Windup . . . and the pitch!!!

Not all pitches in New York are taking place at the World Series.  Team Terry has a big one coming up next week, and fortunately they have a lot in their repertoire when they take the mound.

Calling the shots on the other end is the consortium putting together the US bid to host a future World Cup championship.  The World Cup series includes preliminary rounds, involving multiple countries and even more tourists ($$$$$) over many weeks.  It´s a big deal.  Stakes are very high and competition is very tough.

Baltimore (using multiple facilities throughout the area) made it past the first two cuts.  The city and its stadium have already been evaluated for accommodations, convenience, attractions and many of the primary considerations for staging major high profile events.  The bid book assembled by Team Terry was very impressive, with contributions from the City, Visit Baltimore, Ravens, and several of the same soccer advocates responsible for bringing the Chelsea FC-AC Milan match here.

The next round will take place in New York, where we wind up, take aim at the stike zone, and hurl our best stuff at the organizing body responsible for assembling the best possible bid package for FIFA.   Fortunately, while many of the other hot prospects can only talk about plans to meet important criteria, we already have a few in the win column.

One of the elements considered most important by the decision makers is sustainability.  That´s right -- the most overused word of 2009  (successor to "green," voted most overused word of 2008.)  It surprised me, too, but Terry explained that environmental consciousness is very big in the international community.

While many poo-poo the word, (or haven´t a clue what it means,) sustainability is where we shine, thanks to the commitment of Governor O´Malley and Mayor Dixon.  Baltimore and Maryland not only have plans in place, they´ve achieved many of their early goals.

One example is the recent Baltimore Marathon, the first "green" (that word again) event of its kind.  Everything from race gear made from recycled plastic bottles (the thought makes me itch, but UnderArmour pulled it off) to grinding waste into mulch, donating old sneakers, and using hundreds of volunteers to pick up every scrap of trash for recycling, reduced the event´s carbon footprint to virtually nil.  It was a remarkable achievement, and something the organizers, sponsors and city are rightly proud.

Transportation is another major focus of the upcoming pitch. Not just our international airport, interstate highways and Amtrak access.  Those were vetted the first time around.  Now they are interested in public and alternative transportation.  Which is why those trails and bike paths are so important.  Our European friends put a major premium on cycling and walking as sustainable transportation modes, with mass transit close behind.  All those trails and designated routes play an important part in connecting our facilities with light rail, bus, and the airport.

The pitch will include the initiatives of Governon O´Malley to reduce energy consumption and increase watershed protection, which you can already see taking place at Camden Yards.

So while it may not seem like the most compelling argument for coming to Maryland, be assured that the decision makers for this event (and many others) put sustainability near the top of the list when evaluating potential sites.  As annoying as the word maý be, it is a concept the world of sports is embracing as a good example they hope their fans will follow.

We won´t know how well our pitch goes over until late this year, but we have no doubt Team Terry has the stuff to smoke the opposition when they take the field in New York next week.

Indian Head Rail Trail opens!

Donna Dudley reminded me about the recent completion of the Indian Head Rail Trail in Charles County. The linear park, now stretching 13 miles from Indian Head to White Plains, is build around an abandoned rail bed and has quickly become a Southern Maryland favorite.

Two portions of the trail -- a two-mile segment in White Plains and a 2.7-mile segment in Indian Head -- opened in December.

The Rail Trail is much more than a hiker biker fitness course. It is a neighborhood connector and favorite of artists who enjoy capturing the beauty of the area on canvas or sketchpad.

The news about the trail opening is welcome indeed. Maryland has many deserted train and trolley beds that course through communities and neighborhoods. With the popularity of the North Central (now Torrey Brown) trail in Baltimore County, local governments are seeking state and federal grants to acquire easements and transform these abandoned rightaways into alternative transportation options and fitness facilities with trails.

Rail trails are not just local amenities, they are visitor attractions. Among the most popular are in the mountains of Western Maryland. USA Today featured the Great Allegheny Passage in an article last week. Although most of the story focused on the Pennsylvania segment, the Allegheny Highlands portion is one of the most popular stretches. It connects the terminus of the C&O Canal in Cumberland to the Mason-Dixon line, passing through mountain tunnels with some of the most spectacular scenery you can imagine. When this segment was completed just three years ago, it made cycling possible from Georgetown to just outside Pittsburgh. Its popularity has grown significantly since then.

A few weeks ago, another segment secured funding necessary to convert not just a rail bed, but tunnel and bridge, to connect it to the C&O Canal. This part comes through the efforts of Senator Byrd and the stimulous package. It is a small stretch of Western Maryland track from Carbondale, West Virginia, to Cumberland -- through Knobley Mountain and over the Potomac River.

(Note -- Terry said cyclists love tunnels and bridges. It adds a little je ne sais que to the trip. The Great Allegheny Passage has tunnels and bridges galore.)

