No one in Baltimore needed an explanation why a teary-eyed and emotional Michael Phelps, who had just won his 20th gold medal, suddenly burst into laughter atop the podium at the 2016 Rio Olympics. But the rest of the world did.

What was so funny? This is how he explained it to NBC afterward: My boys from Baltimore were down on the other end, and back in Maryland, we all say “O!” for the Orioles during that part of the National Anthem. And all of the sudden I hear them roar “O!” and I knew exactly where it came from, and I just lost it…

Anyone who has ever attended Camden Yards or M&T Bank Stadium—or run in the St. Patrick’s Day 5K, for that matter—is familiar with Baltimoreans shouting “O!” at sporting events in tribute to our beloved Birds during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” But most probably do not know the tradition’s origin story.

It dates, not surprisingly, to the rowdy, it’s-not-over-until-it’s-over summer of 1979. Sparked by a league-leading 48 come-from-behind victories, the Orioles topped all of baseball that year with 102 victories. On 11 occasions, they won after trailing by least three runs. Those O’s also delivered five ninth inning rallies, including a special night on June 22 when Doug DeCinces blasted a two-out, two-run, walk-off homer that sent Memorial Stadium into delirium and launched a phenomenon officially coined “Orioles Magic.”

However, the untold story behind shouting “O!” during the National Anthem did not emerge until many years later. Not until Memorial Stadium’s legendary Section 34 diehards gathered for a reunion after superfan Wild Bill Hagy passed away in 2007.

A local reporter began inquiring how it all started and the Section 34ers pointed the finger at a blonde, 5-foot-2, then-24-year-old Northern High School grad who rarely missed a game. Now 70 and still a diehard, Mary Powers spontaneously yelled “O!” during the first word of the second-to-last line—as in, “O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave”—completely upsetting the normally solemn hush of the moment. And literally upsetting some patriotic fans in the upper deck around her.

“It was warm that night and I’m pretty sure it was a Friday because there was a big crowd,” recalls Powers, a retired financial services assistant. “A lot of people turned and shot me dirty looks, you know, they didn’t think it was appropriate.”

A local reporter began inquiring how it all started, and the Section 34ers pointed the finger at a blonde, 5-foot-2, then-24-year-old Northern High School grad who rarely missed a game.

One person who did not shoot Powers a dirty look was Hagy, the beer-guzzling, cowboy-hatted Dundalk cab driver famous for leading the O-R-I-O-L-E-S cheers from his Section 34 perch. He glanced back at Powers and smiled.

So did a crazy, then-26-year-old fan named Marty Bass, who confirmed this account shortly before retiring last month after a singular 48-year Baltimore broadcasting career.

“Mary was standing right behind me when I heard her scream ‘O!,’” reiterates Bass, who remains friends with Powers to this day and eventually got her on camera a few years ago to recount the saga.

“We knew Marty as the morning TV guy, but nobody ever treated him any differently than anyone else,” Powers says. “Just one of the group.”

She adds that before most games, she, Bass, and much of the Section 34 crew would pregame nearby at Waverly’s Olympic Lounge, which put out a big deli buffet, especially for the late 8:05 Friday starts. As The Washington Post once noted, not only Memorial Stadium but Waverly itself was colorful—“an interesting mix of working-class blacks, aging socialists, artists, retirees and renovating couples”—with not one but two sports bars just north of 33rd Street and Greenmount, the Olympic Lounge and the Stadium Lounge.

Powers explains the inspiration behind her now‑iconic slice of Baltimore history wasn’t anything she’d thought about beforehand. That summer, she and her baseball pals had simply gotten into the habit of accentuating the “O” at the start of all kinds of words— “O”-ver, “O”-nly, “O”-lympic Lounge, etc.—a jokey way of celebrating the team’s rebound from fourth place the year prior.

Hagy picked up on it the next night and slowly but surely it moved from section to section to the point where it could be heard during broadcasts that fall of the World Series (the results of which will not be discussed here).

Of course, it’s coincidental the pronunciation of “O” is a signature feature of Bawlmerese and that “The Star-Spangled Banner” was penned under bombardment in the city’s historic harbor.

Over time, yelling “O!” didn’t merely catch on, it morphed into a uniquely Baltimore statement of hometown pride.

“But don’t overthink it,” Bass says, winkingly. “It was, and is, just a little fun thing we do.”

Tom Himes walks out of the quiet calm of his spartan office into the buzz of dozens of 12- to 14-year-olds milling about on the deck of the indoor pool at the Loyola University Maryland Fitness and Aquatics Center.

Wearing a white T-shirt with the letters NBAC and the words North Baltimore Aquatic Club below them, Himes carries a printout of the afternoon’s workout. The top of the sheet reads “NBAC CHALLENGE 3 PRACTICE THURSDAY MARCH 21, 2024, 5:00 PM–6:45 PM,” but really this could be any day of any week over the course of the more than three decades he has coached for the renowned swim club that launched the careers of Olympic gold medalists Michael Phelps and Beth Botsford, both of whom Himes coached when they were kids.

As always, Himes, NBAC’s head coach and CEO, is meticulously prepared; the sheet breaks down the exact strokes, distances, and minutes allotted for each session into four blocks of time. In many ways he is a man of routine, and NBAC’s results have shown that his routines work.

At this point in Himes’ career, the numbers are staggering. He has coached swimmers to more than 750 national rankings, including 91 number-one rankings, and more than 550 state and area records, according to NBAC. In 2005, he was inducted into the Maryland Swimming Hall of Fame, and last year he entered the International Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame. His name has become synonymous with coaching excellence—the Maryland Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year Award was renamed in his honor.

The kids, one somehow more sinewy and skinnier than the next, wear blue swim caps with “NBAC” on one side and “Paris 2024” on the other. After the Olympics in France, they’ll be replaced by ones reading “Los Angeles 2028.” This is aspirational, but given Himes’ record, not completely far-fetched.

The tweens and teens giggle, shout, and bounce from one cluster to another, as tweens and teens are apt to do. Himes, 67, is businesslike but not stern. They gather around him while he runs through the day’s practice plan, then eagerly jump into the water and start swimming laps.

This is the apex of youth swimming; during Himes’ tenure, NBAC has never lost a Maryland Swimming scored championship meet and is consistently recognized by USA Swimming as a top 25 age group club. The kids take practice seriously, which is why they train for generally an hour and a half to two hours, six days a week, 11 months a year.

Many of them hope to swim competitively in college, and a few dream of winning Olympic gold. Yet before practice and during drills, you’re hard-pressed to spot a kid without a smile on his or her face. Despite working so hard, it looks like they’re actually…having fun.

Julia Rommel is a 15-year-old whom “Coach Tom,” as she and many others call Himes, used to work with. At the time, she had an issue with her kneecap, which she thought might derail her career.

“He helped me after surgery get back to where I was,” she says. “I saw myself, when I was first trying to get back, not loving the sport as much. He got me back to where I was loving it again.”

Julia isn’t the only Rommel whom Himes has impacted. Her mother, Jen, swam for him 35 years ago.

“In my opinion, the definition of a good coach is someone who sets an expectation and then holds you to it. And Tom does that well,” Jen says. “Whether he’s being tough with you in the moment or he’s just being matter-of-fact, you know he cares. Even as a kid, I recognized that.”

Himes devotes 60 to 70 hours per week to the job and usually deals with some club business on his “off day.” Having left a career at the Department of Defense (he coached nights and weekends throughout the job), he doesn’t have to be doing this.

