There’s a simple rule about journalism, one that’s not always easy to deal with. It’s one of the first things I ever learned in my first class—at Pikesville High during the fall of 1978. Miss Fowler kept telling us over and over that we had to keep ourselves out of the story and remain objective because our job was simply to tell the story. It’s usually pretty easy to do. I just try to remember I’m telling a story, like talking on the phone. But sometimes, like Sunday, there are stories that tug at your heart. I was covering the Orioles-Tigers game for MLB.com, and Baltimore manager Buck …

As a long-time baseball fan, I’m always curious to see who makes it to the Major Leagues from the Mid-Atlantic area. But since I’m also Jewish, I’m also curious to see if anyone of my religious affiliation ever gets to the majors. This weekend was interesting when I got to work at the Orioles-Philles inter-league series—and Philadelphia came to town with one Jewish pitcher and then called up another after the first game. Michael Schwimer is a 6-foot 8-inch relief pitcher for the Phillies. He’s 26 and a native of nearby Fairfax, VA. He made his major league debut earlier this season. Schwimer …

There’s a new pair of basketball shoes, boys and girls. And they’re different in so many ways, starting with the name: “Grown Ass Man.” Reebok came up with shoes to honor Washington Wizards guard John Wall and his 21st birthday. There’s a very limited amount of these shoes with this wonderful label. That will spark conversation here and there, won’t it? Can’t you imagine your kid coming into the house and insisting on getting these shoes, and asking for them by name? What would your answer be? I’m not sure what I’d say. My son and daughter keep saying they’re going to bring me into the 21st …

There have been a lot of questions as the Maryland football team prepared for always-tough West Virginia to come to town Saturday. But the questions were somewhat different from years past. Sports writers, players and fans weren’t talking as much about the scintillating performance of quarterback Danny O’Brien in the opening against Miami or how he looks more like a big-time quarterback with every throw. They weren’t discussing how much of a weapon running back Davin Meggett certainly appears to be, something that could give the Terps a big lift. There also wasn’t too much talk about how big …

I’m going to make an unusual comparison here, so folks, please stay with me. I think you can compare the Maryland football team to Kim Kardashian. Really. When Kim wears those unusual, um, outfits she models when parading herself in front of those cameras, guess what? She knows just what she’s doing. Count on it. When the Maryland football team, which displayed those, um, unusual uniforms and helmets that paid homage to our state flag in the season opener on Monday night, they and the folks at Under Armour knew just what they were doing. Count on it. The variety of words I’ve seen to used to …

OK, let’s help out all the lacrosse fans in this area with a few facts: Fact No. 1—the Pikesville Lacrosse Tournament is brand new and just took place for the first time last weekend. Fact No. 2—Lax Max is NOT the same tournament. While that tournament used to be in Pikesville, it is a different event. There, now we’ve cleared up some confusion. When those who organized the new Pikesville Lacrosse Tournament, held at Pikesville Middle School, started putting things together last winter, they kept running into the confusion of people who automatically thought it was Lax Max. Yes, Lax Max was …

The Pikesville High School varsity baseball team had a rough start in its season opener Tuesday as Hereford handed the Panthers a 14-4 defeat. The Panthers got some offense from Brad Garfield, who went 2-for-3 with one RBI. He also scored two runs and stole two bases, according to Joseph Kramer, head coach. Doug Lavin went 1-for-3—his hit was an RBI triple, Kramer said in an e-mail. The game was six innings instead of seven. "There is a 10-run rule in high school baseball," Kramer said. "If one team is up by 10 or more runs after the 5th inning, the umpires end the game." Pikesville goes on …

All-Star basketball games can be hard for players to really stand out—coaches spend a lot of their time trying to get everyone in. In addition, there’s not a whole lot of passing going on and even less defense being played. But Pikesville guard Ronje’ James managed to stand out March 18. She played a solid game and scored eight points for Baltimore County, whose late rally fell short as Baltimore City pulled out a 79-77 victory in the annual Senior All-Star Game. James scored six of those eight points in the fourth quarter as the county climbed back from a 14-point deficit early in the period…

The Baltimore Ravens may own this town now, but the Baltimore Colts still have a place in the hearts of many here. That was very easy to see at the Corrallin’ the Colts bull and oyster roast yesterday at Martins West. First came the famous cheer: "C-O-L-T-S!" followed by the introduction of the players who meant so much to this town in the mid-'70s. Back in town were men from the Colts, including players Bert Jones, Lydell Mitchell and Bruce Laird, and Coach Ted Marchibroda, who later coached the Ravens when they first came to town. And more than 700 fans came out to salute the members of the…

So I spent most of Sunday night sitting with my daughter watching the football game that runs between TV commercials that they call the Super Bowl. She was more interested in waiting for Glee, which, as FOX tirelessly reminded us, would be coming on next. As a die-hard Ravens fan, I certainly was interested in seeing the Steelers lose. Preferably by a lot. That’s why I was so delighted when Green Bay hung on to beat the Steelers, 31-25, yesterday in Super Bowl XLV. A lot of people were watching. This game apparently drew the biggest audience ever for a television program (111 million viewers…