In any case, passage through an old railroad tunnel and over the Potomac has to be an amazing feeling. It will be a tremendous asset to the whole Allegheny Highland-Western Maryland Rail Trail experience.

(Hope it doesn't have any hibernating bats. We know how that goes.)

Anyway, with Donna's good news about Indian Head Rail Trail, I'm reminded I need to check some of the other projects pending. Acquiring easements and funding takes years, but the results are a recreational (and tourist attracting) amenity that contribute greatly to our Maryland quality of life.

Thanks for the reminder, Donna, and we'll still get that kayaking adventure in this season.

Future Fab Facilities

Team Terry has spent a lot of time visiting facilities of every kind in Maryland over the past year. We've also dug high and low for those that would not otherwise register on our radar, because we want our data base to reflect all the wonderful sports and recreation opportunities available in our state.

It's a moving target. Just when we think we've seen it all, something else comes on line. Within the next few months, there will be two major sports complexes ready to serve a multitude of activities. They are both college facilities, but their use and influence go far beyond their Baltimore campuses.

The Physical Education Complex at Coppin State University is actually three building in one. Its size enlarged the urban campus by a third, taking it all the way to Gwynns Falls Parkway.

It consists of a 4,100 indoor arena, an NCAA regulation indoor pool (that's another for the natatorium list, Tweety) a 400 meter competition track, soccer and softball fields, classrooms and offices, racquetball courts, dance studio and fitness center.

It is an impressive layout, destined to serve not only the inner city college, but also the community that has long been a part of the educational mission. The students and faculty at Coppin have been waiting for three years for this massive project to be complete. In a few short weeks, it will be a reality. By spring, it will be in service.

Farther uptown, Loyola College (soon to be University) is awaiting its own dream complex with the completion of the Ridley Intercollegiate Athletic Complex. In fact, Ridley is already booked, scheduled to host the 2010 MAAC Men's and Women's Soccer Championships.

This facility, on a 71 acre parcel just off the main campus, will feature a 6,000 seat grandstand, a synthetic turf field for NCAA lacrosse and soccer, practice fields, locker rooms, press box, and staff offices.

It will also have an impressive Daktronics scoreboard system.

Having facilities like these makes Maryland a more attractive site for hosting tournaments and intercollegiate play. They also become part of a bigger picture, as practice sites for large scale tournament play (read: World Cup preliminary rounds)

So our work maintaining a current data base continues. There is always something happening, some new opportunity to offer. If you hear of one yourself, be sure to let us know.

Fall Ball

It hardly seems the time to be talking about NCAA lacrosse. But seven months before the men's and women's championships take place over Memorial Day weekend (at M&T and Johnny U stadiums respectively)   many of the top men's and women's programs will be engaged in tournament play this weekend to give locals a good look at some contenders for the 2010 crown.

In Annapolis, Navy will host Maryland, Virginia and the U.S. Men's Lacrosse National Training Team in a fall tournament on the campus of the US Naval Academy.  The U.S. Men's Lacrosse National Training Team is preparing for the Federation of International Lacrosse World Championship in Manchester, England from July 10-24, 2010.  Coach Mike Pressler arranged the meeting with these three top NCAA programs to determine his final roster.  For the college teams, it is the chance to size up their league opponents before the spring season begins.

At Cedar Lane Regional Park in Bel Air, the 12th annual Price Modern Lacrosse for Leukemia Tournament will take place on Saturday, October 17, starting at 8:30 a.m.  This tournament will feature six men's and thirteen women's lacrosse teams from around the country.

The Lacrosse for Leukemia Tournament benefits the Maryland chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which raises money to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families.  Over the years, this tournament has raised nearly a million dollars for research.

This year's event will feature men's teams from UMBC, Towson, Mt. Saint Mary's, Washington College, and the Air Force Academy (which includes Hannah's son, a freshman at the Academy.) The tournament will also feature women's teams from American, Duke, Duquesne, James Madison, Johns Hopkins, LaSalle, Loyola, Maryland, Mount St. Mary's, Rutgers, Towson, UMBC, and Temple.

So if you want a preview of the kind of lacrosse you will likely see in the championship rounds next spring, drop in on the tournaments this fall.  After all, this is Maryland.  Lacrosse is never out of season.

Soccer on a Shoestring

It seems like a good time to talk about the popularity of soccer in Maryland.  We've already covered the wildly successful Chelsea FC-AC Milan match that rocked M&T this summer.  And we've had our shins kicked by an enthusiastic youngster from one of the nation's most successful youth soccer leagues.  (Mea Culpa -- every soccer mom in the world knows you don't jump between the striker and his target for a picture, so the bruises were entirely justified.)

We've heard all about the Elite tournaments, the world class facilities, camps, clinics and top ranked college programs in our state.  Those points were raised yet again when we received requests to study the feasibility of building stadiums for two different professional soccer teams. 

