Baltimore

Baltimore's Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, once the city's supreme skyscraper, always delivers a smile. It's a symbol of kitsch and nostalgia, like the city itself. It's a reminder of a gritty past and an uncertain present. Joe Wall, the tower's facility manager, is leading a free tour of the Clock Room, with the story of the tower's heyday (a 20-ton blue bottle of the headache remedy sat atop the building), its decline (a stereotypical Baltimore tale of neglect and despair), and its renaissance (reborn as artists' studios)

It happened in Philadelphia for Jeff Stone, and it's starting to happen again in Baltimore. If the oh-for-April Orioles have not reached the end of their rope yet in the case of Stone, they certainly are moving in that direction. The latest in a series of baserunning misadventures by Stone occurred in the ninth inning of last night's 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins, the O's 19th consecutive defeat this season. Stone was doubled off second on a line drive caught by Twins shortstop Greg Gagne, effectively killing any Baltimore momentum.

An extradition proceeding was scheduled today in Baltimore for Lawrence Paul Jones, who was arrested there Saturday and charged with the slayings of two fellow security guards in Philadelphia. At the hearing, Jones was expected to waive extradition and return to Philadelphia. Two Philadelphia homicide detectives went to Baltimore this morning, prepared to escort him back. But if he decides to fight extradition, the process could drag on for weeks. "That decision is between Jones and his attorney," a Baltimore detective said yesterday afternoon.

Baltimore gets the Inner Harbor, Camden Yards and the aquarium. We get Penn's Landing, the Vet and a view of New Jersey's aquarium. Baltimore gets "Homicide: Life in the Street," which pumps $500,000 a week into the local economy (less per week than a major movie might bring in, but for a far longer period). We nearly had "Philly Heat. " "Homicide" executive producer Tom Fontana, who also did the pilot for "Philly Heat," a drama about firefighters that was set in Philadelphia and starred West Catholic's own Peter Boyle, said he was surprised when ABC didn't pick up the series, which was shot here two years ago. "I love Philadelphia.

BALTIMORE - A Ravens broadcaster with the unfortunate name of Gerry Sandusky handed Joe Flacco a microphone during the team's Super Bowl celebration at M&T Bank Stadium early Tuesday afternoon. The 75,000 fans who had waited patiently and noisily for hours to greet him and the new NFL champions screamed madly at the sight of the lanky quarterback, much as a few hundred thousand others had done during the brief but humanity-clogged parade that led him there. Flacco, smiling and waving but looking slightly uncomfortable, peered quickly out at a crowd that in anticipation of his response swayed like a purple sea all around the on-field stage.

It will be his first time back. Mike Caldwell isn't sure what to expect, which feelings will come rushing back, when the Eagles make their first appearance in Cleveland's new stadium Sunday night. Caldwell was a Cleveland Brown for the final game before the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1995. That game is a blur of sadness and confusion and even an element of fear. "Sometime in the third quarter, the anger started coming out," Caldwell said. "People started tearing up the seats down in the Dawg Pound and throwing parts of the seats onto the field.

Saturday in Baltimore and the city is abuzz. The headlines in the Sun say the Pope is coming Oct. 23 to this, the oldest Roman Catholic diocese in the United States. Another Page One story reports that Kurt Cobain, leader of Nirvana, is dead. Cobain's suicide is the main topic of discourse at Donna's Coffee Bar, an espresso stop off Mount Vernon Place, where a couple of bean-addicts are blaming the 27-year-old grunge rocker's death on terminally dank Seattle. Down the road at the Charles Theater, the city's foremost art movie house, the marquee reads "Mike Leigh's Naked . . . Kurt Cobain, RIP. " Other rockers, still alive and kicking, are holed up at the Latham Hotel: NKOTB, formerly New Kids on the Block, are in town for a show, and while these onetime teen-throbs no longer attract the hordes of squealing baby-boppers they once did, there's an air of excitement among the hotel's guests and staff anyway - not to mention a clutch of die-hard fans in the lobby, their eyes wide with anticipation and trained on the elevator doors.

Please don't raise your eyebrows too high. Defensive tackle Tim Watson, of Rowan University, the Division III national runner-up, was not hoping to be selected on Day 2 of the NFL draft - he was expecting it. "Baltimore worked me out just last week," Watson said. "That usually doesn't happen unless they're really thinking about taking you. " The 6-4, 285-pound Watson did get plucked, but not by Baltimore. He went to Seattle in the sixth round, at No. 185 overall. He is the Profs' first draftee.

PHILADELPHIA IS missing the boat. During a recent cruise (out of Fort Lauderdale), I wondered what was happening with cruises out of Philadelphia, a business that's had its ups and downs. I knew cruises are thriving in nearby Baltimore and learned that even Bayonne(!) is bounding. Philly? Dead in the water. But why? Bermuda (a popular destination) is closer to Philly than to Bayonne(!), 100 miles to our north. And we have the Navy Yard cruise-ship terminal, right? Wrong. That was sold to Urban Outfitters, says Will Agate, senior VP of Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., in charge of Navy Yard management and development.

Mobster-turned-informant Thomas DelGiorno was unavailable to testify against reputed mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo this week because his son was arrested near Baltimore and charged with murder, sources said yesterday. "He wasn't in any great shape to take the witness stand," said one source. Terry Williamson, spokesman for the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, declined to comment on the matter. Robert DelGiorno, 20, was arrested about 2 a.m. Sunday in a suburb of Baltimore after he and another man showed up bloody at the gate of a Bethlehem Steel Co. plant.

