Athleteof Theweek: Kareem Washington by Douglas Myers
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THE RETRIEVER February 10, 2004 Sports 27 Orioles FanFest Puts Improved Squad and the Birdman on Display weekly poll Who’s Hot Will swimming and diving The swim team is the MATT MORRISON The Birdman man leads cheers, performs the ever get a big team pic- hottest thing on the east Retriever Weekly Staff Writer chicken dance with two singing chicken hand pup- ture in the lobby of the coast right now. The men pets, and brags that he is “louder than sober or RAC? and women finished the For six consecutive seasons, the Baltimore drunken man in the ballpark.” Having a notoriously Orioles have finished fourth in the American League loud voice I developed as Recruit Chief Petty Officer season at 12-1 after the East. Whether it was their inability to lure big-name in Navy boot camp, I issued him a challenge. So if win over Hopkins. free agents to Charm City over the free spending New you ever hear two people cheering louder and louder, York Yankees or being handicapped by what was wide- that’s Matty Mo taking on theBirdman. ly considered to be baseball’s weakest farm system, the The O’s FanFest showcased an improved team boys in black and orange have been consistently out of and higher standards for the 2004 season. The new contention by August. However, Orioles manage- team is sure to get the fans excited about baseball ment has put together a team through trades and free again. And if that’s not enough, they have the agent signings that is not only a significant upgrade at “Birdman.” last week’s the major league level, but creates a solid foundation to develop raw talent at the minor league level. After weekly poll their best off season in years, the O’s proudly put their Which spring team will have Who’s Not improved team on display for their fans at Orioles the best record to start the Men’s tennis for falling to FanFest on Saturday at the Baltimore Convention season? Center. Pennsylvania. They are a Making appearance were new Orioles manager solid group of players but Lee Mazzilli, free agent additions Sidney Ponson and A) Baseball-25%, couldn’t get any breaks in Rafael Palmerio, and players Rick Bauer, Larry Bigbie, B) Softball-10%, their recent match. Jack Cust, Omar Daal, Mike DeJean, Eric DuBose, C) Women’s Lacrosse-45%, Jay Gibbons, Jerry Hairston, Jorge Julio, Melvin D) Men’s Lacrosse-15%, Mora, John Parrish, Tim Raines Jr., Matt Riley, Brian E) Track-5% Roberts, B.J. Ryan and B.J. Surhoff. New players Miguel Tejada and Javy Lopez were unable to attend due to playing for the Caribbean team and personal issues, respectively. Fans in attendance were willing to wait over three-and-one-half hours to obtain an auto- graph from the Orioles who came. If waiting that long is not your cup of tea, then there were many Men’s Basketball: Standings as of 2/7/04 Men’s Basketball Wrap Up: activities you could participate in, such as raffles, bat- conference overall ting cages, meet the Aberdeen Ironbirds mascot – real- The UMBC men’s basketball team has dropped ly – “Ferrous,” and learning baseball techniques from wins losses draws wins losses draws UMBC’s baseball team. You could also buy tons of four straight games and now has a conference record of 3-8. Senior Kareem Washington has sports memorabilia, such as O’s hats, T-shirts, signed Vermont 10 0 0 14 5 0 baseball bats from the 1983 World Series at a silent played well in his last two games with a 13- Boston 11 1 0 17 4 0 auction, an oversized bobble head doll of Ray Lewis, point performance against Albany. Vermont and Northeastern 8 3 0 14 8 0 or – if you really wanted to – a $100 football signed by Boston are going to make March fun as they OJ Simpson! Maine 8 4 0 14 7 0 battle it out for the top spot in the America And the players weren’t on display alone. I got Binghamton 5 6 0 10 13 0 East. Northeastern and Maine have been play- to meet some of the Orioles most dedicated fans, such Hartford 4 7 0 9 1 0 as local legend George “Birdman” Fuhrer who actual- ing solid basketball as they sit third and UMBC 3 8 0 6 4 0 ly has “Birdman” listed on his O’s season ticket card. fourth, respectively. He became the character Birdman in 1994 to help Stony Brook 3 8 0 6 4 0 generate fan excitement after the devastating player’s strike. His outfit consists of an “O’s #1 Fan Birdman” Women’s Basketball: Standings as of 2/7/04 Women’s Basketball Wrap Up: t-shirt, huge sunglasses, two large bags full of props, and a black and orange toupee that would make conference overall Donald Trump proud. But Orioles management was wins losses draws wins losses draws The UMBC women’s basketball team is back concerned at first: on a cold streak after a loss to Stony Brook. Maine 10 0 0 15 5 0 Freshmen Courtney Doughman and Sharri Birdman: I got to meet everybody in the O’s management from the top-down, and they were ask- Hartford 7 3 0 16 5 0 Rohde have been solid contributors for the ing me if I was going to make T-shirts for a whole Boston 7 3 0 12 7 0 Retrievers. Maine is on pace for a perfect section since I had taken an O’s shirt and put Binghamton 6 4 0 11 7 0 AmEast season with a record of 10-0. Hartford “Birdman” on the back. New Hampshire 5 5 0 9 10 0 and Boston are right behind Maine at 7-3. Me: So they thought you were going to create a Northeastern 4 6 0 10 9 0 Binghamton is also looking to push for the group of bird people? Albany 4 6 0 7 12 0 playoffs with a 6-4 record. Birdman: Yes, but I told them it was just me. UMBC 1 9 0 1 18 0 Athleteof theWeek: Kareem Washington by Douglas Myers Kareem Washington’s UMBC career Retriever players to score over 500 points in a is slowly fading into history, and aside career. from the team, we here at the Retriever Athlete of the Week isn’t given idly to will miss him the most. A man who has players with great careers however, so let’s entertained our loyal reporters for the last focus on Washington’s recent accomplish- four seasons with his dynamic play and ments. Kareem contributed 13 points in last fantastic moves, a man who has given week’s loss to Albany, and then blew away a opposing coaches numerous fits, a man stunned Stony Brook team with 26 points in who’s carved out a “go-to” player niche on a colossal victory against the Seawolves. a team full of playmakers, Washington Washington hit nine for 15 in the latter will certainly be a hard person to replace. game, including five of eight from down- Washington has done it all in his bas- town. Washington also entertained the crowd ketball career. He’s won two consecutive of 1,347 with five rebounds, four steals, and Retriever Most Valuable Player awards four assists as UMBC crushed Stony Brook and garnered the “Battle of Baltimore” 72 - 53. His performance last Sunday also MVP two years ago. West Chester places him in the ranks of the UMBC elite. County, where he played basketball in With 1,061 points, Kareem is now High School, even dubbed him as “Mr. twelfth on the UMBC all time scoring list. Basketball” his senior year. He averaged With another amazing performance in a 15.5 points per game, 6.0 rebounds per career filled with them, the Retriever honors game, and 4.3 assists per game for his Washington with another Athlete of the school. In 2002, he became one of 50 Week..