There are historic reasons why our state has an affinity for the game known universally as futbal.  Baltimore was a gateway for 19th century European immigrants who stayed to work in the factories, shipyards and railroads.  Washington, with its diplomatic corps and international community, also embraced the "beautiful game" as a cultural bridge.  Easy to see how soccer spans the divide between the ethnic communities and Embassy Row in the metropolitan suburbs.

But this week I witnessed another dimension in this soccer-mad state that flies pretty much below the radar.  It took place less than a mile from my home, where the fields of Annapolis Middle School buzz every Saturday with kids and their parents attending youth league games.

Until recently, the fields were usually deserted on Sundays.  But a few months ago, I noticed adults kicking around soccer balls on Sunday mornings.  Later, it was teams in uniforms.  One time I drove by and noticed there was a giant flag strung between two trees and smaller, different flags on makeshift poles around an unmarked field.

This past Sunday morning, my curiosity got the better of me.  It was early, and I was driving by just as a crew was unloading a large grill and some coolers and another group was stringing a series of flags.  It was only later I realized the largest was Bolivian.

I stopped in and asked what was going on.  Despite the language barrier, everyone was friendly and pointed me to their organizer, who spoke English.  What I learned was pretty amazing.

In Anne Arundel County, there are several adult soccer leagues.  The largest is in the Glen Burnie-Pasadena area, where there are more than twenty teams.  In Annapolis, there are eleven.  They have been competing all spring and summer on various fields around town when the youth leages weren't using them.  What had been happening at Annapolis Middle School the past few Sundays was the playoffs.  And today was the final.  A crowd of more than 1,000 -- mostly from the area, coming by bikes, bus, on on foot -- was expected.  They represented many nationalities, mostly from Latin America.

The County has organized these leagues, and in addition to their recreational activities, they have been helpful as a conduit to the immigrant community who are frequently unaware of health issues -- such as vacinnations for the recent H1V1 flu.  Through the language of sports, county health officials have been able to communicate with those in need of services who they could otherwise not reach.

I'm not sure how many green cards were in the crowd, and was too polite to ask.   But what I did see was an orderly, enthusiastic, and very gracious group of sports fans out having a wonderful time with their families as they were cheering their neighbors in a cultural activity that was a common denominator for them all.

When we look for Marylanders passionate about the game of socccer, these folks probably won't be on anyone's e-mail tree.  But they represent one more reason why having an international soccer match here engenders so much enthusiasm in so many quarters.

TEAM Maryland in the Center Ring

Fearless Leader, titular head of Team Terry and the Three Marketeers, is leading his own crusade this week.  He's carrying the standard for TEAM Maryland in their first appearance as a contingent in a major sports and travel trade show.

The front line of TEAM Maryland is shown here in their base camp, located right in the middle of the arena at the Travel, Event And Management in Sports (TEAMS) conference in New Orleans.

At this conference, Terry and the DMOs who joined him will be meeting with events manager, promoters, rights-holders, and league officials from all over the country.  Terry has been attending this conference for years and has worked with many of the players (and knows many more)  For other members of TEAM Maryland, it will be the first opportunity to see the potential offered by wonderful world of sports travel.

Terry will report back with more highlights (and more pictures of the booth)

The Porkers in Pigtown

I always wander around after getting off the light rail on Game Day.  Every tailgate has its own personality, and they spread far and wide beyond the 85 acre Camden Yards Sports Complex.  I’d never wandered past Lot O to see how far out the tailgating went, so it was quite a surprise to see how many warehouses in the Camden-Carroll corridor were adapted to industrial party palaces. It was amazing to see how sheds and shops were opened so picnic tables and coolers could be moved in.


On the other side of Ostend I heard a rock band playing and decided to explore. A quartet was perched on the closed loading dock of a deserted warehouse, surrounded by cars with Ohio tags. Below, the dancing and singing audience were clad in orange jerseys with those wavy stripes. The delegation from Cincinnati had claimed the corner as their own.

How on earth did you ever find Pigtown, I asked one of the revelers. The question brought gales of laughter.

Pigtown? We’ve come all the way from Porkville to end up in Pigtown?

It seems Cincinnatti shares a similar heritage with Baltimore, at least regarding the meatpacking industry and railroads. When not touting their home town as “Queen City” for the sake of tourism, the locals call it Porkville. And they thought it was hilarious they were partying in Pigtown.

As to how they got there, their caravan looked for a place to decamp that was close enough to walk but far enough away to avoid Raven partisans. The deserted warehouse district looked perfect by dawns early light. Guess we didn’t go far enough, their leader remarked ruefully, as streams of heckling fans passed them en route to the game.

It was good natured fun, though. Some of the purple people stopped in to listen to the band and talk trash. The road warriors were clearly having a good time. The trip to Baltimore had been planned for quite a while and this particular slice of local flavor only enhanced their adventure.

I’m guessing they did quite a bit more partying after the game. They were planning to make a weekend of it anyway. But I hope they ditched their orange shirts before a night on the town. Charm City hospitality only goes so far.