By Dave Gilmore, on January 19th, 2012  We like to regularly feature Alex Ovechkin’s massive blowups here, and with good reason. Anyone who doubts Ovi’s physicality should note that his peers, in an SI poll of 193 current NHLers, voted him the 10th hardest hitter in the league.
This isn’t the first or last time his colleagues show Ovechkin the respect he’s earned on the ice. The Capitals’ frontman was voted the league’s MVP by the players three consecutive years, from 2007-2010.
While his goal totals might be down the last two seasons, Ovechkin’s game is slowly rounding out. The physical tools have always been there, but when the pucks aren’t going in, Ovechkin seems to know that he can’t afford to disappear from the game completely.
Keep your head up - it’s the oldest rule in hockey for a reason.
By Dave Gilmore, on January 6th, 2012  According to the team’s Twitter account, Director of Player Personnel Eric DeCosta isn’t going to seek out a general manager opportunity with another team.
As the Sun reported earlier in the year, majority partner Steve Biscotti has tabbed DeCosta as Ozzie Newsom’s eventual successor if he sticks around.
While Newsome’s indellible mark is on the team’s makeup, credit for success must go in part to DeCosta, who has been vital in the Ravens draft successes of Joe Flacco and Michael Oher in particular, picking up where current Eagles exec Phil Savage left off. Savage was an example of a hot young GM candidate the Ravens couldn’t keep at the Castle, as he ambitiously left to take the reins in Cleveland.
Ozzie Newsome is only 55 years old and has a competitive streak in him that assuredly wants to build another championship team, but for now it seems that DeCosta is fine to wait his turn, even though as NFL.com reported, at least three teams want him constructing their rosters.
By Dave Gilmore, on December 22nd, 2011  Almost four years removed from The Wire‘s finale, Charm City is still shoehorning its way onto HBO. In last night’s excellent episode of “24/7: Flyers vs. Rangers,” injured star Claude Giroux* met with trainer Jim McCrossin in his office. Trained eyes spotted a different (read: better) shade of orange lurking in the background than that nasty Flyers day-glo: Orioles orange!
A perusal of McCrossin’s bio doesn’t hint at any immediate connection to the O’s, but for what it’s worth there’s also a Boston Red Sox cap on his shelf. Uni-philes like myself will recognize the American League 100th anniversary patch, so we know it’s a jersey from 2001. Looking at the ’01 roster, it’s unclear as to who this may have been a gift from. Maybe McCrossin is just a big Ripken fan, but perhaps this was a gift from Lancaster, PA native and O’s reliever John Parrish (the only PA native listed)? Any enterprising readers with the answer should let us know in the comments.
*By the way, Claude Giroux looks like a Canadian version of Nick Backstrom. It’s all starting to make sense.
In another strange HBO/Baltimore related development, I was watching the trailer for the upcoming HBO series “Angry Boys” when I noticed a familiar face. Yep, that’s WJZ’s own Denise Koch. And yes, she is doing a story about a gay skateboarding sensation. Fans of Chris Lilley’s brilliant earlier work (“Summer Heights High”) will not be surprised at this particular story arc.
Anyway, Lilley’s work, including “Angry Boys,” has always been more or less 100% Australian, produced and shot down under and shown on T.V. there before it comes out on HBO (“Angry Boys” premiers on New Year’s Day in the states). How the heck did the woman who has read the news for 25 years in our home town get on the series (which is her only IMDb credit)? I have no idea.
Never fear, I’ve emailed Denise and I’m sure addressing this wonderful juxtaposition has moved to the top of her holiday to-do list.
UPDATE: An email from Denise Koch explains:
A friend of mine is a cousin of the casting woman for this. She’s in Australia but asked if I’d tape a little scene for them so I agreed. Didn’t actually believe it would ever come state-side but…shows what I know. I am not familiar with the other work although I clicked through it from time to time. Funny you should recognize me!
Thus concludes this thrilling saga. Consider my curiosity indulged. Thanks Denise!
By Dave Gilmore, on November 22nd, 2011  Sportswriting, and all forms of narrative or editorial for that matter, exists because of conflict. Whether dire or trivial, the reason we have anything to talk about is because we have challenges and uncertainty at every turn of a given season. I believe it’s a misconception that our culture is overly critical or that there’s some sort of initiative of “gotcha” journalism that hasn’t existed before. How do you think that rumor about Catherine the Great and her horse got started? Today, we just have more avenues to consume the criticism and highlight the conflict.