ROSEDALE, Md. - A CSX freight train crashed into a trash truck and derailed Tuesday in a Baltimore suburb and the explosion that followed rattled homes at least a half-mile away, sending a plume of smoke into the air that could be seen for miles, officials and witnesses said. In the third serious derailment this month, the dozen or so cars, at least one carrying hazardous materials, went off the tracks about 2 p.m. in Rosedale, a Baltimore eastern suburb. A hazardous materials team responded, but Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said at a news conference that no toxic inhalants were being released.

Baltimore's Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, once the city's supreme skyscraper, always delivers a smile. It's a symbol of kitsch and nostalgia, like the city itself. It's a reminder of a gritty past and an uncertain present. Joe Wall, the tower's facility manager, is leading a free tour of the Clock Room, with the story of the tower's heyday (a 20-ton blue bottle of the headache remedy sat atop the building), its decline (a stereotypical Baltimore tale of neglect and despair), and its renaissance (reborn as artists' studios)

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a January visit to a barely-there Baltimore, and asked readers to let me know what I had missed in Charm City. Let me know, they did. A few made untoward comments about my dear Eagles. But most just expressed genuine pride in their town, made constructive suggestions on what I should see next time, and invited me back. "Baltimore is neighborhoods within the city. Federal Hill, Fells Point, Canton, Little Italy. I'm sure I haven't even touched on all of them," wrote Lee Gerdelmann, whose sister lives there.

GETTING YOUR SKULL split with an armored baseball bat is bad enough, but it can get real messy when the attacker has an appetite for human brains. According to a lawsuit, Joshua Ceasar, 23, of Egg Harbor Township, N.J., was visiting friends in a dormitory at Morgan State University in Baltimore last May 19, when he was struck in the head with a bat wrapped in barbed wire and chains by his friends' roommate, Alexander Kinyua. Ceasar's friends heard screams and found Kinyua dragging Ceasar's body down a hallway with a knife in his hand, the suit says.

PHILADELPHIA IS missing the boat. During a recent cruise (out of Fort Lauderdale), I wondered what was happening with cruises out of Philadelphia, a business that's had its ups and downs. I knew cruises are thriving in nearby Baltimore and learned that even Bayonne(!) is bounding. Philly? Dead in the water. But why? Bermuda (a popular destination) is closer to Philly than to Bayonne(!), 100 miles to our north. And we have the Navy Yard cruise-ship terminal, right? Wrong. That was sold to Urban Outfitters, says Will Agate, senior VP of Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., in charge of Navy Yard management and development.

After the first of the year, I had the opportunity to visit Baltimore. I say opportunity because I had long thought of it as a harbor and a tunnel to D.C., not a   real   city like Philadelphia. So, when I learned I would be going to Baltimore to celebrate the 105th anniversary of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.'s founding, I was eager to see the city. I took the train from 30th Street Station and arrived about 8 p.m. on a Thursday. When I left Philly, people were walking around downtown, coming and going.

BALTIMORE - A Ravens broadcaster with the unfortunate name of Gerry Sandusky handed Joe Flacco a microphone during the team's Super Bowl celebration at M&T Bank Stadium early Tuesday afternoon. The 75,000 fans who had waited patiently and noisily for hours to greet him and the new NFL champions screamed madly at the sight of the lanky quarterback, much as a few hundred thousand others had done during the brief but humanity-clogged parade that led him there. Flacco, smiling and waving but looking slightly uncomfortable, peered quickly out at a crowd that in anticipation of his response swayed like a purple sea all around the on-field stage.

NEW ORLEANS - Joe Flacco is an Ordinary Joe no more. In a game that will forever be known as the Blackout Bowl, the Baltimore Ravens survived a near collapse following a 34-minute delay after the Superdome lost power, then rode their steady quarterback to beat the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31, in Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday night. Flacco, the Audubon, N.J., native who has been criticized for his placid demeanor, was voted the Super Bowl's most valuable player. He completed 22 of 33 passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns.

NEW ORLEANS - At least in the Colonial Conference, the lights usually work. In the stadiums that have lights, that is.  Joe Flacco, the quarterback from tiny Audubon (N.J.) High and the University of Delaware, didn't let the first-ever Super Bowl blackout faze him. Didn't let San Francisco's furious second-half comeback, which started right after the 34-minute blackout, faze him. Didn't let much of anything faze him.  Flacco was flawless in the Baltimore Ravens' 34-31 Super Bowl XLVII victory over the 49ers, who nearly accomplished the impossible but eventually found they'd made one or two too many key mistakes.  "I don't think it's sunk in that we're here, let alone that we won the thing," Flacco said from an interview podium deep underneath the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, after he watched the confetti fall and was honored as the game MVP.  The 49ers finally died at the Baltimore 5, after a 33-yard Frank Gore run gave them first-and-goal from the 7 with more than 2 minutes to score the winning touchdown.

For Browns fans, time has not healed. Art Modell's move remains an open wound. And even in death, he torments them. Modell, the late Cleveland owner credited with helping the NFL grow in prominence but whose decision to relocate his franchise to Baltimore 17 years ago obscures his accomplishments, is one of 15 finalists up for election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Modell's case for induction - he was also a finalist in 2002 - could spark the liveliest debate in New Orleans on Saturday among 46 Hall of Fame committee members, who will select from four to seven new members on the eve of the Ravens meeting the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl.