Maryland loses to Georgia Tech, 20-7

Most of the 52,733 fans, the fifth-largest crowd ever at Byrd Stadium, dispersed long before Georgia Tech's 20-7 victory over No. 23 Maryland yesterday was final. Afterward, Maryland players described the locker room as "solemn."

And when Terps Coach Ralph Friedgen emerged from it, following his team's first home loss in more than two years, he spoke in a somber tone and with glazed eyes. Maryland is 3-2 and likely will fall out of the top 25. More troublesome, the toughest portion of the schedule still awaits, and Friedgen declined to say who will quarterback his team next week, much less for the rest of the season.

Maryland quarterback Joel Statham had two fumbles, both of which were recovered by Maryland, and completed 6 of 14 passes for 36 yards, all in the first half.  Midway through the third quarter, Friedgen replaced the sophomore, who has 10 fumbles and seven interceptions this season, with Jordan Steffy, the touted freshman from Pennsylvania. On his second possession, Steffy engineered a 12-play, 63-yard drive that concluded with a two-yard touchdown run by Sam Maldonado with 11 minutes 28 seconds remaining. Defensive end Shawne Merriman lined up at tight end during the drive that ignited the crowd and briefly gave the Terps hope they could extend their 13-game home win streak.

Too little, too late. And Friedgen afterward did not discriminate when assigning blame. "We got outcoached, we got outplayed, we got outhit, we got outhustled," said Friedgen, adding that "Joel just couldn't do anything right." Steff finished the game with 38 yards on 5 of 9 passes. Maryland's offense finished with 81 total yards, only 17 of which came in the second half. It was the Terps' lowest total since 1996.

Maryland's most notable first-half highlights involved the punter and kick returner. Adam Podlesh had five punts for an average of 50.6 yards. And returner Steve Suter broke off a 52-yard kickoff return and also broke the ACC career record for punt return yardage.

"I told the kids last night that this would be a real test to see where we are, and if this is where we are, we're in trouble," said Friedgen, who again lost to the school at which he served as offensive coordinator. "We got to get a lot better than this if we want to get to a bowl game."

Sleeping at Last

"Ghosts" - Sleeping At Last

If you listen just right, you can almost hear it
The symphony of secrecy, life, and fear
(the search for love, but finding fear)

Like a moth to the flame we become helpless
To the beautiful ghost
That true love sheds.

We all are running our very own races,
Set upon the most dangerous of places.
Are through it all,
We are left with a void in our chests,
We're aching to fill

The doves come to gather our every need,
They lift them up to Heaven
Through the mouths from which we speak.

God will you help us understand the meaning of it all?
Will you send your angels down to us at our every call?
Sometimes it seems the world is passing us
Faster than my eyes can adjust.

I can't decide if I'm living or I'm dying,
So I test your love and I test your love,
I test your love.

The doves come to gather our every need,
They lift them up to Heaven
Through us now....
The doves come to gather our every need,
They lift them up to Heaven
Through the mouths from which we speak.

Like a moth to the flame we become helpless
To the beautiful ghosts
That true love sheds.

 

Space race for $50 million

A Las Vegas hotel magnate who is hoping to build the world's first commercial space stations launched a challenge offering $50 million to the creators of the first privately funded spaceship to reach orbit.

Robert Bigelow, who owns Budget Suites of America, formally announced the long-rumored prize just a day after the first privately funded spaceship rocketed out of the atmosphere and won the $10 million Ansari X prize, which was designed to spur commercial spaceflight. Bigelow acknowledged that reaching orbit would be much harder than briefly popping into space as SpaceShipOne did. "To be honest, I think it's a long shot," he said of any team's chances of winning the prize by 2010 as required.

SpaceShipOne, built by aircraft designer Burt Rutan and financier Paul Allen, had to travel at about three times the speed of sound in order to reach the 62-mile altitude required to win the Ansari X Prize. An orbital spacecraft has to travel six times faster and four times higher, and, like NASA's space shuttle, also requires more extensive heat shielding.

Bigelow will front half of the $50 million America's Space Prize, and he is seeking sponsorship for the other half."If no one steps forward, we'll cover it," he said. "We just want to make it happen." To win the contest, which is limited to U.S.-based ventures, a team must build a five-seat spacecraft without government money and send five astronauts into orbit above the Earth twice within 60 days.

Space travel anyone?

 

MOJAVE, California -- SpaceShipOne made history Monday and triumphed in the international Ansari X Prize race to launch the first privately built spacecraft. The reward for finishing first: $10 million. The innovative little space plane, developed by aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan and built with $25 million in cash from billionaire Paul Allen, vaulted across the boundary of space 100 kilometers above the airport here, and kept on going.

