BALTIMORE, Maryland September 13, 2015 - In this column on Friday it was mentioned that some of the City's 'more mature' residents had pined often in these past months for the late former Mayor, William Donald Schaefer. The man who ran the City for some 16 years (after terms in the City Council and as City Council President) operated as if the City were his spouse, which, as anyone alive in those years knows, was nearly literally true: Schaefer never married and lived in the same West Baltimore neighborhood until moving into the State House in 1971, having been elected Governor. He was a surley man who was hard to get along with, but what did that matter? He wasn't a feel good guy. He was single-minded in his determination to make the City of his birth a great place. That he succeeded is amazing, because he had to literally drag the badly damaged urban setting kicking and screaming into the modern age. When he assumed control Baltimore was a shell, gutted in the angry and destructive race riots that followed the vicious murder of Martin Luther king in 1966. Whites and middle class blacks were fleeing the City and its blocks upon blocks of urban blight. Businesses were following the people; a once thriving retail district was closing up shop, the Inner Harbor was home to a huge and ugly rat population and nothing else. What's worse, the shrinking population was robbing Baltimore of the infusion of tax money it needed to reverse these dismal trends. Somehow he turned it all around. Using energy reserves that seemed almost super-human, he pushed through a plan to rebuild the Inner Harbor and turn it into, of all things, a tourist attraction. He found one ally in James Rouse, who had built the utopian-like new City of Columbia in Howard County, and a financial wizard of unparalelled genius in Charles Benton. Benton showed Schaefer how to squeeze money out of rocks, so to speak, and Rouse paved the way for other wary big-money investors when he developed the Baltimore Inner Harbor after Schaefer literally willed through an enabling voter referendum. And Schaefer - as he constantly pointed out - was not just about money. He preached neighborhoods, he went to neighborhoods and he improved neighborhoods. A story that is mostly true has Schaefer, on weekend days, ordering his chauffer to drive up and down the alleys of this neighborhood or that neighborhood. He's in the back seat with a note pad, jotting down the location of pot holes, big trash pile-ups, or anything else that needs municipal attention. Those notes turn into work orders in public works come Monday morning. While other man spent the weekends in quality time with their families, Schaefer spent quality time with his chauffer, getting things done. Governors hated him because no matter what they did for Baltimore, it was never enough. Later, of course, he became Governor. And despite what everybody else thought was a bad match, he ended up being a good Governor. After that, he was a good Comptroller until time caught up with him and he started saying and doing some curious things. The sun finally set on him, but when he was gone, even his political enemies conceded he was giant.
Schaefer became Mayor in the immediate aftermath of the 1966 riots, and rebuilding from it became the job of a lifetime. Once again, the job is humongous. Baltimore needs another Schaefer. Really, it does.
Terps and Wolverines Battle to Scoreless Deadlock
COLLEGE PARK, Maryland September 11, 2015 - It had to be the quietest big game crowd I've ever been in the middle of, but then it was the kind of match that generated few big moments. The reason was the two defenses and the absolute determination both threw out onto the field. In the aftermath, Terp Coach Sasho Cirovski said Michigan played unusually in that it played "directly." I suppose it is a term of art because it looked to this observer like both teams were going right at the other. Michigan's defense was spectacular in heading Terp feeds from the box. Maryland only generated 12 shots for a game that lasted 80 minutes: Two 30 minute halves and two ten minute overtimes. There were a few scares for each team, and Maryland's fine keeper, Red-shirt Junior Cody Niedermeier, was aggressive in coming off the line, a trait that kept Michigan from getting off good shots on several occassions. Neidermeier also exhibited outstanding hands, both against Michigan and the Friday before, when the Terps beat back then No. 1 UCLA. About mid-way through the first OT, Maryland's talented freshman striker, Sebastian Elney, duped two befuddled Wolverine Defenders when they had him, seemingly, pinned in the corner with the ball. Instead, he flicked it, floated it, and kissed it, finally, to a charging George Campbell. Campbell got his right foot on the ball and seemed about to shoot when he was muscled to the deck by a Michigan defender. The official blew the whistle and every Maryland fan thought a penalty shot was forthcoming. But the ref - whoever he was since the box score omitted his name but added the name of the official scorer who omitted the name of the ref - didn't follow the whistle with a call and the match remained tied.
