Happy Halloween

Blondie by Dean Young

Monday Morning Quarterback

The Maryland Terps beat Wake Forest on Saturday. “We finally put a full game together. I think by far it’s the best we’ve played all year,” coach Ralph Friedgen said after the Terrapins cruised to a 26-0 victory at home.

It was the fifth straight win over a Top 25 team for the Terps (5-2, 2-1). Maryland also defeated California and Clemson this season, but lost 24-14 to unheralded Middle Tennessee State and 31-0 to Virginia.

This victory moved the Terrapins into a tie atop the league’s Atlantic Division but didn’t entirely erase the sting of those two inexplicable defeats.

Chris Turner went 28-for-41 for 321 yards and a touchdown. His main target was wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, who had a career-high 11 catches for 101 yards and a score. This from a team that usually relies on the running game to generate points. ...read more here

...And...

Clinton Portis started piling up the yards. Santana Moss starting doing spin moves after catching the ball. London Fletcher led a huge goal line stand. And the Washington Redskins held on to beat the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, 14-11. The Browns made things interesting with a late touchdown, a 2-point conversion, and a field-goal attempt that was wide right with 25 seconds to play.

After nearly putting the fans to sleep, two teams packed a lot into a little bit of time Sunday. Portis broke the scoreless tie with a 3-yard run in the third quarter and rushed for 175 yards on 27 carries, and Moss spun his way to an 18-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter as the Redskins beat the Browns 14-11. ...read more here...

Worst Week Ever

Cloaked in the fear of a global recession, U.S. stocks limped to the end of a brutal week of trading yesterday, ending their worst week in history.

The Standard and Poor's 500-stock index and the Dow Jones industrial average lost 18 percent of their value this week, with the Dow falling through two floors: closing below 9,000 for the first time since 2003 and briefly dipping below 8,000. The Nasdaq composite index was down 15 percent. Both the S&P 500, a broader index watched by market professionals, and the Dow, an index of 30 blue-chip stocks, declined by record rates this week.

The Dow fell 1.49 percent, or 128 points, yesterday, to close at 8451.19. The S&P 500 fell 1.18 percent, to close at 899.22, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed to eke out a 0.27 percent gain, closing at 1649.51. It was the eighth straight trading day of losses for the S&P 500 and Dow. ...read more here...

...And some good news...

An estimated 113 million Americans, including hundreds of thousands in the Washington region, will receive better insurance coverage for their mental health and substance abuse problems because of landmark legislation that for the first time requires mental and physical illnesses to be treated equally.

The law is a culmination of a decade of lobbying and negotiating among advocates for the mentally ill, the insurance industry, the business community - including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - and doctors' groups. The change, which was included in the economic rescue package signed by President Bush last week, will take effect Jan. 1, 2010, for most plans. Businesses with 50 or fewer employees would be exempt.

For decades, insurance companies could offer less coverage for the treatment of depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder than of such diseases as cancer and diabetes -- so people with mental illness or substance abuse problems often had to pay for expensive treatment and medication out-of-pocket.

The new law bars companies from setting higher co-pays or deductibles for mental health and substance abuse treatment. Plans also will be prohibited from lowering benefit levels or restricting the number of outpatient therapy sessions or hospital treatment days. And if a health plan allows out-of-network visits for the treatment of physical illnesses, it will also have to offer identical out-of-network coverage for mental health care. ...read more here...

The Good and the Bad

Clinton Portis ran for 145 yards and one touchdown, wide receiver Antwaan Randle El threw a TD pass and the Washington Redskins beat the Philadelphia Eagles 23-17 on Sunday.

Washington (4-1) has made it through the first five games under new coach Jim Zorn better than anyone expected. The Redskins went to Dallas last week and handed the Cowboys their first loss, 26-24. They’ve played all three division rivals on the road and their next three opponents—Cleveland, Detroit and St. Louis—are a combined 1-11.

And Washington’s offense didn’t commit a turnover for the fifth straight ...Read more here

The Virginia Cavaliers (2-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), outscored 128-20 in three previous games against Bowl Subdivision teams, beat the Maryland Terps(4-2, 1-1) 31-0. The Cavaliers led Maryland 21-0 at halftime. Two years ago, Virginia led the Terrapins 20-0 at halftime, then gave up 28 consecutive points and lost 28-26 at home. But, not this year. ...Read more here...