“This is about the kids,” he says. “I’m trying to keep it that way. It’s not about me. It’s not about the parents. It’s about them. They love it here. I don’t have to make them come to practice. They want to come to practice. And they know they’re going to have to work hard. I like watching them develop. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment to see a kid get better—whatever that better is.”

For a guy who has devoted much of his life to swimming, Himes doesn’t have an especially decorated background in the pool. The Baltimore native didn’t swim in college or high school; he stopped competing year-round around the age of 15. Yet he remained intrigued by the sport, and he began coaching full-time while attending the University of Baltimore. (He graduated in 1980 with a degree in business management.) After stints in Glen Burnie and at the Howard County YMCA, he was recruited to come to NBAC by the club’s co-founder, Murray Stephens.

“There’s so much more to swimming than swimming up and down the pool,” Himes says. “It teaches commitment, it teaches a work ethic. It’s just a nice challenge to teach the kids to get as much as they can out of the sport. You’ve got to train the kids not only physically, but mentally.”

“THERE’S SO MUCH MORE TO SWIMMING THAN SWIMMING UP AND DOWN THE POOL.”

From 1985 to 2002, Himes was the head age group coach at NBAC. He then left to coach other clubs and worked as an assistant coach at Towson University and UMBC before returning to NBAC in 2009. Among his pupils during his first stint was a 9-year-old Beth Botsford, who had just started swimming year-round. When she showed up to her first practice, she had no swim cap or goggles.

“I remember the warm-up alone was more than I had ever swam at one time in my life,” she says. “I think I made it through maybe half of it, and I got out and said, ‘Oh my God, I can’t do this.’”

Botsford recalls being in tears when Himes approached her and urged her to stick it out for at least two weeks. He saw something in the young swimmer that she did not see in herself.

“She was a mess when she first came here,” he says. “She swam sloppy, but she came back every day. She wanted it, and she worked hard. There’s no secret to this thing. The kids that work the hardest do the best. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you’re not working hard, it’s only going to get you so far. And it’s the same thing the other way. You might not have a lot of talent, but if you work hard, you can get somewhere.”

Six months after Botsford started working with Himes, she broke a national record in the backstroke. Himes sat her down to talk about her future.

“My goal was to make the 2000 Olympics, and Tom was like, ‘You need to put 1996 on [that goal list],’” she says. “I will always remember that because I was only going to be 15 years old then. He just has so much wisdom.”

At the 1996 Games in Atlanta, the not-yet-legal-to-drive Botsford won two gold medals, in the individual 100-meter backstroke and as a member of the women’s 100-meter medley relay team.

Himes’ motivational acumen has been well-documented, but Botsford also credits him with teaching her the importance of kicking. He’s always been an advocate of a strong lower body for swimmers, which is one reason why he knew he had someone special when he first saw Michael Phelps dart through the water. He coached the 23- time Olympic gold medal winner from ages 10 to 12.

“He certainly did a whole heck of a lot more after me than he did with me,” Himes says. “No one could have foreseen the unbelievable level that he reached, and I’m not going to suggest that I did.”

But it was when he saw 10-year-old Phelps do a 500-meter free kick (holding onto a board while kicking to propel yourself through the water) in under six minutes that Himes realized the boy was a special talent.

“That was probably one of the first things that he did that I was like, ‘Wow.’”

Prior to Michael, Himes coached Phelps’ sisters, Hilary and Whitney, both outstanding swimmers in their own rights. (At 14, Hilary had been the fastest distance swimmer in the country for her age group and Whitney was third in the world for the 200-meter butterfly.) After swimming for Himes for a year, Hilary moved to another coach before returning to him.

“Tom welcomed me back, which I [credit] to continuing my love for swimming. If I hadn’t gone back to Tom, I don’t know that I would have stayed with swimming,” says Hilary. “He was always just really warm and compassionate and a great coach. He was an important figure in my life.”

Hilary, like many of Himes’ former swimmers, has fond memories of Himes dressing up like Santa Claus during practice on Christmas Eve. (The only days NBAC doesn’t hit the pool are New Year’s, Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.) The mustachioed Himes has the right look and disposition for the role.

“The younger kids were a little on the fence as to whether it was really Santa,” says Himes, who retired his Kris Kringle suit in 2021. “The older kids figured it out quickly, but I really never gave in to officially letting them know. The little brothers and sisters of team members really thought I was Santa.”

“TOM WAS A GREAT COACH. HE WAS AN IMPORTANT FIGURE IN MY LIFE,” SAYS HILARY PHELPS.

In 2015, Himes, whose two children are grown (his daughter, a former Division II All-American lacrosse player, is an occupational therapist; his son is a Catholic priest), began making plans to cut back on his coaching at NBAC as he and his wife of 38 years, Betty, were moving from Perry Hall to Pennsylvania.

So much for the best-laid plans. Nearly a decade later, he still commutes one hour to NBAC six days a week—he just can’t seem to drag himself away from the pool.

“His motivation is helping NBAC, helping his kids to be better,” says Chris Kaplan, who swam for Himes.

Now 47, Kaplan is the head coach and executive director of Monocacy Aquatic Club in Frederick.

“If a coach called him up and asked for advice, he’d be happy to help. If a coach asked him to come out and watch practices and give them some advice, he’d be there. He’s not in this for himself.”

None of the accolades or awards seem to have a particularly profound impact on the outwardly unassuming Himes.

“I’m honored and thrilled that people acknowledge what I’ve done,” he says. “I’ve been lucky enough to have been around a lot of very good coaches and learned from them. But I just really like what I’m doing and I put everything I have into it.”

That’s clear as he walks the deck at practice, making a point to talk to as many kids as possible. Some get a light ribbing, a few receive gentle criticism, while others are offered words of encouragement.

“There is no question that the swimmers come first and foremost in everything he does,” Jen Rommel says. “There is an expectation not of perfectionism in any way, but that you’re going to bring your best every day.”

Because that’s exactly what you’re going to get from Tom Himes.

His lucky shirt.
A Las Vegas doctor credited an Under Armour compression T-shirt with saving the life of shooting victim Philip Aurich, who suffered major internal injuries in the deadliest mass shooting in recent U.S. history.

The Minnesota-native, who was shot in the back, was moved out of intensive care this week, WCCO in Minneapolis reported. Aurich’s brother told the television station that doctors said the tight-fitting Under Armour T-shirt his sibling had worn helped compress the bleeding until he reached the hospital and helped saved his life.

“Doctors said that shirt was a big part of him not bleeding terribly, bleeding out, pretty, much,” Ben Aurich, who played high school football with his brother in St. Paul, told WCCO.

This past Sunday, Philip Aurich, who lost his spleen and part of his colon—and still has a bullet lodged in his lung—got to see his two kids for the first time since the shooting. 

Good News; bad news.
The good news first: Baltimore moved closer to becoming a host of the 2026 FIFA World Cup this week. The United Bid Committee, coordinating the joint effort between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to host the 2026 tournament, announced that Baltimore and M&T Bank Stadium had made the narrowing list of 32 cities that could serve as a venue for the world’s most prestigious soccer tournament. (Pittsburgh notably did not make the list. Just saying.) At least a dozen cities will ultimately host games. The bad news? The U.S. men’s soccer team lost 2-1 to Trinidad and Tobago in a qualifying round Tuesday for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, thereby getting eliminated before the tourney even began. 

