Pitch-perfect from the very start! Mike Klingaman in the Baltimore Sun on one of Baltimore's most-beloved icons: "Art Donovan played pro football for 12 years. The rest of his life, he spent telling everyone about it."; For the people of Baltimore, he was a true Hall-of-Famer in every way that really counts in life; Excellent ‏@thomloverro piece on Donovan family tradition of service in U.S. military in The Telegraph!

We’re saddened by the loss of one of the true legends of the game and Class of 1968 enshrinee Art Donovan. http://t.co/43XzpVMbjQ
— Pro Football HOF (@ProFootballHOF) August 5, 2013

So very much I could say here.
Stories I could share that made me laugh over the years no matter how many times I'd heard them before. That is when you really know you like someone -you laugh at the jokes and anecdotes they tell just as hard as the first time you heard them, decades ago.

Here's the thing you need to know and appreciate: in a country of over 312 million people with different opinions and views on every subject under the sun, there's only a handful of living former athletes in this country who were or are as important, as closely-identified and as genuinely beloved in their cities or regions as Art Donovan was to the Baltimore area.

Baltimore Colts legend Art Donovan, who died Sunday at 89, played and talked a great game. http://t.co/iZ7FWLAFjV
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) August 5, 2013

Baltimore Sun

Art Donovan, vocal ex-Colts defensive tackle, dies at 89

By Mike Klingaman The Baltimore Sun

9:52 p.m. EDT, August 4, 2013

Art Donovan played pro football for 12 years. The rest of his life, he spent telling everyone about it.

Donovan, 89, who died Sunday of a respiratory ailment at Stella Maris Hospice, played and talked a great game. He was a Hall of Fame defensive tackle for the Baltimore Colts and an engaging raconteur at banquets and on TV talk shows. His cherublike face, adenoidal voice and side-splitting tales of yore captivated generations of viewers who never saw Donovan collar a quarterback or take down a runner.

"Artie made a career out of telling people everything that he'd done right — and wrong — in football," said Ordell Braase, his teammate on the field and in the broadcast studio. "The diversity of his appeal was amazing. Everyone wanted to hug 'Fatso,' from young girls to little old ladies."

Read the rest of the article and see the great photo gallery at:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-donovan-advanceobit-20130804,0,2235243.story

-----

RT: The great American story of Art Donovan and family. My Guardian story http://t.co/QlsgzoKj0l
— thom loverro (@thomloverro) August 7, 2013

"The world is not as bright tonight because we lost someone who could make us all smile.” We'll miss you Art. http://t.co/3MDGStd0uv
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 5, 2013

Remembering Baltimore Colts legend Art Donovan. VIDEO | http://t.co/pK7g8zDHhq
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 5, 2013

Here is a tribute to the late Art Donovan, a truly unique professional athlete is there ever was one. http://t.co/60kLWVFTpe
— Elliot Harrison (@Harrison_NFL) August 5, 2013

Mike Webb YouTube Channel video: Art Donovan on NBC-TV's "Tonight Show" with host Johnny Carson, circa 1987. Uploaded August 15, 2010. http://youtu.be/7HDRLnoAY9E




WMAR-TV 2, Baltimore
Hall of Fame Colt Art Donovan a friend to all
By Jeff Hager
August 5, 2013

BALTIMORE -
He first met Art Donovan as a rookie safety out of the state of Alabama, and the towering tackle took Andy Nelson under his wing in what became a lifetime friendship that only came up short when it came to tasting his former teammate's barbecue.

"He likes Spam and he like hotdogs and pizza, but he wasn't a big pit beef man, pork man," recalled Nelson.

Over the years, Nelson says he did know enough about the gentle giant to keep a Schlitz beer on hand to help that pit beef go down.