As dopey as it seems, I get tired of this paradigm from time to time. Even as a semi-professional sports complainer, sometimes I feel like everyone is overlooking what a great time it is not only to be a sports fan, but to live in Baltimore and love sports. It goes without saying that there are real things in life to be thankful for, sure, but we don’t write about them here. Take a moment and lose the cynicism, and think about what you love about being a Baltimore sports fan. Here’s my list. READ MORE >>>
By Edgar Walker, on November 19th, 2011 
Welcome to what will become known as the “Saturday Special,” a weekly event where I use this space to share any knowledge or opinions I have on anything related to (and in some cases, unrelated to) Baltimore sports.
Mostly, the “column” (as we’ll so graciously call it), will be put together like today’s. It will have bits and pieces of information, spanning multiple sports and considering several different perspectives. I’ll break it down, make it look nice, and refer you to some cool things to check out around the internet. Basically, it will be something fun to read and rely on each week.
However, on occasion I may get the urge to summon my inner Hemingway and construct a 1,000 word masterpiece detailing why I believe Ed Reed would make a perfect head football coach at any level, or discuss some outlandish issue pertaining to Peter Angelos’ sorry excuse of ownership of the Baltimore Orioles. These installments would be less glamourous, but they’d deliver the goods like a canned food drive on steroids (or like a good Chinese delivery guy, it’s really your choice).
By Edgar Walker, on November 14th, 2011 For those of you who actively follow the MLS, this is old news. The powers-that-be of MLS and D.C. United have long been complaining about the high cost of RFK Stadium, especially considering the poor condition of the stadium. As flashy new soccer-specific stadiums pop up all over the U.S. for most of MLS’ franchises, United have been stuck in what could very well be considered the armpit of Washington, D.C. sports.
While browsing ESPN Soccernet on Friday night, I came across this MLS news rundown, which mostly discusses the United situation, and suggests that a move to Baltimore could come as soon as next season. D.C. United don’t want to play in RFK any longer, and it seems that MLS are fairly discontent with the situation as well. The article discusses the construction of a soccer-specific venue in the Camden Yards area, but it seems that M&T Bank Stadium would be the most likely candidate for United if they decide to relocate.
The bigger question than the stadium one, however, is the one of whether an MLS franchise in Baltimore is a smart decision. If the team did move to Baltimore, would it be a logical move for the club and its fan base?
READ MORE >>>
By Dave Gilmore, on November 8th, 2011  I was on eBay the other day selling my old iPhone when it dawned on me that we are due for another Great Baltimore Yard Sale. Given the holidays coming up, it’s never too early to get a jump on buying a white elephant gift that will test your family/office’s rules for how many times a single item can be discarded back to the pile.
Last time I hunted solely on eBay, but this time I thought it made sense to diversify and scour the less-beaten paths of the giant mall that is the Internet. As always, buyer beware.
Ravens 6-piece Family Decal Set ($4.79)
I’m not really sure when this happened, but someone should pinpoint the day that these car decals became popular and find out which butterfly flapped its wings to cause this from spreading. I’m anti-vehicle sticker in the first place, but this seems like a very odd ritual to just have icons for each person and animal in your family. “This is how many bags you’ll need, Mr. Highway Serial Killer!” Maybe it’s because I don’t have kids that this impulse escape me. How lame would it be to just put the dad and mom sticker on my wife’s Passat?
READ MORE >>>
By Dave Gilmore, on November 7th, 2011  Please join us in welcoming Lindsey to the BSR team as the lead writer for our newly launched Baltimore Sports Report tumblog. If you haven’t seen it yet, she’s already killing it.
There are tons of things that we come across in the sports universe every day that aren’t quite “wordy” enough for this space, or maybe deserve more than a mention on Twitter.
Our Tumblr is where Lindsey will be cultivating these items into a visual stream of what you’re talking about in the sports world. If you’re already on Tumblr, consider giving us a follow.
We’ll be featuring some “best of Tumblr” content here on the main site as well, but you can always find the Baltimore Sports Reportr at baltimoresportsreport.tumblr.com
By Dave Gilmore, on November 1st, 2011  “Of all the people that email me, the Ravens fans are the most irrational, which is strange in itself because they just got the team like what, 13, 14 years ago? . . . I get these emails like ‘you hate the Ravens, you intentionally pick against against us’ . . . but they’re very sensitive about Flacco. They don’t like any inference that he’s not good.”