Will (legal) sports betting come to Maryland?
The 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act prohibited sports betting in every state—save four: Nevada, Montana, Delaware, and New Jersey. However, the law required that those states offer sports betting with a year, which the Garden State did not do—or they’d lose their privilege, giving rise to current N.J. Gov. Chris Christie’s subsequent legal challenge. The U.S. Supreme is scheduled to hear New Jersey’s petition Dec. 4. Among the groups filing amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) briefs are the European Sports Security Administration, the American Gaming Association, West Virginia and 17 other states, as well as the governors of Kentucky, North Dakota—and Maryland. Gov. Larry Hogan hasn’t said much about legalizing sports betting, but he is considered a long-time political ally of Christie. A bill last year was introduced into the General Assembly to study and implement sports betting—contingent on the overturning of the ’92 federal ban. Gambling lobbyists have already begun campaigning for state elected officials to take up measure again in 2018.

This is monumental.

Morgan State University, celebrating its 150th anniversary, unveiled its new “Legends Plaza” on campus this week, including life-size bronze statues of former Coach Edward (“Eddie”) Hurt and Coach Earl (“Papa Bear”) Banks. According to a press release from Morgan, the memorial—part of a nearly 2,000-square-foot enclosed area near Hughes Stadium and the school’s student center—will eventually add bronze plaques honoring other former Morgan athletic standouts as well. Starting in 1929, Hurt’s football, basketball, and track squads won 33 conference titles, and once posted a 54-game winning streak on the gridiron. Banks’ football teams won five CIAA conference championships, played in four bowl games, and posted three regular-season unbeaten records, including a 31-game winning streak.                                                                                                                      

“It’s okay not to be okay.” 
Greatest swimmer of all time and Towson native Michael Phelps opened up recently about his own anxiety, sharing a story about being bullied and depressed in the new documentary Angst. IndieFlix CEO and founder Scilla Andreen, which made the film, told the Associated Press that she hopes the 56-minute documentary will reach more than 3 million people around the world from 25,000 school and community screenings. Shot in the U.S. and U.K, the film is appropriate for children age 10 and older.

“Once I opened up about that [being bullied] and things that I had kept inside of me for so many years, I then found that life was a lot easier,” Phelps says in the film, describing a period when he did not want to look at himself in mirror. “I got to the point where I understood that it’s OK to not be OK.”      

Baltimore Blast moves to Towson
It’s the end of one era—and the beginning of another. After 37 years at what is now called the Royal Farms Arena, the Baltimore Blast—Baltimore’s Best Team, according to our 2017 Best of Baltimore issue—are moving to SECU Arena at Towson University. 

According to a press release, the team promises, “a more intimate fan experience that will include more convenient parking, better value at the concession stands, and upgraded seating and sight lines that will bring fans closer the action.” We always hate to see anyone move out of the city, but we’re excited to see the Blast play in their new venue. And you had us at “convenient parking.”

O’s making us believe again.
The seven-game win streak came to a disappointing end last night, but the O’s have truly been on fire—and their excellent play has catapulted them right back into the Wild Card chase. (As of this writing, the team is 2.5 games back in the standings, behind LA, Minnesota, and the scuffling Yankees.) I’ll be the first to admit that I had written them off around mid-season, but their combination of solid pitching and clutch hitting—particularly from Manny Machado, who is looking a whole lot like, well, Manny Machado lately—is making me believe. 

Also: Remember the collective shrug we all gave when the O’s traded for Tim Beckham? All he’s done since is bat .394 with 50 hits and 19 RBIs. Throw in the star-making season that Jonathan Schoop is having, Trey Mancini’s Rookie of the Year-caliber performance (*cough* not so fast Aaron Judge *cough*), and Dylan Bundy looking like a legit ace (how bout that beauty of a one-hitter he threw against the Mariners on Tuesday?) and more and more Baltimoreans are finding themselves humming “Orioles Magic” these days.

Baltimore Ravens donated $1 million to the Houston recovery.
The 4-0 preseason was impressive, but this is even more impressive. The team tweeted that they’re donating $1 million to the recovery efforts in Houston. And the Houston Texans are appreciative, RTing the Ravens’ post and adding “#HoustonStrong.” ❤️

Boomer’s getting a sibling!
The cutest little minnow in the sea—Boomer Phelps, that is—is about to get a sister or brother. He looks pretty happy about it, according to to the photo Nicole Phelps posted on Instagram when she made the announcement. But maybe they just told him he was getting a pony. 

Speaking of Michael, we all know that he raced a shark (kind of) during Shark Week and now he has a new proposal—going head-to-head in the pool against MMA champ Connor McGregor, who just had a pretty respectable showing in his much-hyped boxing match against Floyd Mayweather. “Should we race as well?” he jokingly posted to Twitter, with a Photoshopped picture of McGregor donning a swimming cap and goggles. Imagine the Pay Per View bank they could make on that one. . . .

Is the Jeffrey Maier curse over?
Y’all remember Jeffrey Maier, right? That annoying little twerp in NY who interfered with the ball and gave Derek Jeter a home run he never should’ve had in the 1996 ALCS? Well, the O’s are surging, Maier is now a 33-year-old man (yikes!), and this adorable little nugget who seemed exceedingly happy that his dad snagged a Machado home run is our new bleachers spirit animal. All hail #BabyBird.

John Urschel truly has a good head on his shoulders. 
Baltimore Ravens guard John Urschel began pursuing a Ph.D in applied mathematics last year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But yesterday, we learned that he truly has a good head on his shoulders. 

Following the release of a damning study in which all but one of the 111 brains of former National Football League players showed signs of the frightening degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the 26-year-old announced he was retiring from the sport.

Urschel isn’t the first to retire from the NFL because of well-founded fears of long-term, irreversible brain injury. Former Stanford and Buffalo Bills linebacker A.J. Tarpley retired at 23-year-old last year after several concussions. Promising San Francisco 49er linebacker Chris Borland retired in 2015 after just one season rather than risk permanent damage to his brain. Also this week, Patriots wide receiver Andrew Hawkings announced he was retiring, saying he would be donating his brain for CTE research.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that the results of the recent study weren’t great for those who only played football in high school and college, either. 

If things weren’t bad enough, Flacco suffers back injury.

While lifting weights at home in New Jersey, Ravens’ quarterback Joe Flacco injured his back. During day one of training camp, the injury flared up. Following an orthopedic surgeon’s examination, Flacco will sit out from practice for one week. In the meantime, coach John Harbaugh teased the idea of signing free agent Colin Kaepernick, but the team instead signed Arena Football League David Olson. 

Chase Kalisz is picking up where Phelps left off. 
Bel Air’s Chase Kalisz captured the 200-meter individual world title this week in Budapest, an event previously owned by Michael Phelps, who won the 200-meter individual medley at the last FOUR Olympic Games.

“When I had the opportunity to step into the 200m IM, it was an honor,” Kalisz told NBCSN.  

The entire Maryland women’s basketball team will represent the U.S. next month at the World University Games.
For the just the second time, an entire women’s college hoops team will rep the U.S. at the biennial World University Games, which are being held in Taipei this year. The Terps, who lost their two stars, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Brionna Jones to graduation and the WNBA (Walker-Kimbrough was selected in the draft by the Washington Mystics), started practice in June to prepare. It’ll be interesting to see how this new-look Terps squad does in Taipei—the medal round begins August 25—and, of course, if all the preseason work helps them get off to a strong start once their regular season begins. 

The Terp women, lest anyone forget, have won or tied for the Big Ten Conference championship each of the last three years.

Baltimore gymnast makes a name for himself.
Donnell Whittenburg, the Baltimore native and U.S. national team athlete we wrote about last year as tried to make the Olympic team, recently added a new move to his repertoire—and the sport. The powerful Whittenburg nailed a triple pike dismount from the still rings, which you can check below, for the first time in the sport’s history at the FIG World Challenge Cup in Koper, Slovenia. Afterward, the move was promptly nicknamed “The Whittenburg.”