Read the rest of the article at: http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/region/baltimore_city/hall-of-fame-colt-a-friend-to-all

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bal-artdonovan,0,280730.storygallery

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/08/looking-back-at-art-donovans-best-late-night-appearances/

Baltimore Ravens victory parade delayed by traffic gridlock as fans throng to downtown Baltimore and M&T Stadium, but is now proceeding; watch the parade LIVE!; @ravens, #BaltimorePride, #ravens, #nfl, #superbowl47

Maryland National Guard Humvee outside Baltimore City Hall waiting for the Ravens police-escorted buses to navigate the traffic gridlock from training camp and arrive for Head Coach John Harbaugh to stand in the turret for parade.

Baltimore Ravens victory parade delayed by traffic gridlock as fans throng to downtown Baltimore and M&T Bank Stadium; watch the parade LIVE; 

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/live-video/

12:02 p.m. Floats now leaving Baltimore City Hall 
12:07 p.m. Ed Reed carrying Lombardi Trophy and letting fans along parade route touch it...

Skychopper 13's view looking southwest towards Oriole Park at Camden Yards in foreground and purple-colored M&T Bank Stadium across the expressway as crowds begin to fill the stadium.

By 11:20 a.m., the entire top deck of the stadium was full and fans, allowed on the field for the first time, was nearing the safety capacity.

At 11:30 a.m., Coach John Harbaugh along with team owner Steve Bisciotti, arrived at the stadium, where Harbaugh addressed the crowd and apologized for being late but told them that he and the entire team and organization would be back in an hour after a tour of the downtown area, and for them NOT to leave.

The last point is important as Baltimore Police are concerned that throngs of fans will try to follow team buses back from City Hall to M&T and put it over capacity.

Rumors are also circulating that there may be some 'surprise' entertainers arriving for the ceremony at the stadium.

Above, the Baltimore Ravens t-shirt I wore during Sunday's Super Bowl win over the 49ers, and back on January 12th for the Ravens at Texans playoff game that I watched in Stockholm.

I had to watch that game and the other divisional playoff games online via nfl.com from the B&B I was staying at in Stockholm, after paying the bargain price of $40 to watch all the playoff games and the Super Bowl outside of the U.S., because the Stockholm sports bars wouldn't be staying open late enough for me and other fans to see all of the the games.
One place that I was told was among the best sports bars was going to close at Midnight, roughly the start of the fourth quarter of the Ravens at Texans game, and because the Packers at 49ers Saturday night game started at 2:30 am Stockholm time, well, you can imagine.
I didn't go to sleep until about 6:30 a.m.

More on that watching football on a computer from thousands of miles away in the coming days, which I'd originally hoped to LIVE blog but couldn't due to technical reasons.

Naturally, since the Ravens won, I couldn't wash it during the intervening weeks, so I kept it in a zip-lock bag during the intervening weeks to keep the magic "fresh."
-----
http://www.baltimoresun.com/

Forbes.com
Value Of Super Bowl Champ Ravens Soars Under Owner Steve Bisciotti
Kurt Badenhausen
2/04/2013 @ 12:21PM 
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2013/02/04/value-of-the-ravens-soars-under-owner-steve-bisciotti/

Mike Flanagan: An Oriole Great When the 'Oriole Way' Still Meant Something; those days never seemed farther back in time than right now

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-co-flanagan-house-death-20110824,0,4675762.story

August 23, 2011 11:51 pm

Wow!

WBAL-TV is reporting this: "sources confirmed that Flanagan took his own life “despondent over what he considered a false perception from a community he loved of his role in the team’s prolonged failure”

WBAL-TV video: WBAL-TV Sports Director Gerry Sandusky -a former Miami sportscaster and son of the former Dolphin assistant coach, John Sandusky- reports the tragic news:

http://www.wbaltv.com/video/28969408/detail.html

http://youtu.be/ayBjp9r7fH8

I found out this terrible news just after 11 p.m. Wednesday night and am still in a bit of a shock while I try my best to find a Baltimore-area radio station on the Internet that is actually talking about this instead of running syndicated fare, like WBAL is, running Yahoo Sports instead.

