PIMLICO PRESS BOX RENAMED SUNDAY AFTERNOON

BALTIMORE, 04-21-13—Before Sunday’s first race, the Pimlico Race Course press box was renamed to include Joe Kelly, who covered horse racing for nearly 70 years prior to his passing in November at the age of 94. The Red Smith-Joe Kelly Press Box will be at full capacity next month for the 138^th running of the Preakness Stakes.

Kelly began his career at the Baltimore Sun in the 1940s then moved to the Washington Star in 1955 where he spent the next 26 years. After retiring, he became the publicity director for the Maryland Million and was Pimlico Race Course’s historical consultant until his death.

“Nobody spent more time in the Pimlico press box,” said Mike Gathagan, Pimlico’s vice president of communications. “We felt it was important to honor Mr. Kelly, so the next generations of turf writers know what he meant to this place. He was a tremendous resource and positive influence. We just finished our third week of the spring meet and it is weird not to see him in his office or in the chair where he sat while wagering each afternoon.”

On October 30, 1947 Kelly was part of Baltimore’s first live remote television broadcast on WMAR-TV, when he called the fifth and sixth races at Pimlico with his then colleague Jim McKay. He is also the only two-time winner of the Old Hilltop Award for excellence in horse racing coverage, winning in 1979 and 2000.

Twenty-members of the Kelly family, including five of his six children and four of his five grandchildren attended the dedication.

“This truly is a great honor for him,” said Kelly’s son Jacques. “He spent 69 years in this press box and adored Pimlico. For him Pimlico was a very personal place. Joe had a fabulous memory and always had stories to tell about it. Just when you thought you heard them all, you heard one more. This is also where my parents courted. Not only did they court here but they also brought all their friends. This is very emotional for me. I hate to say it but it is the truth, more so than the funeral or other honors (since his passing) because this is his home turf.”

Smith covered the Preakness Stakes for more than 40 years, first with the New York Herald Tribune and then for the New York Times. In 1976, Smith was one of the initial winners of Pimlico Race Course’s Old Hilltop Award for covering Thoroughbred Racing with excellence and distinction. The Pimlico press box was named in his honor on May 14, 1982, four months after his death.

ORTIZ INJURED IN SUNDAY SPILL

Apprentice rider Yomar Ortiz was injured when he fell from his mount during the stretch run in today’s fifth race at Pimlico. Ortiz was riding Badon when his mount broke down closing in on the finish in the five furlong turf race for $35,000 claimers. Ortiz was on the ground when he was struck by Gator Gone Wild, a trailing horse. The 21-year old was taken to nearby Sinai Hospital for x-rays near the hip and femur areas on his left leg, according to Pimlico medical director Dr. Harry Harris.

Ortiz leads the rider standings after three weeks of the spring meeting with 13 trips to the winners’ circle, after capturing the Laurel Park winter meet title earlier this year.

Badon suffered a right ankle injury and was humanely euthanized, according to Maryland Racing Commission veterinarian Dr. David Zipf.

I shared this Saturday night on both Facebook and Twitter (via Sulia, which I will admit I’ve NEVER used before).

This is going to be a quick thought from me before New Year’s Eve. It’s the last thing I want to say in calendar 2012. I’ll have plenty to say about the Baltimore Ravens during the course of the next fews days. It’s (once again) Indianapolis Colts week and a lot of people are going to have a lot of opinions.

I’ll save the majority of mine for January 2, 2012. In the meantime, this is it for me in 2012. I hope this final thought will strike you. It was the only thing I could think about after I learned Buck Showalter had been named the Baltimore Sun’s “Marylander of the Year” for 2012.

It’s really important to me.

This is genuine. 

What Buck Showalter accomplished in 2012 was nothing short of amazing. There’s a reason why we named him WNST.net’s “Local Sports Person of the Year”. 

That being said, it’s unconscionable that The Baltimore Sun create an honor called “Marylander of the Year” and screw it up so much. 

There was ONE answer to this question this year. ONE. 