-ESPN’s Bill Simmons on The B.S. Report podcast, October 31st, 2011
When a Raven fan reads the above statement from the most prominent voice in the sports world, how can one not look within one’s self and see if the Sports Guy’s jibes ring true?
To cross over some classical literature on you, doth the Raven protest too much? READ MORE >>>
By Dave Gilmore, on October 18th, 2011  While we were still wondering if there would be a NFL season, there was a contingent of people pre-crapping on Joe Flacco’s 2011. Another entity that takes a lot of flack, and sometimes rightly so, is ESPN. However, I find their NFL divisional blogs to be excellent. Especially the AFC North blog, currently edited by familiar face and Baltimorean Jameson Hensley.
Back in early July, before Hensley came to the blog, there was a short but excellent post by James Walker on “Five ways Joe Flacco can silence critics.” It seems like nobody ever revisits these summer football articles. How does the reality of October match up to what we thought in July? I thought I’d take a trip back and find out. READ MORE >>>
By Dave Gilmore, on October 14th, 2011 Jay Beagle may not be a familiar name to the casual Capitals fan. The big center from Calgary has taken the familiar, long road to an NHL sweater, grinding through junior hockey, the University of Alaska-Anchorage, the ECHL and AHL, and appeared in brief cameos with the Caps when they needed a body from Hershey. Number 83 will have to fight his teammates (metaphorically) to keep a spot on the dress roster this season. Last night, the Caps 3-2 overtime win in Pittsburgh, Beagle had to (literally) fight to earn his keep. His teammates rallied around him on the ice when he got knocked out by pro pugilist Arron Asham. After the game, some found cause to rally around their fallen comrade off the ice as well.
Morgan Douglas is also not a familiar name to hockey fans. She’s a self described 20 year-old student obsessed with hockey. While Asham backed off his post-K.O. celebration and apologized postgame, Douglas tagged in electronically. Just like he would on the ice, Capitals defenseman John Carlson took exception. Instead of a damp Bauer glove to the face, Douglas appears to have gotten a direct message from Carlson’s twitter account: “Go screw yourself u mutant.” READ MORE >>>
By BSR Staff, on September 23rd, 2011  The reports are all over twitter that former Offensive Tackle Orlando “Zues” Brown has passed away.
There are have no details to the circumstances surrounding his death. We will post something more when we know more.
We at BSR send our respects to the Brown’s family and to the Ravens’ family as a whole.
In the meantime, please free to share your thoughts and memories in the comments section.
By Edgar Walker, on August 24th, 2011  Mike Flanagan’s sudden death tonight prompted many in Baltimore, especially those in Orioles circles, to react and reflect on what Flanagan meant to them. On a sad night, many are finding some comfort by remembering Flanagan for who he was; a great man who was a hero for Baltimore.
Both on and off the baseball field, Mike Flanagan had a profound impact on this city, and the lives of people around him.
WNST.net gives us a great roundup of quotes from those closest to Flanagan, ranging from Cal Ripken Jr. to Peter Angelos. One statement I found particularly touching was Jim Palmer’s:
It wasn’t just about what happened on the field. He was one of a kind. I’m sorry for the people that knew him. It’s devastating.”
READ MORE >>>
By Sadler, on August 3rd, 2011 According to Mike Garafolo of The Star-Ledge, the Giants have rescinded Osi Umenyiora’s ability to seek a trade.
The team’s decision to take the trade off the table is a sign they’re looking to nip this distraction in the bud, though it might only serve to further escalate Umenyiora’s anger over his claim the Giants promised to restructure his contract. If so, that might speed up the process here and bring a suspension for “conduct detrimental to the team” in play.
I have no idea what to make of this. I honestly think it is a game being played by the Giants. I believe Umenyiora will be traded by the start of the season, I just think the Giants wanted to show they had the upper hand.
Did Baltimore blow it by not offering a 1st Round Pick for the pass rusher?
By Dave Gilmore, on June 21st, 2011  If you read about sports on the internet at all (and if you’re here, I supposed to a certain extent you do), you’ve probably heard a thing our two about a little startup site called Grantland. I cannot pretend that I haven’t been guardedly excited about Grantland’s launch for months now. The brainchild of the most popular sports columnist in America, ESPN’s Bill Simmons, Grantland positions itself as the anti-blog, an online magazine featuring long-form pieces on sports and pop culture. The site also features contributions from Chuck Klosterman, who along with Simmons has spent the last decade throwing fastballs right down the plate of my generation.
READ MORE >>>
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