By Mark Brown, on January 30th, 2012  This recap and analysis of WWE’s Monday Night Raw are the personal opinions of the writer. The author of this article is a former promoter, writer, and referee in the wrestling industry. You won’t find analysis as accurate as this anywhere else on the internet.
We’re officially on “The Road to Wrestlemania.” After an exciting Royal Rumble Pay Per View event, what was the fallout on Raw? Who won the Rumble? Who are the current champions? How will the results from the Rumble affect both the current product and Wrestlemania itself? Read on my friends…
WWE Monday Night Raw Results 1/30/12
John Laurinaitis comes down the aisle. He is extremely happy and is sucking up to the fans. He smacks hands with fans around the ring. His job will be reviewed tonight by Triple H. I’m trying to figure out why the emphasis on this show is on the General Manager situation when there is a Royal Rumble winner to celebrate? That should have started the show. The Wrestlemania 28 sign is hung above the ring as the road to Wrestlemania officially begins. Laurinaitis says Triple H is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, and says that he himself did a great job at the Royal Rumble and called the match right down the middle. He puts over the next Pay Per View “Elimination Chamber” and announces the main event to be CM Punk vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz vs. R-Truth vs. Chris Jericho inside the Elimination Chamber. He spits off a couple of matches for tonight including Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk. If that actually happens I will probably pee my pants. Laurinaitis stumbles and bumbles over his words for awhile.
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By Zach Wilt, on January 30th, 2012  UPDATE 2:20 PM: The Ravens announced on Twitter that it’s a done deal. Jim Caldwell is the team’s new quarterbacks coach.
Think of it as a trade.
The Ravens give the Colts their best coach, defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano, and return they get Indy’s Jim Caldwell, who was fired after a 2-14 season. Awesome.
7:00 AM: ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting (in a suit from a library) that Caldwell met with the Steelers over the weekend and he “plans to join” the Ravens offensive staff. ”Likely as a QB coach,” Schefter tweets.
Could this be the Ravens first step in luring Peyton Manning?
Haha. No. But that’s a fun topic to discuss during a long offseason.
By Zach Wilt, on January 30th, 2012 “That’s my team. That’s my quarterback,” Terrell Owens famously whined.
Out in Hawaii, former Ravens running back Willis McGahee caught some smack talk from a Baltimore fan about Tim Tebow. ”If you had a better quarterback you could have gone further,” the fan yelled to McGahee.
“That’s like saying if they [had] a better kicker they would have won right,” McGahee said back.
Ouch.
By Zach Wilt, on January 30th, 2012  The only person more surprised than Ravens fans that Cam Cameron is back as Baltimore’s offensive coordinator is Cam Cameron.
At 11 o’clock on Friday, Baltimore let out a collective grumble both verbally and on the Twitter as John Harbaugh announced that Cameron would be returning to call the Ravens plays.
Matt Vensel of Baltimore Sun posted some interesting comments from Cam-squared after the announcement. Apparently, Cameron told “some co-workers” that he didn’t believe he’d be back as his contract was due to expire and the Ravens had yet to reach out to him to renew it.
“I called Ozzie and said, ‘Hey, I’m just thrilled to be back,’” Cameron said according to Vensel. “Ozzie said, ‘Cam, in our minds, you were never gone.’
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By Edgar Walker, on January 30th, 2012 After an awesome week of basketball in Baltimore, we have major shake-ups in this week’s BSR Top 15. The Basketball Academy was three days of great high school hoops action, as former #1 Dunbar fell, and Baltimore enjoyed several top-notch contests.
This week, Patterson surges back into the top spot in the rankings for the first time since the beginning of the season. The Clippers seem to be hitting their stride, and Saturday night’s 79-72 win over a very talented St. Frances squad showed that. The past seven days also saw two of the three remaining unbeatens in the area drop results, with Arundel holding strong as the only undefeated team in the Charm City metro area.
As will be the case all season, these rankings reward results, taking into account opponent strength and margin of victory/loss. Teams will not be ranked highly because of the hype or publicity surrounding their teams, but rather the consistency and impressiveness of their play. Additionally, because of the nature of these rankings, readers will notice considerable movement in the rankings each week. Rankings are released every Monday.
See past rankings: Preseason||Week 1 || Week 2 || Week 3 || Week 4 || Week 5 || Week 6 || Week 7
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By Dave Gilmore, on January 30th, 2012  Time to wipe the board clean. The wounds of the 2011 Ravens may still be fresh, but the seconds are already ticking away until the 2012 Ravens break training camp. While the number of free agent decisions the team needs to make might be minimal in quantity, the re-signing or lack thereof by some key pieces may affect the puzzle greatly. Matt Lund and I broke down every potential new deal and decision not to renew.
