Ravens Watch

Ravens Owner Pays for Team to Attend Tray Walker’s Funeral

Overall, few bright spots in a rough week for Baltimore sports.

Owner Steve Bisciotti offers to pay the way for every Baltimore Raven to attend Tray Walker’s funeral Saturday.
Walker, a first-year cornerback who died in a motorbike accident last week, certainly wasn’t the best known, or longest-tenured, Raven, but Bisciotti’s gesture—and his and coach John Harbaugh’s thoughtful words—were heartfelt reminders that the loss of every young person’s life is a tragedy.

“We have two sons not too much older than Tray, and we can’t imagine how much his family is suffering. This is so sad,” Bisciotti said on Friday. “The right words are hard to find at a time like this. As much as we can comfort Tray’s mom and the rest of his family, we will.”

“[I] was just thinking about Tray’s mom,” Harbaugh said. “It’s not a situation that you ever want to imagine yourself in. I’m sure we all feel that way with our kids. You don’t even want to think about what that would be like, yet, here she is and she has to live that reality.”

The Terps lose to the Jayhawks in the Sweet 16.
Similar to the way the season unfolded, the Terps flashed a lot of potential against No. 1 seed Kansas before falling apart down the stretch. Maryland mostly outplayed Kansas during the opening half, but ultimately lost by 15. With multiple possible NBA picks in its starting lineup, the Terps were simply a team that was less than the sum of its parts all season. They were out-rebounded 22-8 in the second half by Kansas—as good as stat as any to highlight that this talented Terps squad lacked grit this season.

Maryland women lose to Washington, but win in the classroom.
We had high hopes for the Maryland women this March, who displayed tremendous resilience this season in winning the Big Ten title for the second straight year after the transfer of star point guard Lexi Brown. But what’s the most revealing stat about the Maryland women’s team? Three starters, Brionna Jones, Kristen Confroy, and Malina Howard, are pre-med major who plan on becoming doctors.

The O’s Kevin Gausman gets a cortisone shot and our starting rotation looks as shaky as ever.
Gausman, the Orioles’ would-be budding young Jim Palmer, received a cortisone shot this week for shoulder tendinitis and it barely registered a blip because of the injury/physical well-being discussions around seemingly the entire staff, including Chris Tillman, Brian Matusz, Yovani Gallardo, and Dylan Bundy. No wonder the O’s are rumored to be in talks about acquiring James Shields from the San Diego Padres. At 34, Shields, once one of the game’s best pitchers, is on the downward side of his career, but he may offer short-term help. Otherwise, we’re going to have to do a lot of what we did in Friday’s spring training win over the Yankees—hit five HRs just to scrape by with an 11-10 victory.