I feel so strongly about this that I would prefer to wait until my show Monday to really discuss it, but because I only have two hours on Monday’s show I’ll do it here. 

Perry Hall High School’s Jesse Wasmer was the only person that should have even been CONSIDERED for this award, more or less named a winner. I understand The Sun made this an open vote, but that’s their own mistake. 

The title of “Marylander of The Year” is far too significant for a popularity contest. A hero who protected our young people and risked his own life/safety in the process should have made this a no-brainer. 

I know Jesse doesn’t want the recognition, but as whatever form of public figure I am, I can’t let it go. 

Perhaps when it comes time for “Marylander of the Decade” it will be made right.

(If you don’t remember, Jesse Wasmer was the guidance counselor and Perry Hall High School alum who confronted a gunman on the first day of school at PHHS this year after he wounded student Daniel Borowy. Wasmer was hailed as protecting perhaps many lives that day while placing his own life at risk. He was aided by fellow faculty members Richard Rosenthal and Kathleen Watkins. If you need your memory jogged, please go ahead. I shared some of my own emotions that day too.)

I add the disclosure that I am a Perry Hall alum myself and still involved with the school for multiple events every year. I add another disclosure that I know Jesse, having attended Perry Hall at the same time. His brother and I were classmates. Jesse was always the typed you looked up to because of how cool and collected he was. I never knew as a young man that composure would turn into completely legitimate heroism.

I’m not exactly impartial when it comes to my feelings here. I hardly believe that matters in this case.

As I reminded someone who told me “Whoever they picked, there would be controversy” Saturday night, there is absolutely ZERO debate about a real hero who risked his own safety to save the lives of area children. None.

Thank you Jesse Wasmer. You’re my hero. You deserve so much more than just “Marylander of the Year” for what you’ve done. It’s just a shame they couldn’t even figure that much out.

I promise I’ll ramp up some Indy angst and purple passion in the coming days. I just wanted to leave you with this final thought and image in 2012 as the tragedies of Aurora and New Town have dominated year-end recaps. I’m so grateful this doesn’t have to be remembered the same way, but I hope we recognize that as the year closes.

Happy New Year, Charm City.

-G

It’s been nearly three years since I started publicly examining the “State of Baltimore Sports Media” at WNST.net. As I predicted, the way you get your local sports news, information and analysis has seamlessly changed and now sits in the palm of your hands.

Three years ago when I wrote this in depth look at where the Baltimore sports media universe was heading, Twitter was truly at the dawn of its existence. The ability of mobile devices was far more limited and far less distributed. And the access to the genie of instant information in the palms of our hands that we’ve quickly become accustomed to will never go backward into the narrow bottle of the limited access of newspapers, television and radio waves.

Today, I will examine the current state of the Baltimore sports media experience and as much as many local journalists like to give “report cards” on the Ravens every Sunday night and Monday morning, I’m sure some folks will get their feelings hurt today.

I’ll tell you what I think about our competitors and the intentions of their bosses and their corporate, money-making media machines. Honesty. Candidly. Openly. As usual…

And, we’d love to hear what you think here in our “2012 State Of Baltimore Sports Media Survey” here.

One lucky survey entrant will win a trip next weekend to Cleveland on our Miller Lite Orange Roadtrip powered by Jiffy Lube.

As I’ve said over the past month, we’re trying to make WNST.net better every minute of every day so that we can be your primary source of Baltimore sports news and information on your mobile device.

Examining the Baltimore sports media business is the most important thing I do on a daily basis and while I rarely write about this stuff, it’s been my life’s mission to improve your experience as a local sports fan.

I find it almost hilarious and/or pathetic that anyone would listen to the radio station that calls itself  “The Fan” when the entire concept was drawn up in a board room in New York and never factors the actual “fans” into the equation when they assembled their corporate radio station team.

But competition is good. It sets the bar. At WNST.net, we’ve never ducked the obvious or taken Baltimore sports fans for granted – we know you’re judging us and comparing us every day because you utilize more than one outlet for your sports media consumption on a daily basis in 2012.