The likeable gymnast’s larger goal is the 2020 Olympic Games—which means he still has time to perfect “The Whittenburg,” too.

File This Under: Trades That Will Never Happen
Look, if we had our druthers, Manny Machado would stay an Oriole for life. But if the Orioles truly can’t afford to sign him—or, if they do sign him, it’ll completely break bank—they should consider trading him for a bunch of high quality prospects. A team like the Dodgers, who have a loaded farm system, would be ideal. 

You know where the Orioles should definitely, never, under no circumstances trade him? To the freaking Boston Red Sox. And yet, that is exactly a trade that Buster Olney—who used to write for The Sun, I might add—suggested on SportsCenter. Yes, it’s true. The Red Sox are in need of a third baseman. It’s also true that the Sox are in contention and the Orioles . . . less so. (Although, after that four-game sweep of the Rangers, we are feeling ourselves.) 

But you don’t trade one of the best players in baseball to a division rival? And especially not the Red Sox, with whom Machado has a fair amount of (justifiable) bad blood. No, nope, never, nada. And don’t you get any bright ideas, either, Yankees.

Speaking of Manny . . .

You gotta love this guy. As you might know, due to what has thus far been subpar offensive season, Machado was not an All Star this season. A one-year glitch, we’re sure. But he did attend the All-Star Game to cheer on his boy Jonathan Schoop and other friends in the game. His assessment: “Yeah, it’s a little boring to watch it…I don’t know how people go out there an watch games. Now I know why sometimes people don’t come to games.” You’re not supposed to say that out loud, dude.

Phelps vs. Shark: It is On!
The moment we’ve all been waiting for—Phelpnado, you might call it—“starts” this Sunday, July 23 on the Discovery Channel. We put “starts” in quotes, because that’s their word, not ours. Not sure how long you can stretch out a race between a swimmer and a fish, but I guess we’re about to find out. Meanwhile, we’ve done a little research. The Great White Shark can go up to 35 miles per hour. Phelps, at his fastest, can go only 6 miles per hour. Umm, that seems bad for Phelps. 

From what we’ve learned, Phelps was equipped with a special shark-like fin to make his time faster. Okay, that should do the trick. Anyway, we’re not totally sure if Phelps and the shark are actually swimming side-by-side or if they’re in two separate bodies of water (which would be laaaaame). The good news? We saw Phelps on Fallon last night and he looked healthy and happy and definitely had all his limbs, so no matter what happened, Phelps emerged intact. Tune in.

We’re Loving These New Under Armour Commercials
Homegrown sports apparel behemoth Under Armour has launched a new ad campaign targeting women called “Unlike Any,” starring ballerina Misty Copeland, stuntwoman Jessie Graff, and world champion sprinter Natasha Hastings, among others, and featuring poems recited by their authors.   

The first one, “For Misty” features Copeland in a stark, concrete arena, warming up and slowly dancing, as poet Saul Williams entrancingly reads an accompanying poem. Notably, there is no music.   

The second one, “For Natasha” features poet Dominique Christina as Hastings begins running alone on a sandy stretch of land; “For Jessie” is set to a poem written by Kojey Radical, and shows Graff doing a lot of “Do Not Try This At Home” stuff like hanging from rafters and flipping through the air.
All the commercials emphasize determination, solitude, grace, and female power. We approve.

Apparently We’re Not the Only Ones Geeked About Game of Thrones.

The Ravens and the Orioles are, too. Both teams posted a Westeros-themed video to their social media accounts in anticipation of last Sunday’s Game of Thrones premiere. In the Orioles case, they offered a Game of Thrones ticket package that included a pre-game bullpen party, a photo op with the iron throne (shouldn’t that be Iron Man Throne?), and tee-shirt featuring the Watcher of the Wall. John Stark? Hell no, this is Birdland. Adam Jones!

The Ravens posted the fun video featured below.

Michael Phelps takes home two ESPYs
Wednesday was a big night in sports as the 25th annual ESPYs kicked off in Los Angeles. Baltimore’s own Michael Phelps was nominated for three of the coveted awards presented by ESPN, snagging two of them—best record-breaking performance and best male U.S. Olympic athlete. While accepting his first award, he couldn’t help but gush over his wife Nicole—who was also celebrating her birthday—and their first meeting at the award show a decade ago. (Aww, feels). 

Jonathan Schoop scores in first-ever All-Star Game.
He may not have been the star of the game, but he did provide his team’s first run to revitalize the American League. As the only Baltimore Oriole to be selected this year, Schoop was not in the starting lineup, but he got his shot in the fifth inning replacing Houston Astros Jose Altuve at second base. After a double to left field, Schoop was on second with two outs, when Minnesota Twins Miguel Sano hit a fly ball single to right field, giving him the chance to score the first run of the game. 

Raven Brandon Williams takes his dance moves overseas.
No. 98 is quickly becoming one of our favorite Ravens, and his killer dance moves have everything to do with it. This nose tackle is more than just a dominant powerhouse on the field—off the field his personality shines. On his most recent trip to the U.K.—part of the promo tour for the upcoming London game against the Jaguars—he stole the show with his version of the “Carlton Dance” at the U.K. fan forum. 

Earlier this month, he married his college sweetheart and mother of his two sons, Alyssa, where he showed off more of those sweet dance moves at the wedding reception. 

Former NFL star helps Baltimore youth track team
Four 8-year old girls from West Baltimore’s Mary Ann Winterling Elementary are now able to compete at the National Junior Olympics thanks to the generosity of former Bengals receiver Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson. The former NFL star donated $2,200 to help them reach their $5,000 goal, later tweeting: “You good now, I’ll see y’all at Junior Olympics in Kansas.” Johnson’s 12-year old daughter also just happens to be one of the nation’s top runners. The team will make the trip to Kansas City in two weeks. 

Good luck girls! 

Gervonta “Tank” Davis Signs Deal with Under Armour
This is cool. World IBF junior lightweight champion Gervonta Davis, who just defended his title in convincing fashion Monday with a third-round TKO of Britain’s Liam Walsh, has inked a deal with Under Armour. To announce the partnership, Under Armour unveiled a billboard of Davis on I-95. It’s a particularly cool billboard, because Davis isn’t in the ring or even crouched with his fists up in a classic boxer’s pose. Instead, he’s standing in West Baltimore, looking contemplative but determined, row homes behind him, his elaborate neck tattoo in full view. The billboard reads: “Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis: Baltimore’s Own.”

Dennis Pitta hosts The Bachelorette viewing party.
This is the greatest thing we’ve ever seen. We’re not sure what our favorite part is, Justin Tucker admitting he’s the Whaboom guy (“I would hope that I’m not the Whaboom guy, but I think I might be the Whaboom guy”); Joe Flacco doubling over in laughter as a be-aproned Dennis Pitta brings out his freshly made cinnamon buns; or Pitta proving that real men can love reality TV dating shows when he says, “A lot of football players wants to act like they’re too cool and tough to watch shows like this. Not us.” This is pure gold.

Jones breaks Camden Yards home run record
It hasn’t been a particularly great few weeks for the Orioles (understatement alert), but there is at least one reason to celebrate: Adam Jones, team captain, center fielder, Twitter foodie, and all-around awesome dude has broken the home run record at Camden Yards. He hit his 125th Camden Yards dinger on Monday, a no-doubt-about-it blast to left field against the Twins. (The Orioles went on to lose the game in frustrating fashion, but let’s focus on the positive.) Congrats, Adam!

 Justin Jackson is back
You can exhale now, Terps fans. Forward Justin Jackson, arguably the strongest member of a trio of superb freshmen who helped lead the Terps to the NCAA tournament last season, has removed his name from draft consideration and will be returning to the team next season. Whew!