Cirovski, who felt Maryland "deserved better," was happy that Maryland remained on the attack even though they had to play the final 35 minutes with only ten men on the pitch. The ref saw fit to give the Terp's Jorge Calix a red card at the 79:21 mark of the second half. Replays seemed to indicate that the contact that resulted in the red card was not of an intentional variety, but then what do you expect from a man who won't allow his name in the box score. Maryland was No. 4 after beating UCLA, but during this past week they lost to Akron, 3-2, and tied Michigan. The Terps play next tomorrow at College Park against Navy, which whacked the Terps last season in Annapolis. Maryland must guard against the same kind of let down they suffered last Monday against Akron.
Suggs Tears Achilles Heel in Heartbreaking Loss to Broncos in Denver
When Terrell Suggs went down in the fourth quarter of the Ravens awful loss to Denver, it looked liken nothing but cramps. It was an unusually warm day in Denver, where the altitude already made playing conditions tough. Suggs was able to ambulate off the field and then to a cart for a ride to the locker, so when Raven Coach John Harbaugh let the news out in the post-game press conference, it was a bomb shell. Harbaugh praised the perennial All-Pro for his incredible work ethic, his leadership and, of course, his outstanding play. The injury came on a day that Suggs and his companions held Denver without an offensive touchdown, a difficult job to say the least.
While the defense was great, the offense was anything but until the last drive, when Joe Flacco guided Baltimore down the field to a first down inside the Bronco 20 in the final minute. A second down pass into the endzone glanced off of Steve Smith's hands, although the Flacco pass may have been slightly deflected at the last by the Broncos. Then, on third down, Flacco threw to Crocket Gilmore in the endzone. It was a high lob that Gilmore tried to bring down between several Broncos. First, the Broncos appeared to interfere with Gilmore, with one defender jumping up in his face with his back to the ball an his hands in Gilmore's face. Gilmore managed to reach around the defender and get both hands on the ball for a second or so, but then the ball was flicked away and before it hit the turf former Raven Darien Stewart caught it for an interception that all but ended the game.
After trailing throughout the first half, the Ravens came out after halftime and seemed to take control of the game. The defense repeatedly sacked Peyton Manning, and the pressure finally paid bigger dividends when a sideline pass was intercepted by Jimmy Smith, who raced into the endzone for Baltimore's only TD of the game. A subsequent drive gave the Ravens a four point lead, 13-9. Then the Ravens again stopped Denver and took over near their 20. The team drove out near mid-field but then the game turned when Flacco's pass to Steve Smith was picked off and returned for a TD. Denver added a field goal before the Ravens launched their final drive that came up just short.
Burnley Wins Third Straight, Top Sheffield Wednesday, 3-1; Matthew Taylor, Again, In Critical Scoring Play
After David Jones had put the homestanding Claret ahead of Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday afternoon at Turf Moor, the visitors struck back and took the match to the half notted with Burnley, 1-1. In the first 20 minutes of the second half, the visitors maintained their advantage. But the home crowd began to feel a change, and in the end, the man whose critical goals have helped the most in Burnley's current three-game win streak, came through again. Then, with the Claret ahead, 2-1, new signing Andre Gray got his first Burnley goal in stoppage time, giving Burnley a 3-1 win. No rest for the Claret, as they return to the Turf Moor pitch Tuesday night against the Milton Keyes Dons.
The win did enable Burnley to move into the top six of the Championship for the first time this season. Brighton leads the Championship with 16 points. Cardiff has the second position with 12 points. Then come Middlesbrough, Birmingham and Burnley, each with 11 points. Burnley is assigned the fifth position on the table because its Goal Differential is +2, while Middlesbrough is at +6 and Birmingham at +5. After Burnley comes Hull, QPR and Ipswich, each with ten points, and Reading and Charlton with nine points.
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