But we’re always striving to the be the FIRST place you go to get Baltimore sports information on your IPhone, Droid or mobile device.

In an effort to encourage you to give your feedback on the local Baltimore sports media scene, it’s only fair that I file my own report card.

So, who are the competitors and players on the local scene and where do you turn when breaking news happens in Baltimore?

My general overview of this is candidly clear: Baltimore is a lazy market on the new media end. I know how hard we work at WNST.net and I know what our resources are. I know the strengths and weaknesses of all of our competitors in the marketplace and many of the assembled group of “journalists” in the market have either been on my team, interviewed to be on my team or have cross-pollinated in something I’ve touched because I’ve been doing Baltimore sports media longer than virtually anyone in the marketplace.

My journey began almost 29 years ago in January 1984 at age 15 when Baltimore had three newspapers, three TV stations and a handful of AM radio stations that did local sports of any kind.

In 2012, there has been a mass fracturing in the way and convenience in which we consume media so many of the entities have “loose ends” in their coverage or holes in the strategy. Some of their portals to garner attention, feedback and building a trusted community of information are very old world and “lazy” for my tastes.

And before I begin defecating on all of our competitors – and that will be prevalent below – no less than two of these fossilized radio stations have the arrogance to call themselves “the only station that matters.”

It’s hilarious. And the truth is that WNST.net is kicking all of their asses in the only place that really matters – the internet and on your mobile device via instant access.

Here’s a report card from two weeks ago via Twitter:

Some will get their feelings hurt, but if you click to Page 2 you’ll see what I think of our “competition” at WNST.net…

I honestly still can’t believe some of the things I read/heard/saw last week about Baltimore Ravens OT Bryant McKinnie.

If you missed it, McKinnie was not on the fall last week in Owings Mills during mandatory minicamp at the Under Armour Performance Center. When asked why McKinnie was not practicing, head coach John Harbaugh said “Bryant McKinnie is a guy that we held out just for conditioning purposes. We’re going to probably continue to do that and continue to try and get him in good shape. I think practice-wise, he’s just as well doing the conditioning part of it.”

Let me start this post by saying I fully understand a few things. One is that Harbaugh has never felt the need to share more information than necessary about any of his players. Another is that the information was new to reporters, so asking follow up questions might not have seemed pertinent. I wasn’t present at minicamp (media availability was scheduled during my radio show “The Reality Check” on AM1570 WNST.net each day) and was unable to fully grasp exactly what was going on.

With no media availability scheduled before the start of Training Camp, reporters felt it necessary to question Harbaugh later in the week for more information about McKinnie’s status. Unfortunately the coach was again vague, offering “we will leave that between us. That’s something that is an in-house type of thing right now. Bryant has done a good job, he’s worked hard. It’s not as simple as some of you guys want to make it. It’s just a situation where we are going to do what is best for the team, what is best for Bryant. We want him here; there’s no reason he wouldn’t be here. He has worked hard, so you try to do what’s most beneficial for every guy in every situation, and it’s always individualized.”

Now’s the part where I offer some examples of various stories I’ve read about Bryant McKinnie.

Here’s this from SI.com…

“Cut last season by the Vikings, Bryant McKinnie, who sat out Thursday’s practice, may be on the verge of extending an ignominious streak. Here is a player who has a history of being overweight and struggled with the same problem last season. He also reportedly has financial problems, yet can’t get into good enough shape to participate in minicamp. You have to question his commitment and when a team starts signing veteran offensive linemen and McKinnie gets held out of minicamp, it could be a sign of things to come.”

And this from SB Nation…

“The Baltimore Ravens gave veteran left tackle Bryant McKinnie a $500,000 roster bonus earlier this spring, but now might be regretting the outlay of cash. McKinnie came to Baltimore after the Minnesota Vikings cut him last summer for reporting to camp overweight. The Ravens rounded him into shape and he had a pretty solid year, allowing the team to shift Michael Oher over to right tackle and solidify that side of the offensive line.