Michael Phelps teasing us again?
Is it weird that we don’t want Michael Phelps in the 2020 Olympics? It’s not that we don’t love the guy—we do. We just don’t want to mess with the perfection of what he’s already accomplished. That being said, dude keeps “joking” about a 2020 run. First, on April Fool’s he tweeted. “Some goals/dreams you just can’t get rid of…been doing a lot of thinking n I’ve decided that I’m going 2 make another comeback! #tokyo2020.” Okay, that was funny. But then, just this week he posted a photo of himself and fellow Olympiad Grant Hackett to Instagram, with the caption, “Just two old dudes getting back in the pool…2020?” Then he followed that up with a Tweet that linked to the ’Gram post and added, “A little rusty . . . nah, still got it!” One joke is funny. Two jokes are intriguing. But three jokes? We’re just saying.

O’s make a great first impression on Opening Day.
Here’s to next Monday being as good as the last one: Opening Day at Camden Yards. More than 45,000 fans in the ballpark. Cal in the front row. The weather held up nicely all day. And, just before 7 p.m., with the stadium’s fancy new LED lights flashing and Mark Trumbo rounding the bases, the scene on the field and in the stands was pure jubilation.

The Orioles made an indelible first impression this 2017 baseball season. Trumbo (happy to have you back) smacked a game-winning home run to left field in the bottom of the 11th inning, shortly after closer Zach Britton found a measure of redemption against the Toronto Blue Jays, pitching a scoreless ninth and 10th, after not getting a chance to throw in a eerily similar situation in the O’s final, playoff-exiting game of 2016. And Manny Machado, our dear third baseman, dog-lover, and best bud of teammate Jonathan Schoop, wasted no games making a play worthy of a Gold Glove.

In the end, the lasting image of the day might have been the empty Gatorade coolers near home plate—thrown in celebration—and their icy contents melting into the dirt, as players and staff headed to the clubhouse.

The O’s beat the Jays 3-2, and they have now won their last seven Opening Day games, all under Buck Showalter. Two nights later, they beat Toronto 3-1 against a gorgeous sunset backdrop, so tonight the team welcomes the Yankees on an undefeated streak.

Michael Phelps sports a goggle tan.
Boy, he looked tan, didn’t he? Baltimore’s Olympic hero — and his sunburned red face — made the Internet rounds later on Monday night, when CBS’ broadcast of the NCAA men’s basketball championship game between North Carolina and Gonzaga showed Phelps’ sporting what some reporters with too much time on their hands deemed a “goggle tan.”

The memes took no mercy.

But don’t feel bad. This may be a case of what goes around comes around. Just 48 hours before, on April Fools’ Day, Phelps tweeted out to the Internet that he was making another Olympic comeback in 2020 in Tokyo. He’s not, for the record, he later said.

Manny sports Skittles.
If accessories make the outfit, then consider the aforementioned Machado red-carpet worthy. He’s apparently a big fan of Skittles and, inside the self-designed Air Jordans he wore on Opening Day, are insoles with pictures of the rainbow candy on them. Plus, the candies are personalized with the letters M, Y, and K, for his name, his wife, Yainee, and his dog, Kobe. Turns out Manny’s wife gives him a goody-bag of Skittles for every road trip. The shoes also boast the number “305,” in homage to the area code of Miami, where Machado played in high school. Swag on.

Adam Jones talks education.
If there’s any week to go heavy on Orioles news, it’s this one, especially when a face of the team like Adam Jones spends the day between the O’s first game and their second (a 3-1 win over Toronto on Wednesday) talking about the value of education to a group of kids from the local Boys & Girls Club.

The Orioles, Jones and his wife, Audie, the former Roland Park girls basketball star, made a $75,000 donation to the youth organization for the fourth straight year. Jones never went to college, because he pursued a major league career right out of high school in San Diego, but told the kids “education is the backbone of anything.”

Baltimore Brigade’s first season starts tonight.
It was a relatively slow news week on the Ravens front—the team welcomed free agent center Nick Mangold for a visit to the Castle (he left without signing a contract), the club traded defensive lineman Timmy Jernigan to the Eagles, and it signed wide receiver Michael Campanaro to a one-year deal. Those are humdrum developments compared what’s happening tonight: the debut of the town’s newest football team, the Arena Football League’s Brigade, as it kicks off its inaugural season in Washington, D.C. Here’s some more info about the team, which will host its first home game on May 7 at Royal Farms Arena.

Terps Kick Off Big 10 Play in Style
The Terps were favored to win Tuesday’s game against Big 10 rivals Illinois, but not by a lot. First of all, the Fighting Illini were on a six-game winning streak of their own and the Terps, while going an impressive 12-1, had demonstrated an annoying tendency to fall behind and come charging back at the last minute for a narrow victory. Throw in the fact that the team’s big men, Michal Cekovsky and Damonte Dodd, were both on the bench nursing injuries, it seemed a recipe for a close game. Well, the team had other ideas, blowing Illinois off the court for a surprisingly easy 84 to 59 romp. Melo Trimble continued his stellar play, but we were particularly impressed by guard Jaylen Brantley, who, at 5’11” (at most), is usually the shortest guy on the court. In the beginning of the season, some experts were suggesting that Brantley would struggle for playing time, but he has inserted himself into the lineup with his aggressive and confident play. The Terps freshman class is a thing of beauty, with a different player stepping up each game. This time, it was a chance for guard Anthony Cowan to shine. The kid is fast as hell, has great court vision, and can finish at the rim. We think we’re in love.

Speaking of love…
A guy proposed to his girlfriend on the Terps Kiss Cam and it was freaking adorable.

SHE SAID YES! ????????????

Congrats to Terp fans Jeff Wehberg and Carly Smith who got engaged during yesterday’s kiss cam! https://t.co/FwJdI3fXYl
— Maryland Basketball (@TerrapinHoops) December 28, 2016

And speaking of adorable…
Boomer Phelps has his own Instagram account and it does not disappoint.

Sports Illustrated names Michael Phelps “The Greatest Olympian of All Time.”
And we’re not going to argue with that. The Baltimore aquaman has 28 career medals, including 23 gold (see above photo). Number two on all-time medal list is former Soviet Union gymnast Union Larisa Latynina, who took home 18 medals, including nine, in the 1950s and 1960s. But is he done? Phelps said he’s retired, but he has also said that before and he’s been equivocating lately, too. Here’s the what Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, a friend and golfing partner of Phelps, told SI in their Dec. 26 issue (keeping in mind UA has Phelps signed to a long-term deal):

“I know what Michael is going to say about Tokyo: ‘I’ll be 35 years old, I can’t stare at the black line anymore.’ I understand. But Tokyo is going to be a great Olympics. He said he was retiring after London, when he was 27, with the lung capacity of a Great White Shark. You can bet I’m going to be nudging him as best I can for the next four years. I think he believes he is retired now. Three years is a long time to rest.”

‘Tis the season to be jolly. ‘Tis also football season.
The Ravens travel to Heinz Field Christmas afternoon with nothing less than a division title and a playoff berth in the balance. We don’t want to go around denigrating another city’s football team this time of year, but we do expect the Ravens will deliver some well-deserved coal to all those Steeler stockings hanging in the Pittsburgh locker room.

Added to laundry list of questionable Steeler activities over the years—head coach Mike Tomlin attempting to trip Jacoby Jones on a kickoff, for example—Pittsburgh had its own hushed-up Deflate-gate scandal this season following a game with the New York Giants. Fortunately for the Steelers, however, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell quickly moved to sweep the episode away, learning from the New England episode that cheating scandals are gigantic headache and not exactly good PR for the league. The fact that the family owners of Giants, the Maras, and the family owners of the Steelers, the Rooneys, are related (note actress Rooney Mara) may have also played a role in the nothing-to-see-here-folks approach by the NFL.