Really.

Jesus, what ARE they thinking?

This is just like what happened after the UM fired Randy Shannon, and every single Miami sports radio station kept their syndicated programming on rather than put the plug on that and put their own people on the air to let listeners talk about it.

Yes, that's the news media ethos down here in a nutshell.

I've tried finding something on MASN, DirecTV 640, but there was nothing.

Jim Palmer spoke about his friend and teammate:

http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110824&content_id=23719698&vkey=news_bal&c_id=bal

See also:

http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_08_24_balmlb_minmlb_1&mode=recap&c_id=bal

I hardly know what to say other than... Mike Flanagan: An Oriole Great When the 'Oriole Way' Still Meant Something; those days never seemed farther back in time than right now.

See this photo below...

Hendricks remembered

(Sun photo by Gene Sweeney Jr. / December 29, 2005)

Orioles Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations Mike Flanagan and his wife Alex leave the memorial service for Elrod Hendricks.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-hendricksphotof1229,0,5308516.photo

The event above was YET ANOTHER disgraceful Oriole moment of SO MANY over the past dozen years, with only one then-current player showing up for Elrod Hendricks' funeral, Melvin Mora.

My friends all over the country and I were absolutely LIVID over this and yet the Oriole ballplayers then were totally f-ing oblivious to what that show of disrespect to someone who had bled for this team for over four decades meant to everyone who ever cared about the Orioles.

If I'd had a blog then, I'd have positively crucified the players, one-by-one.

And yet Peter Angelos & Sons STILL walk the earth among us... where's the fairness or silver lining in that?

----------

http://www.baltimoresun.com/

http://www.wbaltv.com/

"Gone were the topless women, and the teens who raced and stumbled across the tops of portable toilets, pelted with beer cans as they went."

Preakness, I barely knew ye.

While this Washington Post article is a little more

pronounced than some of the negative articles I've

been reading the past few months in the Baltimore

Sun on the dismal horse racing scene in Maryland,

it's a bigger part of the overall pattern.

The problem is that the patient is in critical care

and the doctors are running out of options.

Actually, compared to the tangible dynamic energy

and history of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill

Downs in Louisville, a place I love, and the first

race of the Triple Crown -always a huge getaway

weekend before the final end of school for nearly

everyone I knew at IU, due to the short distance

between Louisville and Bloomington and the fact

that SO MANY PEOPLE were from there-

The Preakness at Pimlico during my 15 years

in the Washington, D.C. area was noteworthy for

little more than the fact that the public drunkeness

there was such a neverending and embarrassing

spectacle for all concerned, not least, the State

of Maryland and the parents of the kids who

annually made a menance of themselves.

It was like a 1950's film on juvenile delinquincy

but one not lensed lovingly by Baltimore's own

Barry Levinson, and there in the track infield,

every other kid looked like a future low-life

convict that would prey upon the community,

including the longtime pals from Levinson's

Diner, which I watched again this past week.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083833/

How do you not know where to put the

Charlie Parker album, Beth?

Listening to D.C. and Baltimore media people

go on every year about it, most especially,

hearing The Sports Junkies recount crazy

stories they personally experienced or heard

about, was like hearing a trusted friend go on

and on about an old relationship with someone

whom you never met and for whom there

are no extant photos of.

http://junksweb.com/site/

You try to put it together in your head,

and keep waiting for the part of the story

where you hear what the initial attraction

was, met cute, before it wound up so

horribly, horribly wrong.

But that part never ever comes, it's always

just the seamy underside of the relationship

that gets continually discussed.

That's The Preakness!

Coming soon: discusssing the many, many

problems over at Gulfstream Park Racing

& Casino, complete with lots of photos.

Trust me, there's literally a mountain of stuff

to talk about on that subject, not just the

actual racing or the Village at Gulfstream

angle or...

And that's not just my opinion.