With a new people's astronaut, Brian Binnie, at the controls, SpaceShipOne not only won the prize purse but also erased a 41-year-old altitude record for winged aircraft. Binnie soared to a radar-verified altitude of 367,442 feet. The old record of 354,300 feet was set in 1963 by an X-15. Peter Diamandis, who created the prize in 1996 and heads the X Prize Foundation, pumped his fists and high-fived with cheering, screaming spectators and teammates as he watched a giant video display showing SpaceShipOne rocketing into the black heavens above. "It's blowing the record books away," Diamandis shouted as he listened to mission control reports that put the ship's altitude first at 350,000 feet, then 364,000 and finally, though unofficially, at 368,000 feet, about 111 kilometers, or 70 miles, above Earth. "Today we make history," Diamandis said after the ship was back on the runway. "Today the winners are the people of the Earth. Today we go to the stars."

SpaceShipOne needed to reach 100 kilometers, or about 62.5 miles, twice within a two-week window to take the X Prize. The other principal requirement was to carry a pilot and either two passengers or their weight equivalent in ballast. Following its successful, if harrowing-looking, flight last week to 337,500 feet, Rutan's American Mojave Aerospace team had to get its ship across the edge of space one more time. Rutan chose Monday because it's the anniversary of the first flight of the space age: the launch of the Soviet Union's Sputnik I on Oct. 4, 1957. At a press conference after the landing, Binnie said, "I wake up every morning and thank God I live in a country where all of this is possible. Where you have the Yankee ingenuity to roll up your sleeves, get a band of people who believe in something and go for it and make it happen. It doesn't happen anywhere else."

Last week, Rutan and Allen announced a deal to develop the new spacecraft for British transportation, entertainment and telecom magnate Richard Branson. The deal calls for Rutan to deliver five five-seated suborbital spacecraft on which Branson hopes to fly paying customers as soon as 2007. The venture, dubbed Virgin Galactic, will charge about $208,000 a ticket. "Thanks to Sir Richard Branson, we have not only a milestone but a challenge," Rutan said. "We have just begun." Another episode in SpaceShipOne's X Prize saga is not so remote. Diamandis announced that the $10 million check for the prize-winning flights will be formally presented, along with what he called "a beautiful 6-foot-tall trophy," in St. Louis on Nov. 6. The St. Louis business community, mindful of the city's connection with Charles Lindbergh's historic solo transatlantic flight in 1927, invited Diamandis to set up shop there after he launched the X Prize organization. The prize was intended to do just what it looks like it's doing -- spur the development of a new generation of aircraft for space tourism.

Sharapova win Korea Open

Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova trounced Marta Domachowska 6-1 6-1 to win the Korea Open on Sunday. Grunting and grimacing to victory, Sharapova had too much firepower for Poland's Domachowska, who held her serve only once in the 58-minute match.
Sharapova took command in the third game after the two players had traded opening service breaks. Pinning Domachowska to the baseline with a series of stinging service returns, Sharapova kept up the pressure until the 18-year-old Pole wilted, double-faulting to hand the Russian a 3-1 lead. Sharapova never looked like losing it, closing out the set and looking stronger with every point. "This is the first time playing three tournaments in a row, but I feel really good," said Sharapova.
Sharapova lost in the semi-finals of the China Open to compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova just over a week ago and will play in the Japan Open later this week. "I think I played well this week. Hopefully I'll take that on to next week, play better and win there," said Sharapova.
Sharapova said that the win was even more special because she had had to adapt quickly to different opponent styles, slower court speeds and unpredictable weather conditions. Sharapova played a chilly quarter-final match after a four-hour rain delay Friday evening before beating Anne Kremer on a sun-drenched center court in Saturday's semi-final.
"As I get older, I'll have to learn to make the adjustments to different tournaments, different conditions," said the 17-year-old. "To compete with the top 10 players, there are a lot of things I have to improve on."

Redskins lose again, 17-13

The Washington Redskins lost their third game in a row to the Cleveland Browns, 17-13. The Redskins (1-3) can pin their loss on going just 1-for-11 on third downs, mental mistakes and a costly fumble by Clinton Portis on the first play after halftime that allowed Cleveland to quickly tie it. "My fumble changed the momentum," Portis said. "All of a sudden, we lost control of the game."

Mark Brunell couldn't get it back as Washington's offense sputtered again behind its new quarterback. Brunell finished 17-of-38 for 192 yards, but was unable to get into any rhythm because Cleveland's defense shut down Portis and the Washington coach's headsets and sideline phones were malfunctioning. "It made it tough to communicate," Brunell said. "We had to go to hand signals.

But the headsets didn't cause the fumbles or the overthrown passes. We made mistakes." Clinging to their four-point lead, the Browns faked a field goal, but holder Derrick Frost was stopped short of a first down. Washington took over at their own 27 yard line and Brunell then completed a 13-yard pass to Coles at the 40 with still 2:00 minutes left in the game. But Coles fumbled as he was being taken down and Browns safety Earl Little recovered. "I fumbled the game away for us," Coles said.

Coles did catch 8 passes for 122 yards, but Portis only had 58 yards rushing on 20 carries. Washington's offensive line did not give up a sack after yielding nine in the past two games.

Martha Stewart trivia

What do Martha Stewart, Billie Holiday, "Squueaky" Fromme and Tokyo Rose all have in common? All three served time at Alderson Federal Prison Camp, Alderson, West Virginia. Well, after Martha serves her time there. To read more on Martha's new home