Matt Wieters may not be going that far away.
We knew there was little chance the free-agent O’s catcher would stay in Baltimore. All things considered, the team’s signing of Welington Castillo to hold down the receiving duties until highly touted minor league star Chance Sisco is ready for The Show looks like a good deal. That said, Wieters, a class act on and off the field, will be missed here. Recent rumors have him headed down I-95 to Washington. As painful as it would be see the big guy in a red cap with a “W” scrawled across the front, it would give us a chance to track his career and occasionally watch him play on MASN.

The man who stole the Colts from Baltimore died this week.
William Hudnut III often gets credit for revitalizing downtown Indianapolis. In the early 1980s, one of the things then-mayor Hudnut pushed for was the construction of the city’s Hoosier Dome football stadium. As longtime Baltimoreans recall, before the stadium had even been completed, Hudnut had hooked easy mark Robert Irsay, persuading the Colts owner to steal the team away from Baltimore in the middle of the night in 1984. Hudnut, it turned out, moved to the Washington, D.C. area in the 1990s, even serving briefly as mayor of Chevy Chase in the mid-2000s. The 84-year-old Hudnut died this week of congestive heart failure while in a Rockville hospice center.

Remarkably, even Indianapolis TV stations refer to their city’s theft of the Colts as “that scandalous night” when “Indianapolis stole the Colts unannounced.”

London calling.
It’s only a seven-hour direct flight.

The NFL formally announced this week that the Ravens will be one of eight NFL teams to play a game in London next year. Overseas games are big business for the league, which has staged 17 games in the United Kingdom since 2007, most in front at least 83,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, where soccer is typically played.

Joe Flacco and friends will be there either Sept. 24 or Oct. 1, 2017 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Whatever happens, hopefully no one makes like Paul Rudd in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and leaves a bad impression across the pond.

As for this year, after losing to the Patriots on Monday night and releasing veteran returner Devin Hester, the Ravens can still make the playoffs. They just need to win their last three regular-season games (vs. Philadelphia on Sunday, at Pittsburgh on Christmas Day and at Cincinnati on New Year’s Day), or even lose one and get some help from other teams losing. That would avoid a dubious first: missing the playoffs in two straight years for the first time in coach John Harbaugh’s nine seasons.

Get your tea and crumpets ready, #RavensFlock.

Next season, we will play a road game vs. Jacksonville at London’s Wembley Stadium. pic.twitter.com/SqYDeaWk7L
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 13, 2016

Pugh, Trump meet at Army-Navy game.
Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh met face-to-(hair?) with President-elect Donald Trump in the bowels of M&T Bank Stadium last Saturday at the 117th Army-Navy football game.

Pugh shared details of the brief exchange with reporters on Wednesday at City Hall. She greeted Trump as he got out of his car and she hand-delivered a letter that details what she hopes are common interests: improving parts of the city’s infrastructure.

Pugh offered Baltimore as “the perfect place to target” federal money for the type of upgrades Trump has touted he will make happen during his presidency. The meat of the letter focused on transportation around a redeveloped Port Covington and a proposed expansion of the Howard Street rail tunnel, upgrading aging water and sewer systems—please, not another sinkhole!—and strengthening citywide internet capabilities.

In typical lightning-rod fashion, when he arrived inside the home of the Ravens during the first quarter, Trump drew some cheers while protesters outside voiced their opinions and officials boosted security for the visit. On air with CBS television during the game, which Army won 21-17 to snap Navy’s 14-game win streak in the series, Trump said of the play on the field: “I don’t know if it’s necessarily the best football—but it’s very good—but, boy, do they have spirit.”

So there’s that. But at least sports brought a Democrat and a Republican together for a few minutes, and gave the city an audience.

With @realDonaldTrump in Baltimore I delivered a letter noting importance of our infrastructure needs & need for investment of federal funds pic.twitter.com/61OsajKvtQ
— Catherine Pugh (@MayorPugh50) December 10, 2016

O’s, kids have fun at holiday party.
The Oriole Bird slipped into his Santa suit and hat—where does he get these things?—and joined Orioles players Chris Davis, Darren O’Day, Caleb Joseph and Tyler Wilson, and 80 outpatients from the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital, at the team’s 38th annual charity holiday party on Tuesday.

The kids and adults (well, baseball players are really kids, too) hit the arcade games and shared lunch at Dave & Buster’s at Arundel Mills Mall. Chicken nuggets, pizza and fries were on the menu. Davis even poured a few drinks at the bar: punch and lemonade. And he later joked about how fun it was to get “dominated in games by kids that are half your age.”

Davis and his wife, Jill, a former nurse who worked in a children’s hospital in Texas, have partnered this year with UMCH and they will serve as an ambassadors for the hospital. The Davis’ plan to raise awareness of the hospital’s programs (last year it cared for 40,000 children) and childhood illnesses, in addition to donations that Baltimore’s $161 million dollar man and spouse have already made to the hospital’s NICU unit.

A holiday cheers to that. Now, Santa Bird, we love you and your outfit, but how about that starting pitcher or two we’ve been waiting on the last few years?

Hopkins moves to No. 9.
We’d be remiss without a shoutout to one of the other top-flight local college football programs—the Hopkins’ Blue Jays have moved to 7-0 and are ranked No. 9 in the national Division III poll. Five times, they’ve put up 40-plus points this season. They hit the road the next two weeks, but they return to Homewood Nov. 12 for their regular season finale against McDaniel. Might be the year that Hopkins makes a long playoff after three seasons of post-season heartbreaks.

The Ravens are in their bye week.
Thank God.

And he wasn’t quite done. On Thursday night, Kim reached based three more times, going 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI to raise his average to .308 for the year. His biggest moment came in the seventh inning, when he grounded a ball into right field, driving in Michael Bourn from second to give the Orioles a 3-0 lead.

The Orioles moved into a tie for the first AL Wild Card spot and last night’s win eliminated the Yankees from the playoffs altogether. We’re not sure about you, but that makes us want to mimic Kim’s dance moves in this amazing Korean music video.

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Joe Flacco has fourth baby, and first daughter.
Maybe it’s just us, but it seems like the Flacco family is having kids at the same rate Joe was throwing consecutive completions on Sunday. And on Tuesday at 2:19 p.m., they added another one to the clan—but this time it was a baby girl. Joe and Dana welcomed Evelyn Renee to join brothers Stephen (4), Daniel (3), and Francis (1).

“It was definitely different. Seeing a girl come out after three boys was a bit of a shock,” Joe told BaltimoreRavens.com. “Everybody is beyond overjoyed, beyond pumped.” During every pregnancy, the couple has waited to find out the sex of their baby. “I was keeping my fingers crossed,” Joe said. “You hear fathers getting scared about not having boys, but I was starting to get to the point that I was scared about not having a little girl. It’s just something I wanted.” Congrats to the Flacco family on the new addition!

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Arnold Palmer had many Baltimore connections.
Legendary golfer Arnold Palmer passed away on Sunday at age 87 and The Sun‘s Don Markus chronicled Palmer’s various connections to Baltimore over the years. Markus recounted that Palmer earned his first professional win in the 1956 Eastern Invitations Open at Mt. Pleasant, played for more than 1,000 people in 1972 at the Pine Ridge Golf Course for a charity event, and made his last public appearance five years ago for a Maryland Special Olympics fundraiser at Martin’s West.

“I love Baltimore,” Palmer told The Sun prior to that 2011 event. “I think it’s one of the great cities in America. I’m big on the seafood.”

Another fun piece of trivia is that the iced tea/lemonade hybrid drink named after Palmer was rumored to be first invented at a local pub here in town.

“[People at the next table] asked what he was drinking, and he said, ‘Half iced tea and half lemonade,’ and she said ‘That sounds, great, what do you call it?,” PR executive David Nevins told The Sun. “Arnie said, ‘It doesn’t have a name, it’s just that she ran out of ice tea when she was pouring it. The woman said, ‘I’m going to order the same thing and call it ‘The Arnold Palmer.’ From that day on, it caught fire.”

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Barack Obama talks about the “Phelps face.”
Thursday was Team USA Day at the White House and many of the American Olympians who competed in Rio were present, including Bethesda’s Katie Ledecky and Clarkesville native and Paralympian Tatyana McFadden. President Barack Obama gave a speech in which he discussed specific accomplishments of the athletes and a couple of Marylanders got a shout-out. First he talked about Ledecky’s phenomenal swimming performance.

“Then then there’s this young woman named Katie Ledecky,” Obama said. “She obliterates her own records in the 400- and 800-freestyle, and lapped the field in the 800. Did you watch it on TV? Like there was nobody else in the pool. Crazy!”

A few minutes later, President Obama mentioned Michael Phelps, who wasn’t in attendance, presumably still at the Ryder Cup in Minnesota. (I guess the White House is old hat at this point.)

“Michael Phelps became the greatest Olympian of all time, breaking a 2,000-year-old record for most individual titles,” Obama said. “If you’re breaking a 2,000-year record, that’s pretty impressive. If they have to go back to the Greeks, that’s an impressive record.”

The President—on stage with First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, and Paralympic soccer player Josh Brunais—went on for 15 minutes about how proud he is of Team USA before cracking just one more joke.

“I could talk about this forever,” he said. “But if I keep going longer, I could get ‘Phelps Face’ from you guys.”

U.S. Lacrosse celebrates move to new headquarters in Sparks.
A good news/bad news/but mostly good news kind of thing. U.S. Lacrosse, the national governing body for the sport, moved from the Johns Hopkins University’s campus, which served as its home since 1998, to northern Baltimore County this spring where it has space to grow. The new 12-acre center—following a $15 million private capital campaign—includes not only the Lacrosse Museum and National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, and various admin offices, but outdoor training facilities for national men’s and women’s teams.

This past grand opening weekend featured several matches, including an exhibition game between the lacrosse teams of the Fire Department of New York and the New York Police Department as the sport honored the 15th anniversary of 9/11.

Michael Phelps goes full Eminem on Spike TV’s Lip Sync Battle.
We’re just going to leave this here without comment on the celebrity-sports-media-entertainment complex:

Terrell Suggs had to cut gefilte fish out of his diet.
Yes, you read that correctly. Sure, this time of year is when NFL players really get strict about their exercise regimen and dietary choices to slim down for the season. But, when talking with the Associated Press this week, Terrell Suggs revealed a bizarre indulgence. “I like my fried chicken, my pizza, my peaches, and my gefilte fish. I had to cut all that out,” he said. Jury is still out on whether or not Suggs actually considers the Jewish whitefish a guilty pleasure, but he is certainly known, among other things, to have a sense of humor. Or, as Ravens tackle Timmy Jernigan puts it: “He brings a special type of energy with him. Oh, yeah. Dude is a freak.”

“I just want to take it all in this last time around.”

This is what Michael Phelps told us in 2012, referring to the London Olympics and his impending retirement. That, of course, did not pan out and, while many ordinary people do not announce their retirement twice, Phelps’ story is far from ordinary.

It may have started out that way, as an 8-year-old swimming for the Meadowbrook Tomatoes in Mt. Washington. That’s when Phelps first met his lifelong coach Bob Bowman and his talent was obvious from the start.

“If you go and look at the Preakness horses, they look a certain way,” Bowman told us. “They have a certain body type. Michael’s put together like an ideal swimmer. You could see when he was in the water he had a tremendous feel, meaning he moved through the water without excess motion. He was efficient.”

Phelps made the trip to the 2000 Olympics while he was just a sophomore at Towson High School, becoming the youngest U.S. male swimmer to do so in 86 years. Though he didn’t medal, his career was propelling as fast as his butterfly stroke.

He first met with his lifelong agent, Peter Carlisle, in 2002 and proceeded to rack up medal after medal in the Olympic games in Athens, Beijing, London, and most recently Rio. USA Swimming saw its membership jump up exponentially and, from 2008-2012, airtime on NBC for swimming increased 35.5 hours.

“The goal I had was to change the sport of swimming and take it to a new level,” Phelps told us. “It’s amazing to see how its popularity has increased over the years.”

Phelps’ popularity certainly sky-rocketed, too. He has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated five times. He has made tens of millions of dollars in endorsement deals alone, signing with the likes of Visa, Subway, Under Armour, and Speedo. He now has his own line of swimwear called MP. That original swim school in Mt. Washington? It’s now named in his honor. Not to mention, he’s become the most decorated Olympian, by far, along the way.

But his path, as many know, has not been without its hurdles. In 2009, a photo of him smoking marijuana went viral, but he and his image came out relatively unscathed.

“It’s impossible to know what opportunities didn’t come because of it,” Carlisle told us. “I’m sure it had an effect, but most of the sponsors he had he still has, and he’s added to it. Fortunately, his brand has been resilient.”

Resilience is certainly what it took in September 2014 when Phelps was arrested for a DUI after being pulled over at 1:40 a.m. in the Fort McHenry Tunnel and clocking a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit. After the arrest, Phelps didn’t leave his house for days and, in this revealing 2015 Sports Illustrated article, he admits he was depressed.

“I was in a really dark place,” Phelps told Sports Illustrated. “Not wanting to be alive anymore.”

In the article, friends and family, including Ray Lewis, whom Phelps describes as “like a brother to me,” convinced him to go to rehab. “’I gave him some harsh reality,’ Lewis said. ‘I said, ‘Bro, what are you doing with your life?’ Phelps’s recollection of that conversation? ‘He tore me a new one.’”

Though rehab was “probably the most afraid I’ve ever felt in my life,” the group therapy worked. Before that, “I saw myself as the athlete that I was, but not as a human being.” After, he began to value himself as a person.

Following rehab, many pieces of Phelps’ life came back together, including reconciling with his estranged father, Fred. He also got engaged to his longtime on-again-off-again girlfriend Nicole Johnson. The two had son Boomer in May and plan on marrying in the fall.

“I’m back to being the little kid who once said anything is possible,” Phelps told Sports Illustrated. “You’re going to see a different me than you saw in any of the other Olympics.”

And, boy, was he right. This past Olympics in Rio, Phelps looked like he could do no wrong. Even when he was trailing, a crucial turn or extended amount of time underwater pushed him ahead of the pack. He won races by a body length—all 6-foot-4-inches of it. In all, he added another five gold medals and one silver to his belt, which adds up to a staggering 27 Olympic medals in total.

“It’s rather amazing to think of Michael’s journey since 2000,” his mom, Debbie, said on the Today Show Friday morning. “Starting from age 15 and now 31, it’s just remarkable . . . Michael is very driven to correct thing that have gone wrong. I’ve never seen him as happy as he is now.”

As for the next phase of Phelps’ life, we can only go by what he told us he had planned back in 2012.