McKinnie reportedly was on his way to getting in good shape earlier this year, but the most recent news was that the team held him out of the mini-camp this past week for “conditioning reasons.” This does not bode well for either the Ravens nor McKinnie.

Bryant is on the short end of a legal case where he defaulted on a $4 million loan he took out during the NFL Lockout last year and seriously needs a full season paycheck to pay it back. If he does not report to the Ravens Training Camp in six weeks in excellent shape, there is a very good chance that the team may decide to cut ties with him and let him go.”

Allow me to be fair again for a second. The SI.com blurb was a clear re-write with no author attached. While SB Nation does have a handful of experienced journalists and columnists, their sites are still largely made up of part-time writers/editors with no actual experience truly covering a team.

So perhaps CSNBaltimore.com’s veteran writer Ray Frager would be a better source.

“Offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie’s conditioning issues have been a big part of the Ravens chatter over this week. There is speculation he is around that 400-pound summit that caused him to lose his job in Minnesota.”

Maybe even the Baltimore Sun’s Mike Preston would be a better option.

“The entire McKinnie episode is strange and you wonder if he is going to be around when training camp opens. Here is a player who has a history of being overweight and struggled with the same problem last season.

He also reportedly has financial problems, yet can’t get into good enough shape to participate in minicamp. You have to question his commitment and when a team starts signing veteran offensive linemen and McKinnie gets held out of minicamp, it could be a sign of things to come.”

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Logan Aronhalt, a 6-foot-3 guard who has graduated from the University of Albany, has signed a financial-aid agreement and will transfer to play his final season at the University of Maryland, Terps head coach Mark Turgeon announced Tuesday.

Aronhalt, a native of Zanesville, Ohio, averaged 13.8 points per game during the 2011-12 season. He scored 13 points and had six rebounds when the Great Danes lost at Maryland, 83-72, on Dec. 28, 2011.

The guard said the matchup in Comcast Center was memorable for him.

“From a basketball standpoint, [there’s] no one with more tradition than Maryland,” Aronhalt told The Baltimore Sun. “The facilities are incredibly amazing. The opportunity to play up there on a national stage and playing against the best competition in the country, just about every single night, is something that’s really great about the university.”

Aronhalt started 74 consecutive games in his three seasons at Albany, finishing with 1,091 career points. He has hit 169 3-pointers, shooting 35 percent from 3-point range and 83 percent from the free-throw line. He was a third team All-America East Conference pick in 2011.

“We are thrilled to add Logan to our basketball family,” said Turgeon. “Logan’s values are closely aligned with the expectations we have in our program. I’m impressed with his high level of success in the classroom while being an all-league player in the American East. We have a world-class kinesiology graduate program, and he really wanted to be a part of that.

“I am impressed with Logan’s toughness, leadership, and basketball IQ. He’s a coach’s son and his game reflects that. Logan had a great career at Albany scoring almost 1,100 points in three years. His experience and ability will really be helpful on a team that will feature so many underclassmen.”

Aronholt missed all but two minutes of the 2008-09 season with a series of foot injuries, but recovered to play in 94 games over the next three years.

He was Albany’s team captain twice and was a second-team selection in the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America program. He graduated summa cum laude from Albany.

Aronhalt will have one season of eligibility remaining at Maryland.

I’ve attempted to put events I’ve attended into words for years.

Baltimore Ravens football games, University of Maryland football and basketball games, a multitude of local hoops and lacrosse games and even a press conference or twenty have quickly turned into 600-1400 words worth of type off my fingers.

Almost every time I’ve written something, even the columns I’ve been particularly pleased with, I’ve looked somewhere else on the web and thought to myself “damn, that person can WRITE” after reading what they had to say about the same event.

Such was the case again this weekend. I had already decided my Monday morning column would be related to the 137th running of the Preakness Stakes, but I hadn’t exactly decided what angle I was going to take. It only took me a trip to my friend Kevin Van Valkenburg (of ESPN The Magazine/Hug It Out Radio fame and late Baltimore Sun)’s Facebook page for me to once again utter the phrase.

