMAN, Managing Editor/Business

Air the turtle!

Being a biased University of Maryland-College Park graduate, I’ve always wondered why no local TV affiliates have ever worked out an agreement with the school to broadcast Terrapin football and basketball games. It seems like it would be a good move to grab some ratings and boost the number of viewers for whichever channel chose to be so bold.

Even despite an endless line of injuries, the football program and Coach Friedgen just clinched a bowl bid in a must-win game; the men’s basketball team and red-faced Gary Williams are always entertaining; and last but definitely not least, the Lady Terps are wearing out opponents on the hardcourt on their way to an early 9-0 record and No. 3 ranking nationwide — all with Coach Brenda Frese expecting twins very soon.

There are a lot of Terp supporters who I’m sure would like to see more airtime for their fearsome turtles, especially with the Ravens season being dead in the water and the baseball team that plays across the street from them in its usual state of disarray. Just consider that there have been multiple bowl appearances in the past five years for the football team, a men’s national basketball championship in 2002, and a women’s national basketball championship in 2006.

Am I a delusional sports fan, or do local networks really “fear the turtle” enough to make them nonexistent on the airwaves?

-FRANCIS SMITH, Special Publications Assistant Editor

Rodriguez, Rogers go it alone

Alex Rodriguez, the New York Yankees third basemen and recently named American League MVP, sidelined his lawyer, super agent Scott Boras, last week and instead consulted Goldman Sachs bankers and renowned investor Warren Buffett on his way to signing another landmark contract.

Rodriguez’s former teammate with the Texas Rangers, pitcher Kenny Rogers, has also cut ties with Boras and is representing himself in his contract talks with the Detroit Tigers.

Boras has developed a reputation as a tough negotiator, to his benefit — his stable of clients could easily make up an All-Star team — and now, apparently, to his detriment.

Many fans have long held sports agents in low esteem, as interlopers who meddle in the business of players and teams.

Were last week’s decisions to consult money men in lieu of a lawyer or go completely pro se specific to Boras, or have players come to see their lawyers like the fans - as impediments rather than indispensable advisors and advocates?

-BRENDAN KEARNEY, Legal Affairs Writer

My fantasy: No fantasy

I am clearly in the minority here, but I am thoroughly sick of fantasy sports.

To me, fantasy takes away the appeal of sports – especially team sports.

How could I – a Philadelphia Eagles fan by birth and a Baltimore Ravens fan by choice, ever pick a fantasy team that included a member of the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals or Cleveland Browns? Why would I want to see any of those players do well? And why would I want to participate in a venture where I could lose money if I won’t pick any player from nearly 20 percent of the teams in the NFL?

Team sports are about the team – not about the individual.

Of course, I don’t bet on the outcome of individual games, either. I want to be happy when my team wins the game – not angry that they won but didn’t cover the spread.

As I said, I know that I’m in the minority. Former Ravens owner Art Modell told me for a story I wrote for The Sun in January 2005:

“There’s no question in my mind, and I hate to say it in public, but I have to be honest about it, the element of wagering by the average fan in office pools, man-to-man betting, even with bookmakers, has added a tremendous dimension to our game. It’s brought millions of people to the TV set if they have a buck or two on a team.”

Do you play fantasy football? What is the appeal to you?

-ED WALDMAN, Managing Editor, Business

Score one for online video

In a start-of-the-season buzzer-beater, the NFL announced this week that its despised 45-second cap on online video will be relaxed for its broadcast rights holders - Fox, CBS, ESPN and NBC.

To sum up for readers unaware of the dispute: In June, the NFL instituted a rule that prohibited the media from posting more than 45 seconds of video per day that is shot at team facilities or features team personnel. Critics say the move was designed to force fans to visit NFL.com to get the goods.

The Sports Business Journal reported Tuesday that the TV networks "argued that their rights fees - averaging more than $3B a year over the life of the contracts... should buy them more latitude for online video than an unaffiliated media outlet."

Still in play: Exactly how much video the rights holders will be allowed to post, and whether affiliate stations will reap the benefits of their parent networks.

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Local courses miss top 50 in golf course rankings

Maryland golf courses just aren't up to par, according to GOLF magazine's new ranking of the top 100 courses in the U.S.

The highest-ranked golf course in the area was the Blue Course at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, which narrowly missed landing in the top half at No. 51. Its 2005 rank was No. 45.

The top rated-rated course in the Baltimore area was Baltimore Country Club in Timonium. But its rating fell drastically, to No. 84 from No. 63 in 2005.

New Jersey's Pine Valley course held onto its top spot, and courses in New York and Pennsylvania were well represented in the top 10.

So how about it, golfers -- are metropolitan-area courses just not up to snuff? Did the magazine miss excellent courses in the state?

Thanks to our sister blog in Long Island for tipping us off.

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

How much is a billion billion?

News of Michael Vick's latest legal hurdle broke on Wednesday: the Atlanta Falcons star has been hit with a "63,000,000,000 billion dollar" lawsuit by a South Carolina inmate.

Any words I could use to describe the filing wouldn't do it justice. Click here to read the handwritten complaint by Jonathan Lee Riches, which alleges that Vick stole his pitbulls, sold them on eBay and used the earnings to purchase missiles from Iran (all on behalf of Al Qaeda).

Taking the suit to a new level of absurdity, Riches requests that the money (in gold and silver) be delivered to the front gates of the correctional facility where he is serving a wire fraud conviction.

Maybe Roy Pearson (filer of the now-infamous missing pants lawsuit) has found his soulmate.

-JACKIE SAUTER, Daily Record Multimedia Editor

UPDATE: The Smoking Gun reports that Mr. Riches has filed another suit, this time against home-run hitter Barry Bonds, commissioner Bug Selig, and Hank Aaron's bat.

This you gotta see.

The Scooter and Baltimore

Holy Cow!

That’s the only reaction you could have to the news that Phil Rizzuto, as legendary for his malaprops in the New York Yankees broadcast booth as he was for a career that included an MVP award in 1950, has died. Rizzuto, who was 89, played with the Yankees from 1941 through 1956 (not including 1944-46, when he was in the Pacific with the U.S. Navy during World War II) and broadcast their games until 1996.

According to Bloomberg’s obituary, Rizzuto turned down an offer from the Orioles to broadcast their games – accepting an offer from the Yankees that was worth less money – because he had just opened up a bowling alley with teammate Yogi Berra.

Can you imagine Rizzuto teamed with Chuck Thompson? In another Baltimore connection, Rizzuto spent more than 20 years as a commercial spokesman for The Money Store, before he was replaced by former Oriole and fellow Hall-of-Famer Jim Palmer in 1993.

-ED WALDMAN, Managing Editor, Business

The greatest player of all time?

Barry Bonds is the all-time home run champion. It pains me to write that — trust me — but it’s true. Whatever you think of him, or how he got to the record, you can’t dispute the accomplishment.

But there is one thing he’s not, and that’s the greatest baseball player of all time. I heard several people on the radio making that argument on my way to work this morning. But it’s wrong. Dead wrong.
The greatest baseball player of all time, bar none, was Babe Ruth.

Yes, I know he played at a time when the game was segregated. But he also played in a time when stadiums were bigger, travel was done by train and physical-training regiments were comprised of beers and strip clubs. However, because of baseball’s expansion to 30 teams, a good number of the guys pitching in the big leagues today would have been in the minors or driving trucks in the ’20s. So, no, all things aren’t even.

Putting that aside, there is still one number that separate Ruth from Bonds — that separates Ruth from Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio or any other baseball player you want to throw into the greatest of all time argument.

That number: 94.

That’s the number of victories Ruth had as a pitcher.

The Sultan of Swat, the Home Run King, was 94-46 with a 2.28 earned run average as a starting pitcher. He threw 17 shutouts, 107 complete games and struck out 488. And all but five of those victories came before 1919, when he’d only hit 49 of his 714 home runs.

So, give Barry his — reluctant — due. But until he hangs up his bat and takes the mound, don’t call him the greatest baseball player of all time.

—LOUIS LLOVIO, Daily Record Business Writer