“After I retire, I want to take time for myself, golfing, and doing things I haven’t been able to experience,” he said. “I’ve never really taken a vacation. I want to travel and experience the world. I know that may sound strange, but while I have been to a lot of great countries, I’ve only seen the airport, pool, and hotel. We never have a chance to get out and explore. I’ll always be involved in swimming, just in a different way.”

We can also assume that he’d add one more thing to the roster of golf, travel, and swim: spending time with his brand new family.

Ravens win first preseason game, but there’s still work to be done.
Speaking of the Ravens, they went on to win the preseason opener 22-19. (Call it fate, but it seems that 22 was the magic number last night.) No 28 must’ve been a hot number as well. Baltimore native Terrance West had an impressive game, running for 25 yards including a diving touchdown at the one-yard line and an exciting rushing touchdown on a reverse. (Read more about West in our upcoming September issue.) Buck Allen and rookie Kenneth Dixon were not to be ignored. Allen scored a touchdown at the end of the second half with a 19-yard catch and run and Dixon averaged 4.9 yards per carry.

Backup quarterback Ryan Mallett a bit less impressive. He went 11-for-15 in completions, yet ended the first half with the Ravens in the lead. As long as Joe Flacco remains healthy, we don’t anticipate Mallett hitting the field during the regular season. Ronnie Stanley—the Ravens 6th overall pick in the 2016 draft—surprised us all by starting the game at left tackle and staying in until the middle of the second quarter. Stanley left practice last week with a soft-tissue knee injury, se we didn’t expect to see him suit up. Mallett wasn’t under too much pressure in the pocket, so job well done.

The Ravens defense, however, was a little shaky. The secondary struggled to keep Carolina from marching up the field in the first series with reigning league MVP Newton leading the attack. The Ravens red-zone defense was ever reliable, but the secondary definitely needs some work before the regular season starts.

Oh, and by the way, Phelps beat a 2,000-year-old Olympic record.
Not to bury the lede, but upon that amazing performing in the 200-meter IM last night, Phelps became the greatest athlete in the world—both ancient and modern. More than 2,000 years ago, Leonidas of Rhodes competed in four successive Olympiads in 164BC, 160BC, 156BC, and 152BC and in each of these he won three different foot races. While Phelps has a total of 22 Olympic gold medals (which is record-breaking in itself), nine of those have come in relays. So, in terms of individual titles, Leonidas still had him beat. That was until last night, when Phelps won his 13th individual gold.

According to the BBC, Leonidas left quite the legacy, being worshipped as a deity after his death, venerated in Greek literature, and a statue of Rhodes was erected with this inscription: “He had the speed of a God.” Nothing against Leonidas, but we can think of a certain Towson native who more aptly fits that description.

Watch Phelps compete in his final Olympic race tonight, his signature 100-meter butterfly, at 9:12 p.m. on NBC.

“The young bucks brought tears to our eyes,” Phelps told the Today Show. “I was trying to hold back as much as I could. Nathan started shedding tears, then Ryan was shedding tears. Being a part of the 400-free relay has been a dream of mine. I’ve been on the good side and bad side of it. I was happy we could win that relay as a team.”

Phelps admitted that having his 3-month-old son, Boomer, in the audience while he won his 19th gold medal, made the experience “a lot more emotional.”

“I tried to look for him up there and, when I finally found him, he was asleep,” he said with a laugh. “Hopefully we was awake during the race but, if not, I can play it for him when he’s a bit older. It’s just an inspiration to have him here.”

Kalisz and Phelps, of course, have their training at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club in Mt. Washington to thank. Kalisz has trained at the NBAC since 2000—and, more recently, in Scottsdale, Arizona—with mentor Phelps and coach Bob Bowman. In a 2013 interview, he talked about how rewarding that experience has been.

“Training at NBAC with the greatest swimmer of all time has been probably the best environment for me,” said Kalisz, pictured, clearly enjoying himself in Rio.

“I’ve always dreamed about racing and swimming with him. I never thought that would happen to me.”

Phelps’s work in Rio isn’t done yet. On Tuesday night, he’ll swim the men’s 200-meter fly, on Thursday he’ll swim the 200-meter IM he finishes up on Friday night with his signature 100-meter butterfly.

Peyton M honors Johnny U.
Peyton Manning started out his retirement press conference by paying tribute to another legendary quarterback, his hero, Johnny Unitas. It’s hard to remember, but Peyton struggled in his first season as a (ugh…Indianapolis) Colt, and he told a story about how after a loss in Baltimore, Unitas took him aside, shook his hand, and told him he was rooting for him. “… I hope that old No. 19 is up there with his flat top and maybe his black high tops on,” Peyton said, holding back tears. “I hope he knows that I have stayed at it [for 18 years] and maybe he’s even a little proud of me.” On Tuesday, Johnny’s widow, Sandra, released the following statement to thank Peyton for his remarks and recall another time the future Hall-of-Famer paid tribute to the Golden Arm:

“In the days following my husband’s death in 2002, Peyton Manning sought permission from the NFL to wear high top shoes in the Indianapolis Colts’ next game, in honor of John Unitas. Though facing the possibility of a hefty fine, Manning opted to honor his predecessor.
At one of the darkest moments in my life—and at a time when the sacrifices and successes of NFL pioneers often went unacknowledged—Peyton’s kind gesture, his thoughtful tribute, touched my heart.
As I watched his retirement speech yesterday, I was again struck with emotion as Peyton related John’s encouraging words following a Colts’ game against the Ravens in Baltimore. Knowing my husband as I did for more than 32 years, I can assure Peyton that old No. 19 is indeed “up there with his flat top and…his black high tops on” and that he is very proud of No. 18.
In Manning, John recognized a man of similar character, someone who shared the same love for the game. Though generations apart as Colts’ quarterbacks, John Unitas was very proud that a young man like Peyton Manning followed in his footsteps.
As Peyton’s NFL playing career comes to a close, I want to thank him for the respect he has for my husband and for the kindness he has shown to me and my family. I wish him all the best.”

Orioles acquire another big bat.
In a move nobody saw coming, the Orioles signed power-hitting free agent first baseman Pedro Alvarez to a one-year, 5.75 million deal. Like the long ball? You’re going to love the Orioles this season. As USA Today points out, with Chris Davis, Adam Jones, Manny Machado, and newly acquired right fielder Mark Trumbo, the Orioles now have five everyday players who have hit at least 33 home runs in a season. Yowsa! Alvarez’s acquisition does raise the question: Who’s going to play first base? We’ve already established that Davis can play almost all positions (who could forget this shining moment?), but he is suited at first, especially if the team wants him to stay healthy. (Right field, for example, would put more wear and tear on his body.) Still, there are worse problems to have. In more worrisome news, the Orioles remain winless in Spring Training. There’s no need to panic yet, is there? IS THERE?

Ravens sign veteran tight end Benjamin Watson to two-year deal.
He’s 35 years old, but still has a lot of game left in him as evidenced by last year’s career reviving season with the New Orleans Saints (he ended the season with six TDs and 825 yards receiving). Also, he’s written a book on religion and race relations called Under Our Skin: Getting Real About Race—And Getting Free From the Fears and Frustrations that Divide Us. So something tell us he’s going to give good locker room soundbite, too.

O’s groundskeeper honored.
Orioles Head Groundskeeper Nicole McFadyen was named this year’s recipient of the Mary Pickersgill Award for Women’s Leadership in Business. Established in 2012 by the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, the award honors a woman who “demonstrates leadership in her community, exemplifies innovation in her chosen field, and has the power to inspire others.” Last year’s winner was none other than Enoch Pratt Chief (and President Obama’s Librarian of Congress nominee) Carla Hayden. McFadyen is only one of two female head groundskeepers in all of Major League Baseball. Congrats, Nicole!