Iggy's Raven's Report - 7 August 2009

Commentary

Personal Thoughts:
Ravens: Mason rejoined the team much earlier then I expected, but the receiving core is still platooning. It appears that Mason and Demetrius Williams will anchor the receivers, with the remaining spots up for grabs with Kelley Washington as the leading candidate for the #3 spot.
Rumors were flying about Vick being signed to play wide receiver, but they are just that: Rumors. Not going to happen.
Terry goes on IR, so he is done.
Running Backs look to platoon again (McClain, McGahee, Rice), which, in my opinion, makes for a stronger running game. Opponents will have to prepare for multiple possibilities. The Sun reported that Rice has been promoted to being the number 1 RB, but expect the others to get plenty of carries as well.
For the most part, defense has been dominating training camp, and that trend should carry in to the regular season, as our strength continues to be on the "other" side of the ball.

Orioles: The Orioles finally accomplished something that put their names in the record book on the positive side of the ledger. With Brian Matusz winning his MLB Debut on Tuesday, the Orioles set a modern baseball record (since 1901) with 5 pitchers winning their MLB Debut in one season. Had Tillman won last Wednesday, they would have tied the all-time major league record, set by the 1888 Chicago White Stockings (now operating at the Chicago Cubs) with 6. Rookie catch Matt Wieters had the quote of the day by saying "That's when they started baseball, so everybody was debuting."

Crystal Palace Baltimore F.C. (Home games at UMBC):

The Baltimore Business Journal reports that a new minor-league soccer stadium is being mulled over by Baltimore leaders and could be built at Port Covington and strengthen the city’s bid to host World Cup games in the future.
Palace (6-8-4, 22 Points) had no game this week, and will play next against the Harrisburg City Islanders (9-6-3) on August 7 and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (5-9-4) on August 15.
The Palace has dropped to 6th place (of 9 teams), with the top 5 making the playoffs. Real Maryland (7-9-2) stand 1 point ahead in the standings.

Blast: No new news.

Mariners: The Arena Football League has folded with no indications of resurrecting this time. This, however, does not affect the AIFL (yet) to which the Mariners are member. This past week the BRIG Group, LLC, led by two local businessmen, Dwayne Wells and Kevin Fash, has taken the helm as the new owner of the Baltimore Mariners indoor football team.

What do you want to see in the Ravens report? What should be scrapped? Actually, nevermind. No one is reading this anyway, so I will just butcher things up however I please, and you won't know the difference. Send an email to iggy at tealdragon.net. Thanks!

Schedule

Relevant Football Links

• NFL: Tie Breaking Procedures

Iggy's Predictions

• Orioles over/under is 74 wins. (Starting to look like an optimistic guesstimate)