If you need to brush up on unrestricted vs. restricted free agency, please feel free to do so and then leave your calls in the comments. (Player ages are in parentheses.)
Skill Positions
———————–
RB Ray Rice (25)
D: If a long-term deal is inevitable for Rice, I’d be happy if the Ravens took care of it now rather than franchising him and waiting a year. I don’t love long-term deals for backs as it obviously exposes the team to much more risk than most positions. Whatever you gotta do, Keep.
M: Absolute no-brainer. It would be in the Ravens best interest to sign Rice to a long-term deal to avoid the hassle of franchising him and also having both he and Joe Flacco as impending free agents in 2013. The guy is your workhorse, and led the NFL in yards from scrimmage this season. He’s worth every penny. Keep.
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By Zach Wilt, on January 30th, 2012  I didn’t watch a second of the Pro Bowl last night. Why should I? It’s a joke.
I would rather watch a three hour rain delay than the Pro Bowl.
I went on to ESPN.com at 11:30 last night just to see the final score and get a few stats for this post and had to did deep just to find it. Buried underneath Winter X Games coverage, a story on the Mavericks win in over time, Djokovic beating Nadal, the NHL All-Star game and a column about the Giants defense was a headline about that Pro Bowl.
Apparently Ray Lewis had five tackles and Vonta Leach scored a touchdown — that news comes via Aaron Wilson, who I assume was forced to watch the game for his job. Poor guy.
Last year 13.4 million football starved morons watched the Pro Bowl on Fox. I’m sure the numbers will be similar this season. There’s no sense in telling the NFL to kill it, move it, add a skills competition or any of the other crazy ideas people have for the game.
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By Zach Wilt, on January 28th, 2012  11 years ago today the Ravens won Super Bowl 35 in Tampa Bay 34-7 over the New York Giants.
In some ways it doesn’t seem that long ago…
The Backstreet Boys sang the National Anthem, Aerosmith, Britney Spears, Nelly, Mary J. Blige and *NSYNC performed at Halftime.
…and in others it feels like an eternity ago.
The Ravens were just five years old in Baltimore and while their following was strong, it was nothing like it is today.
If not for a 97-yard kickoff return by Ron Dixon in the third quarter, the Ravens would have been the first team in NFL history to shutout an opponent in the Super Bowl.
It still hurts a little. Rather than a Super Bowl XLII rematch, we in Baltimore would prefer it to revisit that of Super XXXV rematch.
11 years. 4 seasons removed from Brian Billick. Put the guy in the freaking Ring of Honor.
By Zach Wilt, on January 28th, 2012  It’s over. It’s all over.
As a Towson alumnus I’m happy to report that a winning streak has officially begun for the Tigers mens basketball team.
Towson’s 41-game losing streak — 0-22 this season — ended against UNC Wilmington at the Towson Center on Saturday. Towson defeated the Seahawks 66-61.
Here at BSR we had planned a nice little “this blog has operated x days since Towson last won a basketball game” sign… Not anymore
In the time between Towson’s wins, Kim Kardashian was both married and divorced, Osama Bin Laden was killed and Occupy Wall Street began.
The Tigers didn’t get a win in all of 2011.
By Zach Wilt, on January 27th, 2012  Sergio Kindle might be the exception to the saying “In Ozzie We Trust.”
The second year linebacker was the Ravens first pick in the 2009 draft, but he didn’t see the field until 2011 after he missed an entire season recovering from a fractured skull that he suffered falling down two flights of stairs.
The Ravens kept Kindle on their roster and worked with him this season. John Harbaugh answered few questions about Kindle in his Monday press conferences as he was inactive 14 weeks of the regular season.
Ryan Mink of BaltimoreRavens.com gave an update on Kindle for the fans that wondered what happened this season.
In short, the Ravens report that Kindle struggled learning the playbook and he worked closely with outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino to learn the team’s scheme.
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By Marco Romanell, on January 27th, 2012 Virginia Tech Hokies (12-8, 1-4 ACC) At Maryland Terrapins (12-7, 2-3 ACC)
Saturday 2:30pm Comcast Center, College Park, MD
Leading Scorer: VT- Erick Green 15.8ppg MD: Terrell Stoglin 20.9ppg
Last game: VT- lost to BYU 70-68 MD: lost to Duke 74-61
 Outlook:
Does anyone hear that? Listen closer, we usually hear it around March, it’s the sound of Seth Greenberg pleading his team’s case to be in the NCAA Tournament. Maybe the Hokies have been “snubbed” in the past , but after a 1-4 start in conference play this season, Virginia Tech has a lot of work to do if they want to even be in the conversation come tourney time. Not only have the Hokies lost four games in conference, but they have lost to Boston College and Wake Forest. However, they did beat a good Virginia team in their last ACC game, despite scoring just 47 points. Not many expected the Hokies to be toiling around the cellar of the conference, but things like that don’t happen by accident. It just may be possible that this year’s Virginia Tech team is just not that talented, no matter how much Seth Greenberg wants to dispute the critics. Even after saying all that, it would not surprise anyone if they came into the Comcast Center and left with a win.