It wasn’t because of something KVV had written this time though. It was one of his colleagues’ stories he had linked, and it made me say “damn, Jeff MacGregor can WRITE.”

MacGregor scribed this exceptional postscript to an incredible victory from Kentucky Derby champ I’ll Have Another, celebrating the excitement of an underdog champ at the coming buildup to a Triple Crown chance in the context of a fledgling sport.

Many commenters on ESPN.com and throughout social media however were turned off by the nature of MacGregor’s tone, most notably this line…

“None of which matters, because horse racing is dead.”

MacGregor didn’t really say anything we haven’t already accepted as fact, we’ve just been more apt to use a kinder term like “struggling” or “suffering” instead of flat out placing the industry in a black bag and shipping it to the morgue.

Horse racing HAS been troubled for some time. The depth of the fall has been particularly evident in the state of Maryland, where “the sport of kings” has been all but nonexistent for years. Sure, the industry shines for a few days each spring at Pimlico and each fall at Laurel Park, but even on the brightest day the problems in the industry are obvious.

Unlike some, I have no interest in fighting with MacGregor. I think he’s absolutely right. I just feel as though the potentially monumental turn for horse racing in the next month can be celebrated whether or not the sport is staring into the face of imminent doom.

I’ll Have Another’s charge to the wire Saturday was breathtaking. 14 days earlier we had no way to know that an unknown trainer (Doug O’Neill) and jockey (Mario Gutierrez) had a longshot in position to track down the exceptional favorite (Bodemeister) trained by the Hall of Famer (Bob Baffert) and ridden by a Hall of Famer (Mike Smith) as well. On Saturday we knew it was possible but found it no less amazing.

“There’s no way this can happen again.”

You definitely heard me make the argument for Bodemeister throughout the week. “There’s no speed horse to take Bodemeister out to a dangerous speed this time. The race is 1/16 of a mile shorter. There are nine fewer horses to crowd things at the front and push the favorite too much early. There’s just no way things can shape up for I’ll Have Another as perfectly as they did in Louisville.”

Mitchell Signs to Play for Terps

Georgia power forward heading to College Park

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Charles Mitchell, a 6-foot-8 power forward from Marietta, Ga., has signed a National Letter of Intent to play men’s basketball at the University of Maryland, head coach Mark Turgeon announced Thursday.

Mitchell, who attended Wheeler High School, has become the fourth prospect to sign a NLI to play with the Terrapins in the 2012-13 season.

Mitchell is listed by Rivals.com as the No. 12 prospect in the nation at his position. A four-star recruit by Rivals, Mitchell is ranked 92nd nationally in the Rivals150.

Combined with early signees Shaquille Cleare (6-9, C, Houston, Texas), Jake Layman (6-8, SF, Wrentham, Mass.) and Seth Allen (6-1, SG, Fredericksburg, Va.), Scout.com currently has Maryland rated as the 13th-best recruiting class nationally.

CHARLES MITCHELL (6-7, 250, PF, Marietta, Ga., Wheeler HS)

A four-star recruit by Rivals.com, who was listed as the 12th-best center prospect nationally… Averaged 17 points and 12 rebounds for Wheeler that reached the Sweet 16 of the Georgia Class 5A state tournament… Ranked 92nd nationally by Rivals.com… Informed the Terrapin staff of his commitment just before the Terps played Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament… Chose Maryland over Seton Hall, Cincinnati, Florida State, Tennessee and Florida.

Turgeon on Mitchell: “It’s a great day for our program to be able to add Charles Mitchell to the Maryland basketball family. We have recruited Charles hard since we got to Maryland. His mom did a lot of things right while raising Charles to be a respectful kid and extremely hard worker. He is going to be a great addition to our frontcourt. Charles is a wide-bodied post who plays hard, is an excellent rebounder and can score around the basket. Charles fits in perfectly with the rest of our 2012 class, as he has a tremendous upside and will have a significant impact on our basketball program.“

Mitchell Quotes:

On why he chose Maryland:
“First of all it’s a great coaching staff with Coach Turgeon, Coach Bino, Coach Hill and Coach Spinelli. I have a great relationship with them. I’ve known Coach Bino since I was 14-years-old since he came to our school to recruit other players… I love the fan support and the whole history of Maryland basketball. I wanted to come to a school that supports basketball and where the team is important to the fans.”