I just happen to be in an unusually-close position

to observe it and share my opinions, which many

people across the country have written to me

about over the two-plus years this blog has

been operating.

One thing is certain, people are tired of being

disappointed by it and the customer service

experience, over and over.

-----------------------------

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/16/AR2009051602390_pf.html

At Troubled Preakness, a Sobering Attendance Drop

By Lisa Rein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 17, 2009

BALTIMORE -- The future of Maryland's storied horse racing industry might be a matter of debate, but one thing was clear yesterday at the yearly race that has been the state's biggest sports event for more than a century: The Freakness is gone.

The usually crammed infield at the Preakness Stakes, which earned that nickname because of drunken fighting and other forms of debauchery, was far from full as post time neared. Gone were the topless women, and the teens who raced and stumbled across the tops of portable toilets, pelted with beer cans as they went.

To restore civility to what had become little more than an all-day party, officials at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore banned spectators this year from bringing their own beverages, including beer, onto the infield. The move contributed to a 30 percent drop in attendance, and it drew plenty of complaints.

"I'm here, but I'm not happy," said Chad Jones, 35, a mortgage broker from Baltimore. He was among a smattering of fans on an infield that ordinarily draws 60,000.

Those who stayed home forfeited the chance to see Rachel Alexandra become the first filly to win the Preakness in 85 years, holding off Kentucky Derby victor Mine That Bird by one length and Musket Man by 1/2 lengths.

Rachel Alexandra had drawn all the pre-race attention after her victory in the Kentucky Oaks the day before the Derby, and she did not disappoint yesterday as she led the all-male field for almost the whole race, covering the 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.08.

That so few people turned out to see the race was the latest blow to Pimlico and the Preakness, the second race in the coveted Triple Crown.

Attendance dropped 7.5 percent last year, to 112,222, and it fell yesterday to 77,850, track officials said. A referendum legalizing slot machines in Maryland has produced no money for the state's ailing horse racing industry. And Magna Entertainment, the Canadian conglomerate that owns the Preakness, is in financial straits.

The company filed for bankruptcy in March, saying it would put Pimlico up for auction. It relented only after Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and state lawmakers threatened to seize the track by eminent domain.

O'Malley, on a tour of the stables before post time, repeated his pledge to "do everything we can" to keep the Preakness at Pimlico.

"I look forward to seeing it run for another 134 years," he said in a nod to the Preakness's first race at Pimlico, in 1873.

Tom Chuckas, president of the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates Pimlico, said he expected the ban to cut into ticket sales this year and next. Even so, he said, the infield -- a world away from the dresses and heels, linen suits and fedoras worn by some in the grandstand -- needed to change.

"We're trying to elevate the experience for everybody," he said. "Sometimes a short-term loss turns into a long-term gain."

Beer and black-eyed Susans, the event's signature drink, still could be had. But thousands of racing fans -- and fans of one of Maryland's wildest parties -- could not be consoled by a 16-ounce plastic cup of Budweiser for $3.50.

"We're missing about 30,000 people right now," said Sean Robinson, a track employee who was checking coolers to ensure that no beverages were smuggled in.

In an effort to keep the infield crowd, ZZ Top performed, and a bikini contest was held. An 8-11 a.m. breakfast bash featured $1 drafts of Bud Light.

None of that was enough to bring back Ryan Goff, 24, a Baltimore resident who works in media marketing and started one of many Facebook groups that protested the change. "What's the point of going?" someone wrote on one of the pages. "As if there's some reason to be there other than drinking and partying."

Reached by phone, Goff said, "For them to make this change was ludicrous for a struggling racetrack."

For all the criticism, the new policy also drew some new spectators. Mark Lennon, 30, who works at the University of Baltimore Law School, said he had stayed away from the infield for years because of its rowdy reputation.

"I was hesitant to come," Lennon, of Baltimore, said. "I'd like the day to be about the actual event, which is horses."

Reader comments:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/16/AR2009051602390_Comments.html