I know there is no such thing as a moral victory, and despite what anyone says, the Terps simply collapsed again Wednesday night. Despite leading the game in the second half, Maryland showed their usual ineptitude running the half- court offense, and failed to make shots for 40 minutes. While Duke couldn’t miss at the free throw stripe, MD couldn’t convert, and had noticeable breakdowns on the defensive end the floor. Alex Len is starting to look to like the second coming of Will Bowers, only weaker. And, Nick Faust has yet to show any sort of ability to make a three pointer. The one bright spot has been Ashton Pankey, who is a menace on the glass, and strong enough to play against players who have more size then he does. If I could not see the name on the back of their jersey, I might mistake Pankey for former Terp Byron Mouton, READ MORE >>>
By Zach Wilt, on January 27th, 2012 Poor Billy Cundiff.
He can’t even catch a break on this online store.
I’m not sure why you’d ever want a kicker’s jersey, but if for some reason you did maybe you saw this zinger when you searched for Cundiff.
Sean Tomlinson of The Score first pointed out the jab at Cundiff.
By Zach Wilt, on January 27th, 2012  The Indianapolis Colts formally introduced Chuck Pagano as their new head coach on Thursday. Pagano told the media that he was hoping to be making a trip to Indy for the Super Bowl, but said that he is excited to take the reins as the city’s head coach.
Pagano leaves Baltimore amidst reports that he finished his tenure in Baltimore with a “strained” relationship with John Harbaugh. A source told Mike Preston that Pagano had a “heated exchange” with Harbaugh during the Ravens playoff matchup with the Houston Texans.
During his introductory press conference, Pagano mentioned that teams have to be able to run out the clock to win games, which happened to be what his heated exchange with Harbaugh was about.
He also made reference to scoreboard-gate.
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By Zach Wilt, on January 27th, 2012  The Patriots fan that caught Billy Cundiff’s missed 32-yard game tying field goal is selling it.
I know you’re bitter, but it’s actually for a good cause.
Terry Oder, a physician from Hartford, caught Cundiff’s attempt and is looking to raise $50,000 for a scholarship fund in memory of his friend who recently passed away.
According to the Hartford Courant, Oder and a group of buddies who had been mourning the death of their friend decided to make the trip to the AFC Championship game to clear their minds.
The money raised with the ball will be used to fund the late friend’s 1-year old son’s education.
At least Cundiff’s kick will be helping someone in need.
By Zach Wilt, on January 27th, 2012 
The best remaining free agent, now that Prince Fielder is off the market, is starting pitcher Edwin Jackson. Coincidentally enough, both players are represented by Super Agent Scott Boras.
Dan Connolly of The Sun reports that the Orioles would consider offering Jackson a four year deal, but indicates that they are long shots to land him. The Red Sox are reportedly the favorites.
Not because he’s getting a better offer, but because he’d take a one-year deal from Boston or a multi-year deal from Baltimore.
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UPDATE 2:20 PM: The Ravens announced on Twitter that it’s a done deal. Jim Caldwell is the team’s new quarterbacks coach.
Monday Night Raw Results 1/30 CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan, Undertaker Returns
We’re officially on “The Road to Wrestlemania.” After an exciting Royal Rumble Pay Per View event, what was the fallout on Raw? Who won the Rumble? Who are the current champions? How will the results from the Rumble affect both the current product and Wrestlemania itself? Read on my friends…
WWE Monday Night Raw Results 1/30/12
John Laurinaitis comes down the aisle. He is extremely happy and is sucking up to the fans. He smacks hands with fans around the ring. His job will be reviewed tonight by Triple H. I’m trying to figure out why the emphasis on this show is on the General Manager situation when there is a Royal Rumble winner to celebrate? That should have started the show. The Wrestlemania 28 sign is hung above the ring as the road to Wrestlemania officially begins. Laurinaitis says Triple H is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, and says that he himself did a great job at the Royal Rumble and called the match right down the middle. He puts over the next Pay Per View “Elimination Chamber” and announces the main event to be CM Punk vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz vs. R-Truth vs. Chris Jericho inside the Elimination Chamber. He spits off a couple of matches for tonight including Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk. If that actually happens I will probably pee my pants. Laurinaitis stumbles and bumbles over his words for awhile.
READ MORE >>>