On how excited he is about the freshmen class:
“I’m actually very excited about it because I feel like we can come in and really make a difference. We want to come in and be a real competitive program in the ACC and nationally.”

On what he wants to accomplish at Maryland:
“Some of my goals at Maryland are to build us back into a great program and hopefully compete for a national championship. I want everyone to respect us and bring us back to being a contender for the ACC championship and hopefully the national championship.”

Sandra Glass, AAU Coach: “I know for one he just loved the fan base. He enjoys playing in front of big crowds; that’s what he’s been doing all of high school. He also told me that the coaching staff has been nothing but real with him. Bino has been recruiting in our program since Charles has been here, and it was just a joy to be able to be under a coach that knew him before basketball… The sky is the limit for Charles. He has a tremendous work ethic. One thing I do like about Charles is that he’s a fast learner; he can adapt to things faster than most 17 and 18-year-olds.”

Doug Lipscomb, Wheeler HS head coach: “I knew he liked [College Park] a lot. I knew he had a good relationship with the coaching staff, too… He’s been a blessing to have around. We’re going to miss him. If you think about Wheeler basketball the last four or five years, you think Chuck’s been in high school a long time. He’s been on varsity a long time.”

Dave Telep, ESPN.com: “There are no secrets about Charles, you know what you’re going to get. He’s a presence in the lane is going to be a blue-collar post player. When he finds a strength and conditioning program, he’ll have a chance for his game to take a notch up. Mark Turgeon is a laser-focused coach when it comes to working with bigs. I have a strong belief in Mark as a developer of post guys.”

Some quotes courtesy The Baltimore Sun

(Originally published as a prelude to “Free The Birds” in Sept. 2006, this is Part 8 of a 19 Chapter Series on How Baseball and the Orioles berthed WNST.net. This is one of my favorite chapters of the book because this is when I started dreaming of making a career in journalism as a 15-year old kid and committing my life to reporting about Baltimore sports.)

It’d be nice to say that having the last name “Aparicio” would’ve opened some doors for me in the sports media business over the past 22 years.

There aren’t a whole lot of names in the world that are so unique in our culture that there’s only been one really famous person who’s ever had it.

If my name would have been Smith or Jones, things might have been different, who knows?

But clearly, APARICIO is synonymous with one thing: BASEBALL!

And the truth in the real world is this: no one hires incompetent people based on their last name. Sure, it’s nice to have a door opened if your last name is Buck or Albert or Carey, but if you stink at doing your job, it’ll be the only job you’ll ever get.

Most of those “prodigy” guys are VERY, VERY good at what they do and the bar was set so high by their fathers that it’s hard to achieve anything that surpasses what their last name already represents.

I know because the reason I went into this radio business was because of an invitation from Kenny Albert — son of the great Marv Albert — who I knew from covering the Baltimore Skipjacks of the American Hockey League in 1990 and 1991 for The Evening Sun.

The first time I met Kenny was at the NHL All-Star Game in Pittsburgh in 1989. He doesn’t remember that league party at a downtown hotel, but I do. We were both born in 1968, both absolutely loved sports but we had completely different paths to finding each other.

I was just an East Baltimore kid who was a fan of sports — a major sports fan whose Pop would run around with me on MTA buses to go to games downtown at the Civic Center and out on 33rd Street.

Kenny Albert was the son of one of the most famous broadcasters in sports. Marv Albert had taken Kenny to games almost since berth. Kenny had been not only to most major sporting events in New York — his Dad was the voice of the Rangers AND the Knicks — but his Dad also did NBA playoff games, NFL games and the MLB Game of the Week each Saturday on NBC.

In the broadcasting business, unless your name was Cosell or